International Super Bowl

Brian and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary this year on Feb 14- so we knew we wanted to take a kidless trip to celebrate. And this would be the 9th annual Super Bowl with the Leadbetter's- could we combine these two trips? YES! Brian threw out the idea of traveling to Montreal, because why not? And thankfully the Leadbetter's also though Why not?

Without having any family to help us, I knew it would be tricky to get 5 days away- but we needed this, and luckily our amazing friends realized this and were happy to step in and take care of the kids for us. 

I tried to make it as simple as possible for the kids, and my friends. This was Macy's suitcase-

We left early on Friday morning, as we didn't have a direct flight, and wanted to get there early to enjoy the day to it's fullest. 

Brian bumped us up to first class, so I was drinking bubbles by 8am-

And then suddenly- we were stuck on the ground. The weather was crappy in NYC, so they had to hold us here in DC. For 2 hours. It sucked, and we missed our connection too. 

We landed in NYC and quickly went to get re-boarded- along with everyone else. Flights were full, flights were canceled. UGH! They couldn't get us in to Montreal until 7pm. We were supposed to be there by noon, and then Sara and Chris would arrive at 4pm. This sucked. Brian was pissed. 

I dragged him to the lounge before we got put on the do not fly list. I got a drink in him, and some veggies-

We had lots of time to kill, so we worked on our French- 

Here we come, finally!

We rented an Airbnb apartment right downtown that was amazing! Sara and Chris went out to the grocery store, stocked the place for happy hour and breakfast and were there waiting when our car pulled up! We even made it to our dinner place that night, with question cards of course-

After dinner, Brian (who planned every second of the incredible trip for us all) had a special bar picked out to go to next. Here it is- 

What? No way. He told me to ring the doorbell and I thought for sure he was lost. We waited a minute or two and all thought he was a bit nutty- until a waiter came and opened the door. It was a speakeasy! And it a very hip, friendly, prohibition era decor kind of place.

That story goes back to the 70’s, when the Montreal police were about to lose control of the city because of corruption. That’s where a small unit (rubber duck squad) decided to take the nightlife by storm. The Coldroom decided to take a part of there playbook, we are a small bartending unit ready to take the nightlife by storm with our creativity and innovative concepts. 

It's the kind of place that you leave and you think, did that just happen? So much so that we had to go back the next day to find it!

Turns out they have a website, but no address listed. 

The cocktails were hand crafted -

From there we decided to have a final, final on our way home- 

Saturday morning we woke up and went walking! It was brutally cold, but sunny. The perfect 4 mile walk through the city to lunch. And look at this place- 

 Can you tell which husband packs light?

 This was the view from our living room, overlooking the waterfront-

 Our apartment was on the top floor of this historic building, those 3 roofline dormers were ours-

 Our snowy walk through historic old Montreal-

Brian loved going to get an expresso and croissant each morning- 

 Our apartment had the original old wooden wheel they would use to pull in ships years and years ago. It made for a fun photo op-

 Saturday the guys had to go out to do some re-con together to find the perfect bar for us to watch the Super Bowl in on Sunday...

 And we girls napped and did some yoga together!

We loved walking through the quaint little snowy streets and taking in the historical sights day or night-

Our lunch spot on Saturday was a large food market-

 We were all frozen, but the guys decided on these for lunch-

No way. I needed some warm, fresh, pasta and tomato sauce. While Sara chose an amazing savory crepe-

 We couldn't resist doing a maple syrup tasting-

 And watching this old man make these cool maple syrup icy pops-

Seeing the Notre-Dame Basilica was beautiful to see inside and out-

Built in 1657 the Gothic Revival style, the church is highly decorated. The vaults are coloured deep blue and decorated with golden stars, and the rest of the sanctuary is decorated in blues, azures, reds, purples, silver, and gold. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal. It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises four keyboards, 92 stops using electropneumatic action and an adjustable combination system, 7000 individual pipes and a pedal board.

 Dinner Saturday night was a favorite. A small bistro in a charming little neighborhood, with these two characters-

They even ordered the same thing-

Saturday night we tried to stay out late, but well we just couldn't find the right spot for all of us...

Super Bowl Sunday!!!

We got to the bar at 1pm, just 5 hours early. We needed to find the best seats, right?

We were sad to miss out on the American commercials, and vowed not to make our Super Bowl international again. But we were even sadder that the Patriots lost. Well, 3 of us were sad-

It snowed and snowed and snowed while we were there. Saturday night, all day Sunday, Monday and into Tuesday! It was a winter wonderland for sure. 

Monday morning at breakfast Sara threw out the idea of us all going to ride the giant ferris wheel together before the left. Sara is afraid of heights, Brian is afraid of heights- but, okay. 

Here we go!

The wind was wild, but we survived- and the views were breathtaking- 

We barely made it off the thing, and thought Sara and Chris might miss their flight. Which would have been just fine with me! But they didn't. And suddenly it was time to say good-bye. Wow. Noooooo. What happened to Friday night? How was our weekend together already over? So not fair. The Leadbetter's are good for our soul, we seem to always be belly laughing when we are with them. We needed a dose of them and the timing of this Super Bowl trip was perfectly planned, just 6 weeks after Brian came home from his deployment...

Brian and I had planned to stay for a bonus night, just us. That day we walked up to Chinatown- 

And found some amazing Ramen soup for lunch-

I had to giggle that we were both in our LL Bean matchy pullover sweaters-

We also stopped in to the coolest thrift store. From the outside, you wouldn't have dared to go in if you didn't know what it was-

And then we decided to go ice skating! Again, bitter cold- but who cares? They created an ice rink on the river, and keep part of the river cleared off for a pathway too- 

Safe, right? 

I loved these genius bench style lockers- 

Monday night we went out for a very nice anniversary dinner. I joked that I didn't want to fill up on these complimentary bread sticks before our entree-

I loved looking out the bathroom window on Tuesday morning and seeing our old stone building, covered in snow and icicles- 

And just like that, we were headed home. Man did we need this time together, this fun adventure to uncharted territory for us. We came home feeling connected and refreshed. Brian enjoyed planning this trip for us, and paid attention to so many tiny details that did not go unnoticed by me. 

Here we are back in the lounge in NYC, not too shabby of a skyline out there...