D Carrie (00:02.222)

salutations and shit folks welcome welcome welcome back to another episode of your favorite travel podcast travel and shit we're your host D carry have an experiential conversation about the nuanced ways that travel intersects with regular life so um jumping right into it let me begin by saying I never thought I would find a destination that I would want to visit like more than once right like I

D Carrie (00:32.862)

in general have a sense of there's so much to see that I don't want to, air quotes here, waste time going someplace that I've already gotten a chance to explore. I want the opportunity to do so much and see so much so I feel like at every chance I should try someplace new. Outside of like reasonable expectations of visiting family that live out of

D Carrie (00:59.782)

state or out of the country like I'm gonna go to Virginia multiple times in my life because my cousin is there so you know things like that my best friend lives in Kentucky so I've been to Kentucky multiple because I'm going to see my best friend I've been to it's been a long time girl but I've been to my friend Alicia's house in North Carolina multiple times because you are one of my best friends like I'm going to be here for life events right that being

D Carrie (01:29.822)

I was so surprised to really, really, really fall in love with Montreal as much as I have, but it has happened. I feel like I want to make an annual pilgrimage to Montreal every year. This is the second year in a row that I took boyfriend for his boyfriend, for his boyfriend for his birthday. And I feel like that might be a little selfish to be like, let's go to Montreal for your birthday every year.

D Carrie (01:56.714)

and then we go someplace different for my birthday. You know what I mean? Like that'd be a little shady. So I won't say that I'll do it for his birthday every year, but if he is down to go every year for his birthday, I'm down to make it happen. But even if we don't go for that event in particular, we're gonna go back every year. I love it there. It might even turn into one of those places that we do multiple times in a year, just because.

D Carrie (02:22.078)

it's only six hours away and that's around six hours away. If there's no traffic, like if you were to leave Manhattan or Queens, say, kids are out of school and there's no, like a hot, like, and you know, you're not going in the middle of the rush hour, right? People going to work. If we were to leave like in the middle of the day, we'd be good. We could probably get there in less than six hours. But.

D Carrie (02:51.01)

traffic. I live in New York. So it's about six hours and I absolutely love it there. Turns out I'm a park girl. I just enjoy sitting at the park, bring some snacks to the park and I enjoy my partner's company. We'll just sit and talk. So it's nice to just sit and talk out the fuck side. Why sit inside in front of the table in front of a TV and do it when I could be outside. We could people watch we could talk shit about people you know walking by and

D Carrie (03:20.07)

It's I enjoy also just that's part of being in a new destination to me is just like spending time outside Experiencing life. I personally enjoy doing it I don't want to say like as a local because I feel like local people do go to parks But local people don't just necessarily hang out and do nothing in parks For an extended period of time. At least I don't think so. I mean I got a park near me that I don't want to go and hang out in

D Carrie (03:48.426)

guess it's not as necessarily nice as this one but still that to say do y'all keep chapstick um if you're not watching if you're not watching this and you're listening to this i just put on some chapstick but it happened so quickly because i keep chapstick stashed all over my house i have one in the office i got one in the bedroom i got one in the living room i have like i have one in the car which touch and go it might end up

D Carrie (04:15.01)

being time to take it out because it's starting to get hot. But I keep them everywhere. Just a little tidbit about me. I'm sure some of y'all do, because I'm sure that some of y'all have good sense, right? But I love Montreal. I enjoy just sitting in the park. So we did quite a bit of that because I enjoy just people watching and just being outside. So about, oh, also of notes.

D Carrie (04:42.014)

I finally figured out that yes, you do have to declare plants, cut flowers, meat, produce, and like all the other kind of stuff. So um.

D Carrie (04:55.178)

won't be buying plants and I'll just say that because I'm not trying to declare anything I don't want to part of me is a little curious like what that declaration process would be like but honestly I'd rather YouTube it or Google it actually I don't even know if they'd let you film that on YouTube for YouTube but I'm gonna look it up and see because I'd rather do that than spend the time

D Carrie (05:25.15)

with how long it was going to take because speaking of how long it's going to take, it took us an hour and a half almost to the minute. I acknowledged the time around that we got onto the line to go through customs to come back into the United States. We went this past weekend by the way, so we were down there for Memorial Day weekend. I don't even know if Canadians celebrate Memorial Day weekend. I'm assuming that they don't.

