Victory!

Today was the Women's World Cup Final . . . and even though we are all home now, it really seemed like an extension to our trip, so . . . I am happy to announce that that our trip has resulted in Team USA winning the 2015 FIFA WWC!  Carli Lloyd scored three goals in the opening minutes of the match, with Lauren Holiday and Tobin Heath also contributing goals.  A great game to end a great trip . . . even if we had to watch it end on TV.

La tour de QC

After the Tableau incident we returned to QC and took in the Citadel, some shopping, and other local sites. 

Standing watch on the city walls

St. Lawrence Seaway View

We wound up at a bar we scoped out the first night as a good spot to watch the USA v Germany match.  It was a great place to watch the match, if you want quiet and subdued and quite possibly to be the only people in the place watching the game.  But we had fun and made some noise (but probably less than we would have elsewhere).  Team USA marched on to another victory, securing their place in the WC finals in Vancouver on July 5 . . . if only it was one day earlier that would be so appropriate.  Wish we could go!

Post match we discussed our plans.  We had originally thought about sticking around for one more day in Canada, as tomorrow is Canada Day and festivities might be interesting, but we are all tired and decided we’d just head back tomorrow instead.  Its been a great trip, with great friends, and a great WC experience!  Thanks for all the memories, J, K, Sara, Carly, Megan, and crew!  Remember "Don't Wambach it!"  (Sorry Abby!)

Its on the license plate

La tableau du Terroir?

Canadian favorites at work.

So this morning we decided to set off outside the city to see some of the countryside.  We decided to make a visit to a local sugar shack (a place they make and sell maple syrup).  This one was a place we saw on a food channel special.  Upon arriving, we find the parking lot deserted except for employee cars and a large sign in front advertising “La Tableau du Terroir”.  Knowing some French, I do know this just means they serve local food, however, being a group of native English speakers and given the deserted setting in the middle of the woods, one can't help but have some negative connotation . . .  They routinely terrorize their guests?  Understandably intimidated, we decided to find a hike instead and perhaps come back later . . . Nearby we located a trail that wound around a local lake and got out for a short hike.  Nice area, obviously a favorite with the local mosquito population as well.  Also popular with some locals who attempted, but failed, to photo bomb Sara.  A worthy spot for stretching our legs in the woods a bit, and the bug bites will help us remember how enjoyable it was.  After the hike, we passed by a still empty Sugar Shack . . . we’ll mark that down as a fall only attraction.

Failed photo-bombing by the lake (premature pose dropping)

Our Private Bar

Our hotel the Clarendon, has a “legendary” jazz lounge and bar.  It was still early, but we figured that we should check it out . . . the place was empty, save the bartender who I think we probably annoyed with our super slow decision making.  So naturally we came back several times during our stay.  Always the same bartender and almost always empty.  Tried several cocktails here, but the best find may be these local beers:

Decent bar find . . . in a can.

Bye bye J :-(

Today we sadly waved goodbye to J as she flew home, but not before we dragged her to Quebec City.  On our way out of Montreal, we also found our way to the suburbs to a coffee shop that some skilled sleuthing had identified as a spot where Megan Rapinoe had coffee the previous day.  No USWNT sightings, but we did have some nice cups of coffee and delicious pastries.  Then we headed up the St. Lawrence Seaway toward Quebec City.  We passed some interesting roadside attractions, including some life sized dinosaurs along the way, but our attempts to navigate the frontage roads to investigate were unsuccessful. 

Arriving in QC, J had a couple of hours before her flight, so we did a quick drive through of the historic old town and then headed to a waterfront restaurant we found in one of our travel guides.  Our travel guide was a few years old and arriving at the location the GPS led us too, almost gave up thinking the restaurant had closed.  But some exploration and a little persistence and we found the restaurant and enjoyed our last meal together.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Penguin herding.

Montreal, Day 2.  Rained all day, so we jumped on the subway and headed out to the Olympic Park. This is where USA will play in a couple of days, but its also home to the Biodome, a sort of indoor zoo/aquarium built into the former indoor cycling venue for the 1976 Olympics.  They had some typical exhibits . . . K and J swam with the penguins . . . but also some Canada specific areas which recreated the various riverine, lacustrine, estuarine, and marine zones of Canada. So we got to see some puffins, trout, and other Canadian favorites too.

A Canadian favorite.

Afterward we headed back into Montreal and explored the underground.  Downtown Montreal has developed a below ground area full of shopping and restaurants that connects almost all the buildings in the core.  So in winter (or rain!) you can go almost anywhere without having to brave the elements for too long.  A nice feature for a Canadian city (American cities take note).  We wound up at a bar with a kind of turn of the century feel, for some unique cocktails before heading back to the hotel. 

Á Francophone Canada

Today we made our way across the border into Quebec and onward to Montreal.  On our drive today we took a circuitous route, checking out Lachine on our way.  It had a lovely river front walk and some neat shops.  Including an antique shop that we stumbled onto that had been closed up for years and just reopened.  Claustrophobic piles of all types of stuff piled up ten to fifteen feet on either side of a very narrow walkway that had been cleared.  We could only see a small potion of the stuff, but pretty cool and a nice collection of gramophones for K to peruse. Afterward we drove through Chambly in an attempt to visit the Unibroue Brewery, sadly we arrived to discover they were renovating and not taking visitors  :-(

Lachine waterfront.

