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.