Bonjour, Montreal!

 This year's adventure with my VT ladies was an international affair! Montreal could not have come at a better time - September marks my official "can't handle this anymore" status for Houston's eternal summer. We escaped to a location that has reasonable fall temperatures, where I could pack a sweater and closed-toed shoes and actually expect to use them. 

We stayed at an adorable walk up Air BnB condo right in the heart of the city, we could walk most of the city from our front door. We got lucky with the weather and had a lovely morning for the Fitz & Follwell bike tour that we had reserved months ahead of time. 

If I hadn't taken this photo I would think it was from Savannah, or Charleston, or somewhere in the US southeast. But no, it's Canada baby. Plateau Mont Royal to be exact, the Painted Ladies were painted bright colors back in the early 1900s to spruce up a red light district in the area. 

Montreal has a robust street art scene and we got to see some of the popular works. 

And ended the tour at the Marche Jean-Talon, a sensory overload of fruits, vegetables, chocolates, cheeses and baked goods. We tasted a few, bought some others and came home with the perfect pre-dinner snack.

Charcuterie on the porch - c'est la vie!

We took a rest, got cleaned up and left for another one of Meghan's well-researched dinner reservations.

Doing my best to look professional

The next morning we enjoyed brunch at L'Avenue, which was bumpin on a Sunday morning. 

Then took one last stroll around the city before we all headed to the airport, where only two of us would get to leave. With Humkey luck, Kristen got stuck abroad for another night, even though she had the shortest flight. Luckily, there was an airport bar and our gates were next to each other so we had maximum hangout time before I left for home and she went to watch The Office in an airport hotel room. I'm certain she would agree it was worth it for a trip with friends, I sure do!