Today began with a breakfast buffet. I went without Teresa, because she doesn’t do buffets – too much chance for cross contamination even if there is something gluten free there. I did bring her a banana, but it was green and bruised, so it went uneaten.
After that she got ready to go, and we headed down into old Montreal. Where we searched for food that she could eat. It took a couple tries, but eventually we found a great little place called Café Pavé. They had some gluten free options, and a good lunch menu. We both had sandwiches with chips and a drink. The atmosphere of the cafe was awesome and the food was pretty great too.
Then we wandered around old Montreal for a bit. Looking out at the port, walking the water line, seeing the old architecture of such places as the Basillica du Notre-Dame, Château Ramezay, Bonsecours Market, and more. We didn’t go in to any, we were happy enough to just enjoy the exteriors.
We made our way back towards downtown, and set about trying to find the underground city. Without really knowing what we were looking for at the start, we kind of found pieces of it. After figuring out that it was mostly just shops, and not really feeling like more shopping, we eventually gave up on trying to find more of it, and headed back to the hotel.
By the time we got back, we were plenty sore from all the walking, and decided to have a nap. When I got up, I had an hour to get ready for dinner with an old friend, and found a voice mail on my phone from the B&B. They were just wondering when we were going to arrive, so that they could make sure someone was there to show us to our room.
After the quick phone call, I got ready for dinner. I decided to try and dress up a bit for the dinner, likely my last night to do so for quite a while. I think I looked pretty good. I met my friend out on the street – she had taken the metro into town, and we hugged for a bit, and started to walk towards St. Denis street, talking like we’d never been apart for 2 years.
Conversation came easy. We talked about how our lives had been in the last couple years; about surgery things; about family; about work. We spent about 2 hours at dinner, and then headed to a coffee shop to talk a bit more outside of the din of the pub atmosphere.
Around 10pm we parted ways. She had almost an hour to get home, and I needed to get to sleep (as soon as I’m done writing). Teresa and I had bought some gluten-free chocolate cake, so will have some of that before bed for dessert maybe. Dinner was very filling.
This is our last night in the hotel. Tomorrow we’ll be at the B&B and oh so soon the surgery will come and go. I’m not nervous at all yet. I’m sure that will come the night before. For now, I’m just enjoying the vacation.
Goodnight everyone. Maybe tomorrow I’ll put up some pics from the trip so far.
With love,
Jessica