When I booked my flight to Plattsburgh, NY, I was ecstatic for the chance to go to Montreal, which is only an hour or two away. Accompanied by Kelsey, my roommate Kelly, Michael, Steven, and Salma, this trip was highly anticipated and I could not WAIT for the chance to practice my French. The first half of the trip I spent predominately with Kelsey and the latter half with Kelly. We
arrived in Plattsburgh at about 1:30 AM and Kelsey's aunt picked the two of us up. We had decided to stop in Burlington, Vermont before heading to Montreal but the rest of the group was disinterested. Salma was going to Montreal to visit her sister, who lives there, and Kelly was anxious to revisit Quebec, since she is French Canadian and loves Montreal. Kelsey and I stayed with her aunt Peru, NY and then had breakfast at
her grandmother's the next morning. Her aunt drove us to Port Kent
and we took the ferry over Lake Champlain to Burlington.
In a few words, Burlington
was amazing. It was a small hipster college town akin to Gainesville but with better weather in my opinion. Though it was drizzling, the temperature was much more my style than Florida, cold enough for a jackets. I am also one of those weirdos that actually likes rain for the most part, especially when I'm prepared for it (which I was). We were there on
Saturday so the farmer's market was going on. Everything had maple
syrup or maple products in it, by far the best stereotype I have ever heard about Vermont (Canada was similar, to my delight). I tried maple syrup infused lemonade
and some random Afghani spinach pastry. The pastry wasn't particularly good because it wasn't fresh, but
the lemonade was delicious. We wandered around Church Street, the
main shopping center. There were a lot of charming little cafes and
restaurants. I also tried a maple syrup latte and it was very good, combining my love of coffee, caffeine, and maple syrup. Then,
we walked along the beautiful Lake Champlain for a bit and took the bus to the
airport for the greyhound. 
We got into Canada around 9:30/10 PM and
went straight to the hostel. No one was there so we ventured out into
the city and walked along Rue Ontario, Rue St. Denis, and Rue St.
Catherine. We walked and talked for two and a half hours, taking all of the city lights and the excitement pulsing through the streets. We got back to
the hostel and went to bed around 1:30, Steven, Michael, and Kelly
still no where to be found until we woke up the next morning. The group as whole went to a local boulangerie and I
ordered a croissant with almonds, which was awesome. I was pleased with myself for successfully ordering in French. Then Kelly and I
split off and went to Mont Royal and the large look out over the
city from the top of this mountain. There was also a large open field and some sort of festival was going on at the park. We then went shopping along St. Catherine until we met up with
her friend Elizabeth, a student at McGill in Montreal. She was very nice and she also invited all of us to a small potluck party that her friends were
having. It was a lot of fun and I was intrigued by the number of international students I met, one from France, one from China, and a few from Venezuela. I don't know much about McGill although one of my aunts earned her MBA in international business through the school, albeit while living in Japan.
I ended up sleeping over
at Liz's apartment and taking the bus back to the hostel. We returned to the bakery and then Michael took us to a bagel shop.
Apparently Montreal's bagels are famous and after having one, I understood why. I had a phenomenal sesame bagel, hot and fresh. Again, I ordered in French and conversed with the store owner briefly, a charming man in his mid- to late sixties who had been in the bagel business for decades. I was meeting Kelly at the Contemporary Art Museum at 12, so I rushed off on my own across town. Kelsey was supposed to come with me but wanted
to go to the bio dome more, so she bailed. I was 20
minutes late at least, but she didn't mind,
particularly since the museum ended up being closed on Mondays and we
had the day to wander. 
We did a lot but nothing in particular. We
stumbled upon a cute little maple syrup museum and an exhibition on
the art of the 11 Native American tribes in Quebec. We seemed drawn to cafes, including one cafe with an art gallery. We mostly walked around
Vieux-Montreal and the old port along the St. Lawrence River. I also tried poutine (pronounced "pou-tin", rhyming with "who" and "win", not "pou-teen", like I would have thought seeing it spelled out). It's essentially a heart attack-inducing plate of French fries coated in gravy and cheese. I thought it sounded disgusting but once I tried it, I was enamored of its deliciousness. We also wandered into a public garden and climbed some interesting structures that we stumbled upon around the city.
We met Elizabeth for dinner and went to a random diner.
Then we waited for our 10:30 greyhound bus back to Plattsburgh. I discovered a magical
chocolate bar in Canada, called Coffee Crisp. It's chocolate and
coffee, like a tiramisu kit kat. So good, I bought five of them to bring home but they didn't last long in Florida. The bus ride was much
quicker than I anticipated and we were in the US in no time. I was
disappointed that I never got my passport stamped but I guess it's
like traveling between EU countries. Kelly, Kelsey, Salma, and I
split a taxi to the airport but the boys were decided to walk the
four plus miles in the cold. Suffice to say, we got there at least an hour before they did, spending copious amounts of time in the tiny Plattsburgh airport. Montreal was wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Boston, but with French undertones. I cannot wait to go back someday and I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in the summer.Events occurred: September 21-25, 2012
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