So the other weekend, I had the opportunity to take a quick weekend getaway to Montreal, Quebec. I haven’t been there since I was probably about 9 or 10 years old, so I don’t really remember much. But the older parts of town look like you’re in France without leaving North America. Everything there is in French and some people don’t even speak English! And most of the signs are in both English and French. I felt like an outsider, not being able to speak French. I definitely might pick up the Rosetta Stone and see what I can learn, so that I can go back and chat it up with the locals.

While there, my friends and I checked a couple of the local food landmarks which included The St. Viateur Bagel Shop, which supposedly is better than NYC Bagels. Hmmm… I can’t say that they are better. But I’ll say that they are just as good. We went there after a nice of drinking. Apparently, that’s the thing to do, after you drink, it’s Poutine or Bagels. Speaking of poutine, even though I try to be pretty healthy with what I eat, every time I’m in Canada, I have to have Poutine!  There is just something about it.  It’s terrible for you , but it’s such a guilty pleasure.   They come in so many different styles, you’ll definitely find something you’ll like.  After drinking and partying in the Old Port, after the fireworks, we went to La Banquise.  I had the “La Savoyrade”…. uhh so bad for you, but oh so good, after a night of drinking!  And on our last night there, our local friend took us to the famous Gibeau Orange Julep, which makes these orange smoothie-like drinks! It’s pretty good! If you’re from the States, it will remind you of Orange Julius. What makes it so famous? Check out the last photo below. It’s a big Orange!

So anyway… We didn’t get to hit up all of the tourist spots, but we did enough for 1 weekend and I’m definitely looking to go back. Here are some photos from Mont Royal viewpoint and the older part of town, called “Old Port” and a couple fireworks shots from a show we watched along the river.

Also, since I started out in photography back in the film days, I’ve recently been experimenting with ways to make some of our photos look a little more film-like, so this was an opportunity explore that. So the photos may look a little different from what you’re used to seeing. What do you think? Do you like the film look?