Montreal feels like a blend of modern edge with classic form and buildings. The great use of historic buildings is what left an imprint on us after this very quick, less than 24 hour trip. This post box. This post boxed nailed it. Modern vibe next to old school stone wall. Nicely done Montreal.
Friends suggested we hit Tommy Cafe for coffee. Our internet friends weren't wrong. We just missed the actual breakfast and could only get pastries and coffee. C'est domage? Non, c'est parfait.
We strolled around looking for a bigger breakfast option to load up before our second Canadian road trip day.
We stumbled upon Crew Collective...and what a find it was.
We ordered a light lunch and decided to enjoy it in the gorgeous old bank that has been converted to meeting rooms and collective work spaces. Eric had the most wonderful house cured salmon and I had the avocado BLT with pickled celery ribbons. The coffee shop was behind what would have been the bank teller area. Again, a gorgeous use of space. We were there on a Thursday. There were tour groups, business people, people working on laptops, and deals happening behind glassed walls. Even with the hustled of people coming in and out the area was very quiet. Library quiet, actually. Looking up you could see the coiffured ceiling which has that calming effect on sounds and space. Think of Union Station's ceiling in DC. Same design concept to keep the noise to a minimum.
The space, energy and details were just beautiful.
We did not tickle the Botero pinky toe on our walk, but love that passersby continue to do so even with words of warning. Do not touch. Maybe it should say, Do Not Tickle.
Daily Chandelier in another bank building. Modern vibe smack dab next to art deco design next door.
We called for the bikes, our car and got ourselves together to head out.
We asked the front desk manager to take our anniversary photo and he literally bent down on one knee to take it, making us crack up. Montreal, you are one lovely city. Merci!
It was a perfectly cloudy day driving to Toronto. It was a pretty dull ride other than passing by the Thousand Islands. Check out that link. We must find a way to go up there Charlie! There were so many cool homes in the middle of the lake. Boat houses are just the coolest. We found Baby Nephew III a birthday moose and a few Canadian candies while up north too eh.
The traffic in Toronto was gruesome. It took us an hour to get 20 miles. But once we finally found the hotel all our driving cares melted away. Thompson Toronto was the truth.
The suite had a perfect little TV area to stretch out. There was champagne chilled and ready for us. We popped that bottle so fast. Mary's whipped cream and strawberries were the perfect pairing with champers.
The champagne was just what we needed after the 7 hour drive, that should have been 5.5 hours. Summer. I forget that summer tacked on hours.
I had visited Toronto once before for a conference. We did an event at Sotto Sotto and I remember it as being one of the best Italian meals I'd ever experienced. Do click this website link too. Toronto's web developers are on top of it. I do love the large scale videos and music on this site.
Horrible photo. Great table and date. There was a curtain behind Eric that closed as we were finishing our third course. The private group was so private that the body guard jumped when I came back from the powder room to get to my chair. I have no idea who was there but it was fun being there with a body guard two tables down from us. When you walk up the stairs there is a wall of fame with tons of celebrity photos lining the walk.
We had beef carpaccio to start, mushroom papardelle, bronzino, tiramisu and a gorgeous bottle of Chianti for our Anniversary Meal, but on the 6th of July. I got lemoncello and E finished with an espresso.
Horrible photo. Beautiful bronzino in a salt crust.
E's ring reminds us both to Be Present. We had such a nice date and reminisced on the last twelve years together. I wish I wrote down what we said. I tried to keep a journal, but hope this little Blog will remind us how nice of a night it truly was. The restaurant is so dark and romantic. It's a small little place and different from the location from years ago. They had a fire. It was fun bringing E back to this place I remembered so fondly.
As we waited for our Uber we couldn't resist this Somerville selfie!
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