oat and a boat

This past summer brought many firsts for me: my first summer off since I was a teen, my first long organized bike ride, my first realization that having summer off is nice and I want to have the rest of the year off as well (and believe me, I had several more of those realizations), but one event that sticks out is my first Eastern seaboard road trip to Canada. I drove with my sister (ignore my strained expression) up to Montreal and we had a lot of fun. It was rainy, sticky, and full of underground shops. I always enjoy going to Canada because I just love the accents and everything/everyone just seems nicer up there.
Yet, Montreal adds a new twist to the Canada-ness - French speaking people and French accents!! oui-oui!! Absolutely love a place where it's the norm to walk into a store and say "Bonjour" and where pastries are everywhere! All of those details bring my back to my Salzburg days when you would greet everyone with a friendly "Grus Gott!" and if you got in the way, my favorite German word would come in handy - Entschuldigen. That part was tres fun for me because I'm a big nerd and love to be immersed in whatever culture I can, especially after a childhood in one of the blandest towns you'll ever witness (truly living in a white-bread suburban world).
We only had two short days there, but they were worth it. However, I would visit again when the humidity was not 85% because that was a bitch - walk around and be soaked from both rain and your own sweat from the day at 9am. No wonder they have so many underground malls!
Here are some more pictures from the trip:





A few drinks on our first night in a cafe just off a bustling cobblestone street.







More bustling streets and my sister in her glory shopping!