I Ran Away
On July 4th, I ran away to Canada. So did The Hubby. Aren’t we patriotic?
The Hubby needed to do some “shopping” in some of his potential customers’ locations in Canada before he made some presentations in a few weeks. The only time he could fit it into his schedule was the week of the 4th. Well, actually it was the week of the 1st, but the holiday on Wednesday threw everybody off and I am sure everyone was calling it the week of the 4th. So we ran away from our country on its birthday. Bad, bad citizens!
Anyhow…this was the first time The Hubby and I have been in Canada at the same time…together, even. It was the second time I have visited our wonderful northern neighbors. The first time was with my father, The Boy, and my niece and nephew. But that’s a story for another day. Today’s story is about me and The Hubby’s visit to Canada. We drove to Montreal on the 4th, by way of Vermont. We took the hour ferry drive from Vermont to New York. We walked around Burlington for a bit before we left and guess what we saw? You’ll never guess (unless you have lived in Burlington or wandered around the ferry area in Burlington).
Aghh! Flying Monkeys!
So then we hopped on the ferry (well, actually, The Hubby drove the car onto the ferry and we generally behaved while we looked at the water) and made our way to New York. We finally got to Montreal around 6 or so. We stayed at the Marriott – very nice hotel, but the pool closes too early! – and walked up to Catherine Street area and found an outdoor restaurant for dinner. We finished and walked back to the hotel by 9:30 – just in time for the pool to close.
We left the hotel on the 5th. While we were waiting for the valet to bring the car around (doesn’t that sound wonderful – “Giles, bring the car around, there’s a good fellow!”) the doorman – Ronny – charmed us. He has worked at that hotel for 40 years. 4-0-YEARS. He must make a lot in tips, because he knew how to chat up guests and make the ladies feel good, in a nice old-gentlemanly way. After the car finally showed up and Ronny told us how to get to Ottawa, we made some stops at the stores The Hubby wanted to check out.
I found a thumb latch that I have been looking all over for. $10 Canadian. $50 USD on websites I’d actually been lucky enough to find them on. No way was I going to spend $50 on a door handle, so I am glad I waited for our trip. Also picked up some mats to go under the grills (yes, there is more than one grill on this new, expanded deck now!) that we couldn’t find at our own Home Depot, but were plentiful at the Canadian Home Depot.
We made our way to Ottawa and got a bit turned around trying to find the hotel. We stayed at – wait for it – the Marriott (sense a pattern here?). After The Hubby checked in, he inquired about the concierge level hours. For those not in the know, the concierge lounge is a perk for Platinum Marriott patrons. They have light breakfasts, snacks, and dinner appetizers throughout the day, as well as internet and concierge services. But there was a problem. Remember how it was the week of the 4th of July? Well, apparently we were NOT the only Americans who decided to ditch our homeland celebrations. The Ottawa Marriott decided to CLOSE the concierge lounge that week because there were “too many American tourists” in the hotel.
Now, this did not sit well with The Hubby. Not any Joe Shmoe can access the concierge lounge. In fact, they have to code your key in order to open the doors of the lounge. And you have to be in that elite group that gets that code in the first place. So why close the lounge when they can control who gets in there in the first place?
So he pitched a fit. He called corporate Marriott to complain. We ended up with vouchers for a free breakfast in the restaurant AND a personal card from the hotel supervisor on duty for “appetizers and drinks” or “dinner” in the hotel bar/restaurant. After The Hubby calmed down and we did some more shopping at stores, we went back to the hotel to decide on dinner and the night’s activities. After much internal debate, we went to the bar and ordered some drinks and two appetizers. It was the perfect amount of food. The bar guy – Keiren – was told to give us “anything we wanted.” I guess it pays to bitch sometimes.
So – guess what street we saw in our travels?
And some cool horse sculptures:
We left the next morning to return to our beloved homeland.
We ended up taking rural routes home from Ottawa, which was pretty cool. We went through Amish Country – which I was not aware there was Amish Country that far north. We had breakfast at the Silver Leaf Cafe. It was the BEST French toast I have ever had. I highly recommend it…so hop on over there and have some. They also had little kick-knacks for sale. As The Hubby picked our table, he gets credit for getting me within sight of these:
Yes, 10 wonderful tourist souvenir spoons for $5. There’s one from Hong Kong; Wellington, NZ; Luxemburg; and even one from Kentucky (which I don’t think I had yet). Super cool, huh?
Anyway, that was our Canadian adventure. I was a little disappointed they didn’t stamp our passports, but at least we had them with us in case they did want to stamp them!