Nancy Nelson caught a whopper in my last entry.  To correct it, please note: It was Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, who came back in 1641 and founded Montréal. Sorry about that, Paul.

Thursday, September 29, 2022

We walked to our museum on Thursday morning.  It was the McCord, now the McCord Stewart, as the Stewart closed and the McCord inherited its collections.  It’s on Sherbrooke, right across the street from McGill, a five-minute walk from my house, three from Le St Martin.  They have a wonderful exhibit called Indigenous Voices that is a “must see” and a very nice photography exhibit from the late eighteen hundreds.  I particularly loved the ancestor of the puffer jacket we all wear.  It was waterproof because it was made from the intestines of a water mammal.  Sorry I don’t have a picture. 

From there we went to Sakura for lunch.  It’s one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Montreal.  It was one of two when I was working right near where I live now.  They had moved, though, and I would have picked a different one if I had known there was a flight of stairs to navigate.  They were short staffed, too, so it took a long time, but, lunch was very, very good and it gave Carol and Geri time to make a discovery that has bonded them like no other.  I love it when that kind of thing happens.

After lunch we finished “Rosemount to Westmount”, in Westmount.  There are some amazing homes to look at on the west side of our mountain and four lesser ones that I happened to live in at various times in my life, after my first marriage.  We drove past three of them, Westmount lookout, and its beautiful parks. 

We had cocktails at McGill’s Faculty Club, which is in one of the original nineteenth century mansions, and dinner back at Le St Martin, which has one of the best Italian restaurants in town, Fiorella.

Friday, September 30, 2022

This was the day they came for. I had to take a minute to stop and thank the universe when it dawned bright and sunny.  I was thankful for the bits of frost we had been having in the night, too.  The stars and planets had all lined up and it was the perfect day.  Denis arrived on time.  We piled into the van and off we went.  I had the very back seat this time because I didn’t have much to say.  I let the landscape speak. 

It doesn’t get better than that. 

We arrived in time for our lunch reservation at Stonehaven, which I had sussed out a month ago, when I was driving back from the Godwin’s cottage.  It’s a Relais et Chateaux property, so you know it’s good.  It would definitely be worth going up for a weekend some time.    Here we are:

Mike, Helen, Geri, Cindy, Carol, Denis

And here is my dessert, taken from the top.  It was a fabulous chocolate mousse.  Just look at the creativity in the presentation:

After lunch, we drove further up north for more gorgeous colors viewing and back to the city for dinner at a Greek restaurant.  I left this one up to Denis.  He’s Greek and has owned many restaurants in Montreal in his time.  He found us a very good one.  It’s called Philinos, on Park Avenue, above Mount Royal. 

Denis had driven enough, I returned the van to the Hertz parking space under the IBM Building.  It was a very short walk home.

Saturday, October 1, 2022

It was time to board.  Carol and Cindy decided to sleep in a bit and just take their own taxi to the ship.  It was a good, easy option.  Denis picked up Joan McGuigan, who lives on the way between his house and mine, then Mike and his luggage, then Geri and Helen.  There wasn’t enough room left in his Jeep for people, so I called a taxi for Mike and me. 

We had DimSum at Ruby Rouge, which is always good, and something different, if you don’t live in a big city with a big Chinese population.  Then it was a short ride to the ship and we boarded. 

It turned out to be old home week for me.  There was a Mariner’s cocktail party.  I was looking for Nona Hamilton, my tablemate from 2012, when John and Marta, whom I didn’t know, hailed me and asked if I wanted to join them.  I explained I was on a mission, and they said I could do it from there, and they were right.  Next thing you know, Nona walked by.  What fun.  A couple of minutes we were all chatting with the Daphne, the Guest Relations Manager, always a great contact to have.  Then Beryl Mitten called Nona, and I got to talk to her, too.  Beryl had been at that 2012 world table, too.  That left only Stan and Marilyn, who were on another ship but will be back on the World again in 2023, with all of us.  I checked by email. What a wonderful time we will have.