FUN GIRLS WEEKEND

I'm back from a great, long girl's weekend! Once back, I attacked my bookshelf and gave away three books. A former patient of mine gave me a bagload of books that she had enjoyed. The problem was, I attempted to read them and came to the conclusion that we have very different tastes in pleasurable reading material. But since these books were given to me, I kind of felt like I needed to hang onto them until I could slog through them. Today, I gave myself permission to give the books to the book drop and let somebody else enjoy them. What a weight off my shoulders.

Ok, now onto the girl's weekend... My friend Isabelle and I met in Montreal for the weekend. I have never been to Montreal before, even though my brothers had been there several times for hockey tournaments. (I was one of those dorky kids who didn't want to miss school and I didn't want to go with them) Now I want to make up for lost time.

Montreal is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! With the foliage in full bloom and the weather in perfect fall mode, we couldn't have picked a better weekend. Plus, those crazy Canucks with their self depeciating humor were so nice! Every place we went I felt like the employees were my new best friends. (I also think they find short brunette and tall red-haired American girls quite fetching, which is a definite plus)



The best part of Montreal, however, was the food. I ate my way from one end of the city to the other. Each meal was better than the last. I had perogies and potato pancakes that tasted like they were made by God himself. I had banana flambe french toast! How cool is that? I had a seafood meal at a French restaurant that was eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head good. I had bagels with salmon and lemon, I had crepes with ice cream and fruit. I had so much good food my taste buds were fatigued. I had to recover with Mc Donald's fries on the way home just so I wouldn't go into shock when I got home and started eating my normal diet.





Those French-Canadians really know what they are doing. I can't wait to go to France and taste the food there. I may just keel over and die with a giant, goofy smile plastered on my face.





The one bad part about the weekend was when I stepped out of the shower and smashed my toe on the edge of the bathtub. I was a little concerned when it still was throbbing 10 minutes later. We had lots to do, though. We had to go visit the Olympic stadium (a little disappointing. They could have done so much MORE! I mean, who runs a tour of the stadium from the 76 Olympics and DOES NOT HAVE a little movie of Nadia Comanice? Or Sugar Ray Leonard and Leon Spinks? How about mention of China's boycott? Or talk about the East German women's swimming team and how that sparked questions of anabolic steroid use? No. Nothing like that. Just...here's the stadium. It's losing money every year. Wanna ride up to the top of the tower?)





But...I digest. After our trip to the underwhelming Olympic stadium, we had to walk around old Montreal and visit the Notre Dame Basilica where Celine Dion got married, we had to stroll by the St Lawrence River and look at the rushing water, we had to watch the street performers, and of course we had to EAT! By the time we got back to the hotel, my poor toe was the size, shape, and color of a concord grape!

Even the drive home was wonderful! Vermont looks lovely this time of year.

Ever feel like life is just perfect? That's what it felt like in Montreal.