Greg & Camille Go Bike

Montreal beautifully connects diverse landscapes, cultures, and people, and we thoroughly enjoyed a restful stay here. We feel so pampered by all the bike infrastructure and just don't know how we could ever go back to motorist-dominated roads (don't worry; we're still planning to come home, but we'll certainly miss this city). Spaces dedicated to art and nature are abundant, and you can find any food you're craving among the lively and clean grid street system. Cyclists are celebrated downtown, throughout an ample nation-wide trail network, and along scenic (very safe) paths.

We caught the sunrise at Mont Royal for a spectacular view of the city that was most likely named after it (in French, Mont Royal kinda sounds like Montréal). Bernard's recommendation did not disappoint. The wooded mountain was covered with connecting trails and leaves of every color (although still mostly green).

For almost a year now, we'd been talking about seeing an opera together and were excited to learn that the Montréal Ballet-Opéra-Pantomime (BOP) was performing about a mile down the street at the Place des Artes the same weekend we were staying. The performance featured two one-act operas: Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams) and Le Flambeau de la nuit (Tanguay-Labrosse, who actually created and directs BOP). Camille was especially eager to hear Vaughan Williams as his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is one of her favorite pieces. While the two stories portrayed heavy and melancholy themes, the musicians were wonderful. It was a lovely experience to see live music again! We were very thankful Quebec had good COVID protocols in place to make this a safe event for everyone.

Art continued outside the theater on the streets. We were amazed to see people dancing in the streets to salsa music on the weekends and impressed by street performers throughout the day. One of our favorites was a trio of brass musicians and a showy cyclist (enjoy a small clip here!) who had a fun back-and-forth dynamic. What a city full of life!