Montreal, Canada

We are in Montreal. Surprise.

I like changing things up on you. Make sure you’re not falling asleep on my blog.

We’ve been here one day and I have a few preliminary thoughts about this city, besides the obvious – it’s gorgeous and feels like Europe in all the good ways, but without all those pesky Euros and pocket conversion charts. More about why we’re here and all the eating and kid news in my next post.

Here are a few quick things I've learned during my short stay here:

1. I am not above feeding my kids Strawberry French Sorbet as an after-breakfast dessert. Who knew?

2. I feel a little like the "Crazy American" here. It's the same way I feel in London, like I'm just a tad "too much" for the regular folks. The Brits and now the Canadians find me a whole lotta amusing, but they wouldn't want me over for dinner with Aunt Hilda and Grandpa Laverne or anything.

This "too much" thing happened again in the grocery store this morning. I know. You know all about us and our havoc-making in the grocery stores, but when Lucy was standing up in the trolley and singing - No. She was screeching actually - the princess song at the top of her lungs and thrusting her hands in the air in a mock-regal gesture and picturing herself in a pink, sparkly ball gown, Edie was hurling her sandals at a tower of precariously placed orange juice containers, trying to knock them over.

That was when I became "too much". It's like I'm collecting countries that look at me with a bemused/horrified grin.

3. Okay, no one told me all these Canadians speak French. I know, I'm a nut, but in my mind, Quebec was all French-speaking and Montreal was predominately English-speaking. When I said this to David this morning, after staring in amazement at the nearly all French signs, he looked at me with the face of man who couldn't believe he had married someone so un-worldly.

"Montreal is in the province of Quebec. Of course they speak French. It's a French-speaking province," he explained, his voice all full of wonderment tempered by disgust.

So, yeah, a lot of French-speaking going on here. Who knew?

4. What's with everybody wearing scarfs wrapped around their necks while wearing short-shorts and sweating in 100 degree weather? Who thought up this stupid fashion trend?

Anyone have a scarf I can borrow?...

5. When in a hotel in a foreign country, you know, like Canada, I have this tendency to flip on CNN. Why do I do that? I never watch CNN at home and when I do, David always tells me it feels like a hotel and shuts it off. But weirdly, when you're in a hotel, CNN feels so utterly American, like you're home.

Bizarre.

6. I have walked all over this city and have yet to see a McDonalds. Or a burger King. Or a Dunkin' Donuts. It's like these crazy people in the North would rather eat smoked meat and raw fruits and vegetables. Who are these crazy healthy-eating folks anyway? Are all the Canadians like this?

I love the Canadians.

7. I now know how to say high fructose corn syrup in French.


That's it. That's all I figured out today.

And I just ate a tub of sorbet while watching a dying kid on one of those medical reality shows, and I started hiccuping and sobbing and checking my kids to make sure they were still breathing, when the pediatric cardiologist urged the team to just "let the child go" and I was all messy and teary and making gasping sounds and spittle was coming down my cheek and spooning big spoonfuls of sorbet into my mouth and then, the kid got better and everyone was happy and I stopped crying and wiped the spittle off my cheek.

Until I realized I ate the whole thing of sorbet. Now, I just want to go to bed.

More stories and pics later...

xxoo YM