Ironically, as we were headed to Montreal, so was team USA . . . their next match was there in three days.  At the time when we bought our WC tickets we knew there was a chance that the USA would be in the Ottawa Quarterfinal if they won their group, but it was really going out on a limb to project further than that, so we didn’t look into tickets for the Semifinal match.  At this point we’re thinking that may have been a mistake (esp. as was J planning to fly and the rest of us heading to Quebec City the day before the SF match), mais c’est la vie.  At the very least we can be in Montreal for the festivities leading up to the match and soak in the general splendor . . . and perhaps exploit social media to find out where the team might be.  And in that vane, we have identified the three practice fields used by the World Cup teams in the area.  As we headed into town we decided it would be worthwhile to check a couple out.  We struck out, but did grab a nice cup of Joe at Timmy’s in the process.

Finally making it into the city, and into our hotel.  We headed out to see a bit of the town, find a place to eat, and ultimately a place to watch the Canada vs England match.  Again we chose well, finding a good pub-ish place where we ordered beer by the 4 L tank (multiple times) and sadly watched Canada come up short in their match.  Being the Americans in the bar, we naturally were the ones to start a bar-wide round of applause for Canada’s valiant effort in this World Cup . . . the liters of beer probably helped us along.

Game Time

Pregame excitment!

After collecting our stuff we jumped on a bus and headed to Landsdowne Stadium for the big night!  We arrived just in time to watch the last few minutes of France's heart-breaking loss to Germany in penalty kicks on the jumbotron.  After settling into our seats the whole scene really started to sink in . . . we were really at the Women’s World Cup Quarterfinals and the USA was about to take on China!  The atmosphere was great and our Canadian friends were definitely backing the USA . . . as were the thousands of Americans that made the trip.

The USA team made it through the group stage and round of 16 games without undue difficulty, but at the same time they were just barely eeking by each game.  Writing this update after the World Cup had actually concluded, I know a few things happened during this match that really paved the way for the USA’s eventual success in the tournament . . . and it was very exciting to watch live.  First (and sadly) both Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday were benched after receiving 2 yellow cards in previous rounds.  In itself this was a sad thing, as we were all sad not to see them play (especially 'Pinoe), but this coupled with the decision to not start Abby Wambaugh (she did sub in later) set in motion some pivotal changes in the team's dynamics.  Major among these were pushing Carli Lloyd, who has been playing a deeper center midfielder (and someone who I think has been underappreciated for years), further forward, and wow did she take advantage of it . . . netting the winning goal and ultimately contributing to her ultimate win of the Golden Ball award for the tournament.  It also completely changed the team's dynamic and energy with as other players like Tobin Heath really stepping up and bringing an excitement to their play that just hadn’t been there all tournament.  In any case it was a great victory and super exciting to be there in person to see it all happen.

Post-match celebration!!!

Yum!

Following some after-match attempts to find the team bus, and maybe bump into . . . I don’t know, maybe Megan Rapinoe . . . we decided to walk the couple of miles back to the hotel rather than wait with the masses for the buses.  Along the way we found a restaurant that K had identified before the trip as one to check out, The Whalesbone Oyster House, and she was absolutely right.  It was really a hole in the wall, but they knew how to cook seafood.  And we had front row seats as the only table available was practically in the kitchen (best table in the house).  These guys had fun, did shots with customers, and all the while managed to prepare dish after dish in this tiny kitchen with a rhythm that was fascinating to watch.  We ordered almost one of everything and even asked them to surprise us with a custom oyster appetizer.  Delicious. 

Two things not to miss in Ottawa: US World Cup quarterfinals (ok, perhaps hard to come by) and The Whalesbone Oyster House.

Ottawa at Large

Wandering about Ottawa . . .

Today we set out to wander around Ottawa . . . with a sense of game day anticipation in the air.  Ottawa was quite obviously an American city for the day as everywhere we went we saw people wearing red, white, and blue.  We found a trail behind the government buildings that led to a lovely walk along the St. Lawrence where we climbed over some locks on the canal, checked out the outdoor exhibits at the National Gallery of Canada, and ended up at the high point checking out the views of Ottawa and Gatineau by the Champlain Statue.  We then wandered through the ByWard Market area until finding a pub, that was really like five pubs sharing the same building.  We also discovered that the pub complex had at least one set of washrooms for each member of our party.  After eating we did a little shopping in the open air stalls on our way back to the hotel to prep for the big game!

Hear no, See no, Speak no . . . Did you Really think J wouldn't peak?

The fellowship of the football.

Canada Bound!

Last night we collected J from the airport and headed north! Five exhausting miles later we reached Center City Philly our not too ambitious goal for night 1.  We grabbed a few drinks and crashed with K to charge up.  

Today we set out early and after finally making it out of Philly traffic began making real progress in our northward trek. 

Riding our noble steeds northward.

We were briefly side-tracked in rural PA by signs advertising the world’s largest General Store and had to investigate.  After more than an hour, we found our way out of the maze of dollar-store items, Halloween decorations, Michael Jackson statues, and assorted Americana before finally making our way outside . . . to spend another 30 minutes in the barnyard maze.  Overall an interesting experience. 

General store fun.

Parliament at night.

First Ottawa views.

Back on the road, we made good time, crossing New York and into Ontario in the Thousand Islands   area (worthy of a followup visit).  Eventually we found our way into Canada’s Capital, and with some strong navigation work from J and K (overtones of “Men in Black”) drove right up to our home for the next two days, the Ottawa Marriott.  After grabbing glasses of whiskey and getting the lay of the land from the balcony in the Concierge Lounge, we headed out on the town checking out the Parliament Building and a few assorted sights, before settling in at a local microbrewery for some poutine, dinner, and yes a few beers.  One last stop at the hotel bar delivered nightcaps, the end of a jazz set (part of the Ottawa Jazz Festival), and some “interesting” company (sorry J).

Busy Day!