D Carrie (05:54.806)

But, you know, I assume that some Americans would have gone to Canada during that time off. We came home Sunday. We got on that line at 2 30. We got to the border at 2 30 because we left and headed straight up as soon as we left the Airbnb. Checkout was at 11. So we left. I think we went to a gas station, filled up and hit the road. Like.

D Carrie (06:24.738)

booked it straight home and we got to the border at 2 30 and we did not leave the border until 3 55. So we were on that line for an hour and a half and it wasn't because there was like an insane number of cars. There were only three windows open. So even if they're of course going to be a lot of cars there because it's taking so long for them to be processed through.

D Carrie (06:54.614)

But otherwise, let's get into how the trip went. First night, we stayed at an Airbnb and it...

D Carrie (07:08.138)

It was perfectly located. Place was clean. I just have a, the energy kinda was a little to me. I didn't like one of the responses, quick response, I'll give them that. It was a very quick and prompt response, which I did appreciate. But so in the message from the host after confirmation, like you go through all the house rules and all that stuff and it's just like, wow, okay.

D Carrie (07:37.25)

fine, I think I know everything I need to know, right? But then they send follow-up information closer to actual check-in with your access codes and all that jazz. So I'm like, okay, yes, copy, copy, copy, I see the access codes, you know, actually no. What did I see? I saw that there was like a little, there was a link to something, it was like two paragraph long text messages. It was a lot of fucking information.

D Carrie (08:05.174)

So I'm reading through, I'm reading through, and they both start the same way. So I'm thinking that they are duplicates. So I'm like, all right, well, I'm gonna read this once and then, okay, this is the same thing. I'm starting at the beginning again, no. Skim, nothing looks different, skim, cool. So now we're pulling into Montreal and we got there, I'd say around eight o'clock or so, and thankfully we found street parking, like one of the first block we started looking for parking, like right by the place, we found parking.

D Carrie (08:34.53)

It was about a block in so like where the Airbnb was was down an alley It's kind of cool outside of it being a little sketch like if it were me by myself I would want to be very familiar with that neighborhood before I decided to move into an alley because like then the next street up is Oh and by next street up, I mean you are literally in the middle of the

D Carrie (09:03.906)

block, follow me here, in the middle of the block, behind, like imagine a main street. On that main street, you've got stores, bars, restaurants. Now envision the back of those stores, the, you know, where the dumpster goes, where that back door employees step outside to have their little smoke breaks and shit like that. Well, in that alleyway is the door for the Airbnb.

D Carrie (09:32.926)

So the Airbnb is down an alley. On the one side are the backs of all the shops on that very busy street. And like immediately across the alleyway, like which is the width of a car and some dumpsters, because cars do traverse, you know, the two, they do use the alleyways. But I still have to say, it was a little sketch, but it was

D Carrie (10:00.814)

pretty heavily populated, even late at night. So I kind of feel like, you know, there's always kind of somebody around an immediate and like right on the perpendicular street. Like if you were to walk out the Airbnb and make an immediate left or right, the streets that are at the ends of the alleys are all residential, it's all residential. So you've got townhouses, you've got regular, you got a couple of apartment buildings, but it's all, you know, houses and

D Carrie (10:30.838)

regular parking. So we found parking. Again, all the street signs are in French. I highly recommend y'all drive to Montreal, but keep in mind you might want to download Google Translate. Really fun fact, Google Translate will translate a photo. So if you hold up the camera to the parking sign, it'll translate it right in there for you on the actual picture. So you can see what words are in relation to whatever symbols may be displayed as well.

D Carrie (10:58.782)

So we figured out that it was alternate side parking on, I wanna say Wednesday or something like that. And we thankfully got there Thursday. So worked out nicely. Or it was like, actually, I think it was Thursday. It was no parking Thursday, but from like 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. I mean, 9 a.m. for street cleaning or whatever. And then there's also a certain section that is only for residents. So residential parking, like it's reserved for residents of.

