#16: Visit St. Joseph Oratory

Yesterday was part 2 of tourists in Montreal with my dear friend SW. I need to preface this by saying that we had a hugeeee (but delicious) breakfast and for some reason didn't manage to shake off the sleepiness that ensued for the rest of the day. Between that and the fact that the Oratory is the biggest, most confusing church I've ever seen (and I've seen my fair share of churches in Italy so that's saying A LOT), we kinda died.

St. Joseph Oratory is nicely nested on Mount Royal and apparently has healing powers. Inside the church, in the COOLEST chapel I've ever seen (candles wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling), there are giant stands filled with crutches, canes, and the likes. According to what my mom told me, people would come to the Oratory for a pilgrimage and during/after, would find themselves healed. They left behind their walking helps. Seeing them all like this together makes for kind of an awe-inspiring moment.

One of four of the stands with crutches/canes/etc. in the Chapel of Votives

Now aside from the chapel, there is of course the Basilica at the very top. Lots of stairs. Looooots of stairs. But the view is amazing (and I imagine even more amazing by night) and the Basilica is breathtaking. The ceilings are so high, you feel like a tiny speck of dust. It's very bare, plain, yet so impressive. Complete opposite of Notre Dame, which was decked out to the nines, without one tiny piece of wall left unadorned. But St. Joseph has its charms. So much in fact that I found out it's used as the picture representing Montreal in the "around the world" version of Monopoly.

Like I said. LOTS OF STAIRS to the top. But so worth it.

#36: Hang out at Jean-Drapeau park

One of Montreal's best kept secrets, in my opinion, is Parc Jean-Drapeau. The park is comprised of two islands, where you can find an aquatic park, a beach, La Ronde (kind of like a Six Flags), the Montreal Casino (originally built for the Montreal Summer Olympics), the Biosphere (not to be confused with the Biodome), and tons of grassy areas. It's also the location of Piknik Electronik, a chill Sunday afternoon event that runs all summer long, where you can listen to a couple DJs, enjoy the outdoors, and have a beer with friends.

I had planned to stay for only a few hours, but ended up having such a nice afternoon that we extended our stay by an hour or two. Oops?

Given the heat we've had lately, I plan to go back and check out the beach soon too!

In front of the Biosphere

Piknik (it got way more crowded within the hour)

They were celebrating their ten year anniversary or something by asking people to wear these and say how long they'd been coming. I wrote, "today".

Grumman's is a local food truck that's made it onto all the big foodie shows for its famous tacos. When they show up to an event with their yellow truck, it sells out within hours. I made it before that!

#1: Walk up Mount Royal

First off, a little geography lesson for those who haven't been to Montreal: Mont Royal (or Mount Royal for you anglophones) is a mountain (or a hill if you compare it to the Rockies really) set in the middle of the city. McGill happens to be right at the foot of it. It's a giant park where people love to go jogging, biking, and so on. On top of the mountain, there is also Beaver Lake (Lac Castor) where you can skate in the winter and have fun outdoorsy times in the summer. Here's a picture at sunset:

Then, about a kilometer further up, there is a chalet and lookout where you can see the whole city. And last night was the night we decided to tackle said mountain.

We made a plan. We were gonna leave about an hour before sunset, to catch it from up there. But neither of us really knew how to get to the top of the mountain. Turns out there's a loooot of ways. Just walk toward the mountain and eventually you will see a path or stairs. We started on this path, and were a bit lost. Someone noticed and gave us some information. Then he added, "on an esthetic note," that Mont Royal was designed by the same person who did Central Park. It's a giant loop until you get to the top, designed to give a sense of infinity. It goes from covered areas with dense trees to open ones, to keep a sense of awe in its audience.

And it's totally true. We enjoyed the loooonnnnngggg walk up (7 km) and eventually got to Beaver Lake, as you can see above. We continued and eventually made it to the lookout. Well worth it when we saw THIS:

SW and I agreed that our pictures did a bad job showing how incredible it is to have the whole city at your feet.

Little extra comment: if you go for sunset, bring a flashlight... We fully expected to get killed on the way down. We took a different way down, following where the lights were, and ended up about 30 blocks away from our houses. Our legs were not happy with us!

#15: Visit Notre Dame Basilica / #2: Explore Old Montreal

Yesterday, SW and I went all out and had ourselves a tourist day around Montreal. It seems like a funny idea, but you don't realize how much you missed when you get caught up in your routine. Yes, I've been to old Montreal a few times, but it was always quick and I never knew much about it. To the point that I've been calling it Old Port for years, when Old Port is actually the area of Old Montreal where the actual port is. With the boats. Oops!

