The Lobby of Hotel Gault

Ben and I have wanted to go to Montreal for years. For some people this may be an odd choice of cities but for the two of us, it sounded perfect: a beautiful city with amazing food.  Before taking off, we were told that traveling to Montreal was the shortest plane ride to Europe that you will ever take. Neither one of us really believed this statement until we arrived in Quebec.

Duck Poutine from Au Pied du Cochon

It is a fascinating city. For all intents and purposes, it is French. I think that we both knew this but did not fully grasp its French-ness until we arrived and observed that the city was one step away from selling foie gras out of a vending machine. The thing that fascinated me the most about the city was the interplay of the French and English language. An unofficial goal of the trip (after eating our body's weight in food) was to determine the protocol of speaking French versus English. While I failed at determining this protocol, I may have succeeded in being the single individual who eavesdropped on over one hundred conversations only to understand zero of them.

While I would love to share every minute of our trip, I have decided spare you and instead compile a list of my favorite things (starting with the food, of course):

• Au Pied de Cochon
• Au Cinquieme Peche
• Boulangerie Kouign-Amann 
• Engaufrez-vous
• Le Cartet
• Les Givres
• Liverpool House
• Mami Clafoutis
• Olive and Gourmando
• Schwartz's Deli
• St Viateur Bagels
• Atwater Market
• Bota Bota Spa
• Celebrating Ben's birthday over a giant s'more-like ice cream dessert
• Date (not fig) Newtons
• Fantastic street art
• Hotel Gault
• Jean Talon Market
• Happening upon the Folk Festival
• Maple syrup on a stick
  • A group of hipsters rocking a cardboard DJ booth in a vacant lot
  • Observing an odd lack of ducks (yet an odd number of duck entrees...)

Seal Meat, Gnocchi Poutine, Lamb Shank, and Sweet Breads from Au Cinquieme Peche

Kouignamann

Stuffed Waffles from Engaufrez-vous

Pastries from Mamie Clafoutis

An Unforgettable Meal from Liverpool House

Giant Ice Cream Dessert from Les Givres                             

Schwartz's Deli

St. Viateur Bagels

Marche Atwater

Marche Jean Talon

Enjoying an entire lobster at the Marche Jean Talon

Amazing Street Art

Maple Syrup on a Stick