D Carrie (11:25.826)

that particular section and it's denoted by a number, there is parking along the middle of the block and then towards the end of the block is public parking. So really cool concept. The public can park in those residential spaces if they purchase a pass and that pass I want to say costs like $18 and you can purchase it from a store. There are places I guess they know where

D Carrie (11:55.862)

and otherwise like anybody can park, I want to say, in those public spaces. I'm not sure if residents can park as easily in those spaces, but that's none of my business. I would assume that they could, especially if somebody from public could just buy a pass that allows them to park in the parking for residents. Just spitballing here. So where we stayed was cool. Only of the qualm was the bathroom. It was very clean. However,

D Carrie (12:24.93)

The only full length mirror in the apartment was in the bathroom on a wall. So it's not even like it was on the back of the bathroom door so that you could move it and use it to maybe do your hair, which I think is clutch, but it was like in the bathroom. So I guess that's cool if you are sharing the space with someone where you don't necessarily want to change in the same room or that makes sense if for whatever reason.

D Carrie (12:53.43)

you are changing in the bathroom. So you have all your clothes in the bathroom and you wanna see your full outfit because that's where you're getting dressed. Otherwise, I don't wanna have to step into the bathroom and close the door so that I can see what I look like head to toe. I would like for my partner to be in the shower and I can get dressed anywhere else in the house and like see what I'm doing without having to go back and forth with him in the bathroom. Like, what if you're sharing with somebody that you're not sleeping with? You know what I mean? Like while they're in the bathroom, you trying to go use the mirror so that you can go ahead and get dressed?

D Carrie (13:22.454)

It was just a lot to me. I didn't really like that configuration. And again, is that going to change anything else about the room? Is the bed still wild comfortable? It was, the bed was mad comfortable. I appreciated that. Pillows were comfortable. And again, the room, everything was clean. So these are just qualms, little things that annoy me. So there's that. Also, the mirror for this bathroom sink had, it was one of those mirrors that you have,

D Carrie (13:52.49)

medicine cabinet, right? You got all the shelves and shit inside, but the shit came out as far as the sink did. So it's like, you're trying to brush your teeth and wash your face, but the medicine cabinet is literally like two centimeters from your face. Like it's really, that was so annoying to try to use the sink, any type of leaning over. So anything other than washing your hands. Also very shallow sink, so there wasn't, you know, like I hate washing my hands right against.

D Carrie (14:21.634)

the back of the sink. Personal issue. Another thing, in the shower, no shelving, no hooks, nothing. So where am I putting my washcloth? Where am I putting my, I don't like hanging stuff off of the handles of the other thing. It's just a personal, again, personal qualm. Things that I personally don't like. And I don't, I'm not a fan of the refillable.

D Carrie (14:49.194)

shampoo and conditioner and stuff like that. I don't, to me it's gross. Me at this stage in life, me at one stage in life, oh, this is pretty cool. Oh, I think they're actually, let me, this is under the same, bitch they put an actual herbal essence in here. Okay, go ahead y'all, go off. Me at this age, no. No, no, no, no. I don't know when the last time you changed that shit was. I don't know when the last time. I don't know what the people that was here beforehand.

D Carrie (15:19.298)

Did, with it. I don't know if they decide to open it up and smell inside it and sneeze inside. I don't know. I can think of a million different reasons why me, this stage of my life, ain't gonna use this shit. But that was the only place that there was to put my soap dish or my face wash. It's really nowhere else for it to go. So for me, that I can't freaking stand. Those are little things that annoy me, but they, outside of other options, absolutely wouldn't be a deal breaker.

D Carrie (15:49.246)

So that's just a heads up on that Airbnb. Otherwise, it was everywhere we needed it to be. We were so much closer to my global favorite restaurant, La Verunga, so that was a much closer walk there. Also a really close walk to La Fontaine Park, but I'll get into it. I got myself a little outline here. So we stayed at the Airbnb.

D Carrie (16:16.046)

blah blah blah. First spot we ate at, we ate at the same night we got there. Like I said, we got there around 8-8-30. Pit Karibou. A lot of these names are in French, y'all. I don't speak a lick of French. So just love on me through it today. Bear with me and thank you. But it was called Pit Karibou. Nothing to write home about. Can't say I'd recommend it. We went, got some.

D Carrie (16:45.442)

beers and some bites. And that was the one where it wasn't, there wasn't, let me pull this picture up. There wasn't really anything on the menu. And it was also kind of annoying that they didn't have like one that was already in English. So I'm looking at the, it was, I think this is smoked scallops, which I wasn't a fan of.

