July 13 - Crew, Circus School, Ice Skating and Damas

Dear readers - I want to apologize for the spotty blog posts of late.  Our condo in Montreal has many fine qualities including the lovely Old Port location, spacious living quarters and a surprisingly under-utilized swimming pool.  One quality it cannot boast is fast or even marginally reliable internet.  My daily blogging started to become a source of intense frustration.  My children were hearing words that would make a sailor blush.  Thankfully, this morning, we discovered Eden.  Crew Collective & Cafe; a cafe and shared work space housed in a repurposed 1925 bank complete with ornate, vaulted ceilings and teller windows that offers exquisite pastries, espresso drinks and a wi-fi connection that'll blow your hair back.  If ever I go missing, look here first.

So, as the kids tapped away on their devices, Jack and I sipped and nibbled and clicked - bringing the blog blessedly back up to date.  With that to do, done - we referred to Field Trip, a newish app that uses your location to point out lesser-known spots of interest that are close by.  Very nice for travelers who enjoy finding out-of-the way places and are not concerned with international data roaming charges.  Field Trip pointed us to a piece of the Berlin Wall that's on display in an indoor mall.  Nice photo opp and chance for a history lesson.  The mall also had Compiaire 21 - the top ranked poutinerie in Montreal according to the Poutine Pundit.  We tried it and were unanimous in our judgement that this was 2nd best after the poutine with foie gras at Au Pied du Couchon.  Hard to beat foie gras!  

Next stop was the kids circus school sponsored by the organizers of the circus festival.  It was short but fun - trapeze, tight rope & juggling among other things. After that, we headed to Le Atrium 1000 to cool off with a little ice skating!  There is a certain smell to an ice skating rink that transcends time and space - if I'd closed my eyes at Le Atrium 1000, I could have easily been in the Wellington Arena, practicing my toe loop.  Ahh, memories!  Only Charlotte and I had ever skated before and she, only once, so it was slow going around the rink but everyone enjoyed themselves and agreed that we would try again the next time we're in Tahoe.  My dad suffered a back injury while teaching me how to skate when he was about the age I am now so I was relieved to see us all off the ice but not on a stretcher.  It's all fun and games until someone slips a disk.  

The girls were truly done by this point so we handed them off to Courtney for the evening and headed out to the transitional Mile End neighborhood for dinner at Damas.  This well-rated middle eastern restaurant looked promising from the get go and did not disappoint!  Jack believes that the Kibbe (raw spiced lamb) was as good as his Sitty used to make.  High praise; high praise indeed!  We stuffed ourselves silly and then waddled over to Alexandraplatz (a hipster beer garden) but were too hot and too full to imagine parting the sea of man buns and tat sleeves to get to the bar and get a drink.  

In order to aid the digestion process, we walked down Rue St. Laurent past the ecclectic shops and lively bars.  Montreal sure knows how to make the most out of the few precious summer months - the terrasses are rockin, even on a Wednesday!