We left very early to beat the heat, and we ended up getting lost in old Montreal for about four hours. It was amazing. First we visited Notre Dame Basilica. I visited Italy in high school, so I've seen my fair share of gorgeous churches, but Notre Dame still took my breath away. The amount of detail, the colors, the grandeur of it all! Amazing. Here's in front of and inside Notre Dame:

After that we just walked and walked and walked some more. Some of the streets in Old Montreal are still cobblestone, which kinda feels like an odd foot massage. Eventually we got hungry, and settled down on a patio to have brunch. On the street beside our patio, we discovered a Just for Laughs gag was being filmed! The gag involved getting a couple, getting the guy to put on a bra while the lady was distracted. After, they would walk up the street, where a "security guard" was doing scans. There he would reveal how the guy had a bra on, leaving the lady confused. We saw two of them get caught, it was kinda cool to see it live!

After that we walked some more, got hungry again, and had Beaver tails (don't know what a Beaver Tail is?). We sat down and I began feeding cute birds bits of mine. And then SW learned a valuable life lesson: sharing is caring. Otherwise giant birds will attack you.
She didn't feed the birds, so a big one flew right on her beaver tail, grabbed some, and then continued hovering over us. Scared us both a bit. Poor SW had to throw out her beaver tail, scared of bird diseases. I wish someone had gotten the whole thing on tape.

We ventured back around Notre Dame, only to discover a big protesting dance party going on. It was cool for a while, but when the music ended and they started talking about their "social cause," it was time to leave.

All in all, we had a really good day. Sore feet but happy faces!

I love: pristine white

Sometimes, all you need is a crisp white shirt to spruce up any outfit. Work and play.

Obviously I'd pick one with a bow.

I want this for work. NEED.

I love this one. I feel like it works for every occasion I can think of.

Peter Pan collar. Scalloping. AHHHHH.

Ruffles!

Puuuurdy

#19: Attend Tam Tams

Every Sunday afternoon during summer, people gather from all corners of Montreal in this giant park at the foot of Mount Royal for Tam Tams. The name originates from the fact that there is a massive tam tam jam session happening at the heart of the park.
I finally had the chance to check it out today and it was pretty cool. I saw everything from an old man juggling, to nerds larp-ing (live action role playing.... it's like a big simulated battle), to people walking on thin cords set up around trees. I was also shocked to see how many people attend this "event". There was musicians playing guitars, crafts people selling their trinkets, children, dogs, couples, non-couples (me and Sarah included)...

LOVED IT.

A picture taken from our spot in the sun.. My foot looks happy here, am I crazy?

I love: jumpsuits

A jumpsuit, for the confused, is basically like a dress but the skirt part is pants. A jumpsuit refers to one with long pants, whereas a romper has shorts.

Basically, jumpsuits are hard work. Hard to design, hard to pull off... Different leg lengths, elastic waistband location, sleeves or no sleeves, solid or pattern: these are all factors that make the difference between looking like a child, a glamazon, a hoochie, and a fatty. I feel like a designer could decide to specialize in jumpsuits, and that would be enough work for an entire career.  The other problem is that the average woman will run away when presented with the challenge of a jumpsuit. It's not that it's soooo fashion-forward, I mean they've been around since the 70s for Pete's sake, but it's risky.

BUT. When they're rockin', they're rockin'. Big time.

I convinced myself to try one on last year, and I gotta say I luuuuuuuurve it. It's a whole lot of curvy me, but it's such a thrill! I also remember making a friend try one on at Forever 21 a few years back, and in 30 seconds she morphed from childish to a 50s pinup hottie. Obvs I made her buy it and she proceeded to get a lot of compliments on her slammin' body after that.

And that's the true beauty of a jumpsuit. If you find the right one, THE ONE, you will look amazing. Like truly AH-mazing (see rockin' comment above).

So here are a few picks... They're mostly dark material or black, and that is simply because it's a one-piece. If you're gonna wear the same color head-to-toe, sometimes less is more. Plus more room for fab accessories. Obvs.

Yes, that is an anchor pattern. DROOL.

I love jumpsuits (or in this case rompers) that look like separates. Also, duh. BOW.

I've had this picture for 4 months, not even gonna lie.

This+red blazer+work = jealous ladies at the office.

WHITE! SCALLOPING! AHHHH!

This one has been "winter-ized" aka see black tights there? The perfect jumpsuit/romper will do that for you. Hot legs in the summer, playful new outfit in the winter.