D Carrie (17:14.814)

smoked salmon which busted down. I enjoyed that. We each got a beer and the bread was good. Yeah the bread was mad good. I asked what I think we should... Oh we were gonna order another basket of bread but we're like why the fuck what? This is stupid. Let's go to our spot. So because we knew that the darling was going to be open till 3 a.m. So instead of getting more bread we closed out.

D Carrie (17:44.426)

had out finished our beers and headed the fuck out. We went to La Darling. Now we went to La Darling last year before we went on a hike up Mount Royale, I wanna say. And when we got there, they were like, oh my gosh, we're so sorry, but the kitchen is mostly closed. The only thing we can offer is oysters and fries. And of course, you know, our full bar menu. So we was like, girl, that's all we came here for. Run it up.

D Carrie (18:11.91)

So this time we ended up getting there after their kitchen closed again, but Thankfully they had oysters available. Yeah, those oysters were so so So so so good like delicious like I'm going on Very very very good enjoyed that but the service was also as good like the service was great

D Carrie (18:40.478)

Our waitress was adorable. She took a picture for us and was just like, you guys are just so pretty. Oh my God. Like I'm over here. I'm smiling. Like I'm in the picture. I don't know if I'm smiling because you guys have great energy. You guys are so beautiful. She was such a sweetheart, such a sweetheart. And I asked her because on the glasses it says, darling. And I was like, oh, this is so cute. Like, wait, like do y'all sell these cups? I would, you know.

D Carrie (19:09.006)

How much do they go for? And she gave me like the most twisted up face, like, steal it. And I'm like, yo, I fuck with you. I really do. She's like, why are you asking? Like, girl, just take the cup. I'm not gonna say anything. Such a sweetheart, such a sweetheart. That was a really cute close to the night after the long drive. It's a...

D Carrie (19:38.658)

gorgeous restaurant. They've got a really cool ceiling situation in the bar and there are a ton of plants. The lighting is nice. Absolutely dig it. So, highly recommend La Darling. Staff is incredible. The food can't really, I don't know, other than the oysters that are fucking divine. The drinks are really good also. I didn't put the picture here for that one. Let me see. What will we get in?

D Carrie (20:07.846)

Okay, yeah, I ended up getting a really, we got beers. I wanted a beer, because it was like, I didn't really want a cocktail or nothing. So I ended up getting like a citrusy kind of, I think it was like mango and hibiscus or passion fruit or something like that. And Justin got some kind of drink or whatever. And what else did I have? Doop-a-doo. Yeah, gorgeous restaurant, nice vibes, sweet staff.

D Carrie (20:36.982)

Um, that was that for that night, day two. We started the morning with a walk through LaFontaine Park. That is the park out there that I love, really good vibes. It's mostly, um, adults. But then I remembered that most of the times that we're able to go, we're there during the week. So of course, there ain't no fucking kids at the park. Well, actually no, cause during the week, you know, the nannies be bringing the little toddlers and stuff like that, random days.

D Carrie (21:05.91)

You know, kids have school closures and stuff, so it's not unreasonable to expect to see some kids at the park, but Walked through the park to and ended up finding a really cute brunch spot when I tell y'all this is gotta be the Probably the best brunch that I've Had in a very long time maybe in at least the last year easily the last year

D Carrie (21:33.782)

Thinking about a brunch that I actually had last year in Montreal that was really really good and that has had me on a smoked salmon bagel kick for the year. I like I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner but boyfriend was just like, you know, just order the smoked salmon. I'll make them for you. And when I tell you he makes the best bagels like that's like the go to brunch thing for Saturdays. I'm after we do yoga.

D Carrie (22:03.126)

Every once in a while, my mom will come in and hang out with us and we'll do brunch and I'll have Justin make us the bagels. They are so freaking good. It's smoked salmon, cream cheese, he'll generally do like a red onion, capers, maybe some spinach or arugula. That's generally the greens that we'll use to put in and that's pretty much it. I mean you could add a little razzle dazzle with a tomato but...

