Montreal Day 7 - An Ending and a Beginning

[Composed 8/19/2019]

Today was your typical last-day-of-a-trip. We spent the morning cleaning and packing, had a somewhat hurried lunch of Pizza and then made it to the airport to catch our flight to Boston. The airport experience was especially nice, as we cleared US Customs while still in Montreal. That meant that when we'd land in Boston we could forgo waiting in a massive Customs line there.

The timing of our trip turned out to be quite fortuitous. We landed in Boston and met my Sister and Brother-in-Law there. Only, they didn't swoop in and drive the kids home. Instead, the family was meeting up at Logan Airport to fly down to Florida and begin a new life in Tampa. We'd effectively ended up taking the kids during the last week my Sister and Brother-in-Law lived in Boston, and had spared the kids a week of packing up. C, T, G--you're welcome.

On top of this, my Mother-in-Law was also in town and at the airport. It was surreal catching up in the Jet Blue ticketing area and taking family pics. Our little adventure was coming to a close, but the kids were starting a brand new, much larger one. I was so excited for them.

Looking at my Brother and Sister-in-Law, with their 4 children and 2 cats in tow, I couldn't help but offer to leverage our TSA Precheck status to get the kids through security minus the long wait in line. We did this and as we were walking away my Sister-in-Law asked if we'd take one of the cats through security, too. As it was just carrying an extra duffle bag, we figured, why not.

When we hit the security checkpoint, Shira, who was holding the cat was asked her preference: take out the cat and scan the bag here, or go into a room and let the cat out in a more contained space. Uh, this suddenly became more than either of us had bargained for. She smartly opted to go into a private space. The cat was apparently let out of the carrier, the carrier scanned and the real challenge began: how to get the cat back in the carrier?

Neither Shira nor I are cat people, and I'm allergic to the critters. Fortunately, T quickly stepped up and gingerly coaxed the cat back into the carrier. Crisis averted; well done T!

After getting all souls through security and meeting up with the parents on the other side, it was finally time to say goodbye to the kids. Lots of hugs and selfies were shared. Then we had a quick airport meal with my Mother-in-Law and then it was our turn to get on a flight and head home.

Montreal was truly a fantastic destination. Growing up close to Canada I'd had my share of trips to Niagara Falls and Toronto. But Montreal was like stepping into another country altogether. French isn't just some shiny accessory, like say the monarchy is to the UK; it's their preferred language. I wanted to show the kids a new culture, and Montreal delivered. The fact that it was a stone's throw from Boston was a nice bonus. Especially considering the kids are now down in Florida, where a trip to Montreal is no longer around the corner.

Montreal Day 6 - A Roller Coaster Day

[Composed 8/18/2019]

The kids were super jazzed about today: we were going to La Ronde, a Six Flags amusement park located in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Between the kids' various thrill-tolerances and sizes, it would take a bit of luck for us to get through the park with a minimum of frustration. Fortunately, Shira managed to thread the needle perfectly. We started with a group ride on the carousel and then made our way to the 'All Ages' area.

This let T face down, and overcome, a whole heap of ride anxiety. It also let G thrive in a section of the park where she could ride everything.

We closed out the For All area by tackling La Marche Du Mille Pattes, a coaster that was suitable for all three kids. T was worried, but Shira held her close and they did it together. At the end of our day, T would tackle this same ride, only this time with a huge smile on her face and arms raised triumphantly. Watching this transformation was a thing of beauty.

From La Marche, Shira and C tackled some adult coasters and I took the other kids on the train ride through the park. For my part, I did ride the Ferris Wheel, which turned out to be far more enjoyable than I expected it to be.

La Ronde was an ideally sized park. It was big enough to have rides for everyone, but not so large that you felt like you couldn't do everything in one day^*. We also hit the park on a day when it wasn't crazy busy. We almost never waited in line, which was ideal. The park's policy that you can't bring in outside food seemed a bit heavy handed. It wasn't the end of the world that we had to leave the park to eat lunch, but it did seem unnecessary.

The vast majority of the rides and attractions were what I'd expect in any American amusement park. There was one exception to this: the bumper cars. When I've ridden the bumper cars in US parks, the format has been the same: you drive around in a circle trying to bump those in front of you. With little ability to control your car, it's not unusual to wind up wedged in some corner where you're stuck. La Ronde does it right! Each car has two levers: push both forward and you go forward, pull both back and you go backwards. Move one forward and one back and you turn. From there it's a delightful free for all. This was fun! I rode the bumper cars with T who counted: I bumped her 19 times, she bumped me 22. I was so close to winning!

After an exhausting day at the park we should have gone home. But I wanted to overdo it by trying to go out for dinner. We picked a Kosher Restaurant for dinner, but when we got there we realized that the cramped space and 40 minute wait weren't going to work for us. Across the street was Chops, a steakhouse and Asian-fusion place. The problem: I didn't think our rag tag group would do well at an extravagant, white-table cloth establishment. Still, Shira was insistent that I at least check it out. So I peaked my head in and my fears were confirmed: this would be the perfect place to take Shira on a date, but not the best place for a frazzled family of 5 who was looking for a quick meal. Fortunately, one of the staff members caught my eye and in an instant read the situation. He told me to grab the family and he had the perfect place for us.

He then proceeded to take us to a section of a party room off the main dining room. There was a large family gathering going on in the party room, but it was big enough that we weren't in the way. Shira ordered up a feast and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal and service. T was especially impressed that every time her water glass was empty someone quickly came over and refilled it. I can't recall going to a Kosher restaurant where the service and experience in general was so perfect.

As a last full day in Montreal, I couldn't have asked for anything more. Such a fun day!

You'll notice a few solo portraits of the kids below. I didn't take these. Instead, I handed my DSLR around to the kids while we waited in line and they took turns shooting fashion glamour shots. They did a great job as both photographers and models!

*Whoa: according to Wikipedia, La Ronde is 146 acres, while Dollywood is 150 acres. In my mind, Dollywood was much larger than La Rode, but I suppose that's not true.