bonjour, montreal!

kris had to go to montreal to do some presentations for work, so i piggy-backed on his business trip to indulge in some shopping, sleeping and overall relaxing.

we arrived late on tuesday evening - we both had to work that day, so we left around 4pm. we stopped for dinner and got to the hotel at around midnight. we stayed at a a beautiful boutique hotel called le germain in a great location downtown.

when we arrived, kris asked when and where he should hand in a pair of pants to be dry-cleaned to be ready for thursday morning. the concierge told him to wait until after 9am on wednesday, and that they would come to the room to pick them up. so the next morning, at around 9:30am, i called the front desk. they told me i was too late and that the pants wouldn't be ready until after 6pm on thursday - i relayed the original message we were told, and they said on the contrary, that the clothes needed to be dropped BEFORE 9am. they offered to put an express order in, but that would be $35 along with the cost of cleaning the pants (about $10). i asked whether there is another dry-cleaner they could recommend; the girl told me that i wouldn't be able to find any cleaner in montreal who would be able to clean the pants before thursday at 7am for anything under $45. i told them $45 to clean a pair of pants is ridiculous, especially since we were given false information and had several opportunities to drop them off but were told to wait. she had the head concierge person call me and voila, they cleaned the pants for free. miko: 1, montreal: 0

then we went shopping and bought several things, some of which i was pretty sure i was going to return - those of you who know me well know that i usually buy something with the intention of returning it...i've gotten better about this as of late, but old habits die hard. as i was signing for my purchases, the girl told me she would put the receipt in the bag, and i said that was fine. we got back to the hotel room and she in fact DIDN'T put it in the bag. i called the store; they couldn't find the receipt so they told me to come back with my purchases and they would refund everything and ring it all in again so i'd have my receipt. sigh. in the end, i got what i wanted, so...miko: 2, montreal: 0.

the rest of the trip went more smoothly, with less arguing and more fun. we dined at a polish restaurant that we go to everytime we come to montreal...here, we played another game of "jiggly," (this only works in the province of quebec), admired cute puppies, watched policemen hand out tickets to those riding bikes (it was a walking-only zone), wondered why they didn't hand out tickets to those driving cars since it was a walking-only zone and had gelato for dessert.

i was supposed to meet with amelie on thursday for lunch, but something came up at her work. instead, i got my nails done - i managed to find a cheap asian place in montreal, this is more difficult to do than one might think - there are lots of nail spas, but i don't want to pay $65 for a pedicure; i'd rather pay $30, and the asian places are the best for this. searching "cheap asian nails" in google doesn't really help, so i'm really quite proud of myself for finding this place. it was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel, too. then i hit the streets to do some shopping. probably not the best idea to get my nails done first, since rifling through clothes and picking up hangers is the best way to ruin a fresh manicure. also, since they put moisturizer on my legs, it was difficult to try on pants as my legs kept sticking to the material...mental note for next time...get spa treatment AFTER shopping, not before.

i met kris back at the hotel after he was done work. we took a nap (i love vacation), and then we went shopping again (i love vacation). i showed kris all the things i had scouted out for him during the day, i purchased some things i had my eye on but needed a second opinion, and said bonjour again to all the helpful salespeople who helped me that afternoon.

we had poutine for dinner, ice cream for dessert (did i mention i love vacation?) and finished the evening by watching some olympics.

on friday, kris didn't have to work, so we walked to old montreal. we took some pictures, did some sight-seeing, and of course shopping. we stumbled upon a boutique that shared its name with one of our friends - doesn't seem that much of a novelty, except our friend's name is delano, which is quite unique. we took pictures of the boutique sign, and as an homage to him, we HAD to go in...that's the only reason why we went in, and it WASN'T because of the cute dresses they had in the window. i swear. the dresses weren't available in my size, but everything was reasonably priced, considering it was an independent boutique. i found a nice and versatile cashmere sweater which i am DYING to wear but it's not cold enough yet. as i was paying for the sweater, i noticed a purse that was also cute, and turns out it was dirt cheap, so i bought that too. fun! this was the only day of the week that it wasn't supposed to rain, and it did, of course.

that evening, we were meeting up with amelie and her boyfriend. we asked the front desk of the hotel to call us a cab, and the guy offered to drive us there for free in the hotel car. it's a "gift" to the hotel from audi canada; an extended a8 quattro, i could have had a swimming pool put in in the back if i wanted to, it was that spacious. what a beautiful car. it was neat pulling up to the restaurant and having the hotel guy scurry to open the door for me. we found amelie and peter...we laughed, reminisced and caught up over dinner and drinks after. a perfect way to end our trip!

we drove back on saturday, witnessed some wicked-looking clouds - at one point, i felt i was entering mordor - and a crazy rain storm. luckily it only lasted a little bit, and the rest of the drive was smooth sailing. smooth sleeping for me.

and now it's back to reality. i really miss having a chauffeur. sometimes just sit in the back seat of my car, waiting for someone to come and drive me around. so far, no one has come, but i'm still optimistic...