D Carrie (22:33.846)

Pick or choose. Razzle dazzle with a little bit of avocado. I think we've done, I've had all of those variations of them and the shits are absolutely good. But, little tidbit, that was one of the best brunches, but that was from last year. This brunch here, at this spot, Le Fabrique, divine. Staff was cool. Staff was cool, I mean, you know, cool. I'm trying to see, let me see if I can make this picture larger.

D Carrie (23:03.018)

We got quite a bit of food.

D Carrie (23:07.81)

The one that I was really into was, all right, so technically it was the, I think it was a beef cheek. I didn't take a picture of the menu in this one, unfortunately, but it looks like, so there's like, I guess it's poached. Yeah, I wanna say it's a poached egg on like beef cheek. Y'all, that was so freaking good. Like,

D Carrie (23:36.138)

Nuts. It was nuts. That shit was so good. And it's like a steak. So it's like steak and eggs, basically. But it's They it's not just diner fair, like it was really nice Play on like it was a really dope combination. So another thing that we had was Like a open pizza, if you will, so I want to say it's a brioche bun. I don't know for certain but um

D Carrie (24:04.622)

Oh, that was the cranberry cornbread, I think. Or was it cranberry something. But the open faced piece of what pizza was kind of like brioche bun, I want to say. Then they had like pesto, like red pesto or like a tomato paste or some kind of red sauce. I don't know what the fuck it was really. I'm just assuming that's what it is. Cause those are the two red sauces that I could think of that I know cause I don't really be cooking. But then they had like homemade ham, which was weird that it was homemade ham. Cause I'm like, how do you homemade?

D Carrie (24:32.662)

Ham, isn't it all homemade if y'all cooking it? Like you don't make the pig, right? You feel me? Like I don't know how it's homemade ham, but menu said the shit was homemade ham. That shit I remember because it had me asking myself a bunch of questions. But homemade ham. And it looks like some kind of arugula kind of shit. And that was pretty good, but it wasn't my favorite. So I let Justin eat most of that. And then there was a pulled pork sandwich on like a cranberry.

D Carrie (25:02.698)

muffin or some kind of cranberry ass bread. It was so damn good. And it came with fries. Oh, and it had a soft boiled egg on top. And that's what made it, I wanna say, like the breakfast food. Like there was one breakfast thing about each of the different dishes that was paired with something traditionally heavier, heartier, and more so for at least a lunch, like a late lunch. So they really combine.

D Carrie (25:32.226)

breakfast and lunch together in a really dope way. The food was absolutely delicious. Absolutely, absolutely 12 out of 10 highly recommend for a really cute brunch, le habrik. And the address is, and a link to the website and everything is available in the updated.

D Carrie (25:52.81)

Road Trip Itinerary Pack, which a link to that will be in the description below. I have five cities that are easily accessible from New York City. So if you're along the East Coast, this is beautiful and perfect for you to tap into. Or if you'll just be visiting the East Coast or looking for something to do along the East Coast, gotcha covered, choose by distance from New York or you could just choose based on the vibe that you're going for. Five

D Carrie (26:22.934)

Connecticut, Philly, Pennsylvania, Montreal, and Canada, Johnson and Burlington, Vermont, and Washington, DC. So those are the five cities that are in the road trip pack and the updated version will include the extra restaurants that I was able to visit this time in Montreal. So the food, food, food, spoiler. The food.

D Carrie (26:52.598)

Destination is Montreal. If you want gastronomy, if you want a gastronomic experience of your life, Montreal. But that's my personal choice of the places that I've been in the United States so far. Maybe one day it'll change. And Montreal's not in the United States. Quote myself with that. That's where I've been in places that I could drive to so far. So.

D Carrie (27:18.234)

I might be wrong at some point in my life or not even wrong. I might change my mind. That doesn't make me wrong at this point or at any point. But for this now of things, favorite restaurant is Le Verunga and Montreal has all the fucking good foods. So highly recommend Le Fabrique, perfect brunch spot. They have really cute outdoor seating. The drinks were good. I was looking forward to finishing my fucking drink and then like a moth or some kind of

D Carrie (27:45.934)

huge wing fucking bug decided to face plant in my drink. And I had like three fourths of the drink left. And I think that's what kinda, gave me one of those about the staff. It was just like, we're paying our bill and we're on our way out and we're all watching this fly, like this bug now land in my drink. And it's just like, so no offer to.

