Ma fille aînée arrive aujourd'hui...

For our final two days in Montreal, oldest daughter will drive up from NYC to spend some time with us.  She, too, was smitten with the travel bug early on and we can't wait to show her around our "home away from home."  One place that we'll hit tonight is Dieze Onze - a totally French bistro jazz club - where the night starts with "gypsy jazz" a la Django Reinhart.  It is small and intimate with just enough attitude to create an edge. And with a good try at French, the Francophones will happily go bilingual!  (check it out @ http://www.dieseonze.com/)

Tomorrow for sure we'll take her to Marche Jean Talon, the lovely open air market right around the corner from our flat, that is a visual and tasty delight.  And we'll likely close the day strolling the free music at Jazz Fest. It will be a bit like camp at night, given the fold-out bed in one big room, but hey we used to all go tent camping so... there you have it.  I'm curious to know what else she might want to explore - le musée d'art contemporain might be fun - and the upstairs jazz lounge is hot.  We can't miss le Vieux Montreal and maybe just a stroll through one of our favorite neighborhoods, too?

Summer has begun - finally - for her and another year of teaching NYC middle-schoolers is past. I think she stopped to visit her sister in Massachusetts before heading North.  I know she is looking to chill and I hope we can aid and abet her even for a short time.
Then we're on to Ottawa - a whole new adventure - and she goes stateside for a bit before heading off for some European adventure.

We'll travel through about two hours of farmland on the way from Montreal to Ottawa and indulge our retirement fantasies along the way.  Now that we're feeling more settled with our pidgin Quebecois French we're going to keep our eyes open for places just one hour outside of Montreal for future journeys and explorations.