Wen and I spent Thanksgiving in Montreal with a quick side jaunt to see the folks in Ottawa (Hi mum!).  We had a great time at both, but alas only took photos in Montreal.  Here are shots from around town.

Lunch at La Boite Gourmande (445 rue Laurier Est) - an old bank (complete with vault turned into store room for strollers) transformed into a communal cafeteria:

While Montreal may get grey winters, the locals are especially colourful- especially their art galleries:

The Atelier Punkt takes this to the extreme:

Montreal also has beautiful buildings and a fine, run-down charm:


If you visit, I recommend the Hotel St. Paul, dinner at L’Appartement and buy some fine Quebec-made clothes at Blank (think American Apparel if run by Quebecers [Ed: it is]).

Also, be sure to stop by Suite 88 for some chocolate.  The image below shows caramel, honey and green tea truffles, followed up with a lychee and ginger cone:

So there you go, Montreal in a nutshell, with a slightly gastronomic angle.

However, Quebec is home to much more food.  On the way to Ottawa we stopped in Rigaud for a poutine.  We went into this place:

This place was amazing!  (Alas, it doesn’t appear to have a name, but Rigaud only has one main street off the highway; it’s about 2 minutes in)  I ordered a smoked meat sandwich and a poutine; I won’t try and describe how good it was; you can just take a look instead:

J’adore la belle province!