D Carrie (28:14.626)

Damn, I'm so sorry about that. I see how much of the drink you still have left. How about I at least get you a soda, maybe a virgin drink if you're not going to offer me another freaking cocktail, right? It's not like I've flung a fry in there by accident. It's like we're watching this bug now in my drink. You feel me? So that kind of, had me just like side eye the guy.

D Carrie (28:44.106)

And he was already kind of, I don't want to say dry, but not everybody is jovial and happy. Some people just leave you alone. And that is perfectly fine because some people love that experience. I personally love a good chatty waitstaff, but that's me. I get that when I'm at work, I'm not that chatty all the time. We do different kinds of jobs, but I'm just saying there's a different way to do it. And some people love the way he did it. I just prefer a little.

D Carrie (29:15.178)

upbeat, excitable interactions. Otherwise, everything was perfect. Nobody was nasty. Nobody was rude. And the food was fucking fantastic. I've actually heard that a lot of times at like

D Carrie (29:31.814)

I guess nicer restaurants. Staff is supposed to, not supposed to, but tends to be a little bit nastier. I don't know. There's a billion reasons why I could assume that to be true, but neither here nor there. Let's see. After, ooh, this was so exciting for me. Ran into an adult book fair, bitches. What? So we were walking down, and what's wild is...

D Carrie (29:59.074)

The night before when we were walking back after Les Darling, I noticed there were white tents along, I wanna say it was St. Dennis, something like that. Dennis Street, Dennis Rue de Dennis, I don't know. But it was Dennis something, I wanna say. I noticed they had white tents set up, so I was like, oh baby, we can go, you know, walk by tomorrow and see what all they putting up. I'm thinking it's like Union Square or, you know, just a little street fair, bizarre.

D Carrie (30:29.118)

something cute, you know, just they can sell and shit. Well, we walked down and it was actually a book fair. There were lots of, what I noticed a lot of were a lot of looking like anime books, comic books, graphic novels. There were some young adult and it was like set up by tables, right? So you had

D Carrie (30:57.21)

authors, designers, artists come out and basically set up their tent at their table and they sold their products. Some of them sold merch along with it. So it was super cute, but most of the titles were all in French. So for me, it just didn't make sense to buy anything because it would be just a thing. I knew that that wasn't going to be something that I was going to get a lot of use out of.

D Carrie (31:25.266)

So while it was my heart's wildest dream to be able to go to a book fair as an adult, unfortunately it just wasn't for me in particular. There were some things in English, but it was just kind of like, oh, this was so fucking cute. I'm happy that I got to see it and be in the energy of an adult freaking book fair, if you will. So that was a really cool experience to have. And I love just running into

D Carrie (31:55.106)

things that are happening in a location while you're there for completely something different or even nothing at all. Where, okay, so, and also we were not in a rush, but we had things scheduled, like we had reservations for eight and we had reservations for like 6.20, but we had to be there 20 minutes prior. We had to be someplace at six, which I'll get to.

D Carrie (32:22.886)

So we walked past the book fair and then we ended up stopping. I'm talking about we about to be in a rush and then we stopped at a bar. So we stopped at this bar called Le Boudoir Cafe Bar. I think what our intention was, was to grab something like a light bite, like maybe, well actually no, we had just fucking ate. No it wasn't. We was going to get some more drinks. That's what it was. We weren't expecting there to be a book fair, so we were just like, all right, well I don't really wanna.

D Carrie (32:50.582)

buy a bunch of shit because we have, you know, other stops to make but actually.

D Carrie (32:58.402)

We just wanted to get a drink. So we ended up going to Les Boudoir Cafe Bar. And it was that spot in particular only because there were like street performers here and there, maybe two max, but one of them was a black young lady who had a beautiful, beautiful voice and she was singing in English. So it was just like, oh, okay, like we know these songs. It was giving real WB, like the channel WB from like early 2000s WB when

D Carrie (33:28.214)

The Frog was still, what do you call that? The Mascot, that era of WB, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, Angel, Buffy, like Charmed, that era of music. That's what she was singing. And so it was like, okay, found a little, cute little spot, outdoor seating. Weather was perfect, y'all. And we said I had a couple beers, listened to, not listened to, but like there was this older,

D Carrie (33:58.678)

I don't want to say couple because I don't think they were together at all. But there was like an older guy who, when he spoke English, sounded like he was Australian, but then spoke, I don't want to say very French French, but like, he sounded like he had a French accent when he spoke French. Like it wasn't, like, yeah, it just, he had very, um, interesting sounding, uh, very interesting voice. So it was interesting to fake listen to what he was saying.

D Carrie (34:28.458)

And he was talking to some other guy who I want to say was speaking Spanish with someone else. So it was really interesting. Just people watching. This is my jam, y'all. Just pull up, be around people, be outside, have a good time and enjoy another neighborhood. Enjoy, I want to say, a different culture. But that's only because generally when you say culture, you think of something much more drastically different from you. Whereas in this sense,

D Carrie (34:58.606)

I'm still in North America. I'm six hours from my house. These people here aren't too different from just them speaking French first. Everything is lead in French, bonjour. And then it's just like, okay. And honestly, you say bonjour and then do you speak English? That's how I just ask. I don't assume, because I feel like it's rude to just assume somebody speaks English because you do. So I always ask if the person speaks English. Everybody, everyone that I've encountered.

D Carrie (35:28.29)

has and then everything is done in English and nobody really gives you smoke. Nobody's nasty about it. Some people have very broken English. They don't speak the best English but they speak enough to do whatever needs to be done. So after we did drinks there, we literally had, I want to say, around maybe a second round. We ended up having a couples massage.

D Carrie (35:56.862)

my man is the best. It was his birthday trip but because he's awesome. He got us a couples massage at this spot that he'd been talking about for a while. Said he'd had a really great experience there before and he was like I really want to take you and so this time we were able to do that. Very grateful for that. Really fantastic fucking massage. Only thing about that experience was we ended up being a little bit later than we wanted to be.

D Carrie (36:27.126)

left with plenty of time, it's just we didn't realize how difficult it would be to get a taxi. What we didn't consider was that street where the book fair was, was closed. So it was probably redirecting taxis a lot of different ways. There are also like the main streets out there, they do, they are not open to car traffic, all the...

D Carrie (36:53.354)

So let's imagine the streets go horizontally and then like blocks go vertically. Streets are where all of like commerce and stuff happens, right? And then you've got the blocks where they're all residents. It's all apartments and houses. Is that how every street and block works? Every intersection? No. But in the area that we were staying, that was the basic fucking layout. So it did not.

D Carrie (37:20.734)

necessarily crossed our mind, especially considering we were located in an alley. So it just was what we just kept waiting and waiting for the Uber. And so we tried to leave and then go someplace else where it might be easier for them to get we changed the intersection and he's just like, it's going to take me too long to get there. Just cancel it. It kept taking. We waited maybe like 15, 20 minutes for an Uber and it was just like, well, actually, no. We only waited about.

D Carrie (37:49.974)

10 minutes and we were just like, all right, whatever this next one is, we're just going to have to wait. Because we got to get there because we kept navigating between drivers telling us it's taking too long cancel it. And it was a mess. But we finally got an Uber and we got there at 615 for a 620 massage. And we still had to check in. So apparently, it's like set up like a spa castle. So you come in, you go to like a register or a check in person and you

D Carrie (38:19.022)

your checking process whether you pay in advance or you pay at the time or whatever. I don't know, I don't pay for it. But you do that, they give you a towel and they give you a robe and a locker bracelet thing and then you go change and there's like a process. It was giving like

D Carrie (38:39.754)

new age wellness spa in a sense where it was nice because they had like round windows. It was a lot of glass places so you could see I want to say it was the St. Lawrence River. Yeah, it was I'm 90% sure it was the St. Lawrence River. I could be wrong but long beautiful body of water and so it was really nice and it's kind of like that.

D Carrie (39:06.498)

vision you see where it's just a bunch of people walking around in bathrobes talking to staff in like either all black or like you know black and white kind of thing. So the massage was cool. I know not know the massage wasn't cool. It was great. It was a fantastic massage. Thankfully we were we only probably lost out on about 10 minutes of the massage and what's wild about it is they were 60 minute massages.

D Carrie (39:34.502)

and not your American typical kind of like 50 minute massage or like 45 minute massage. Like I feel like you find a lot of those, especially the 50 minute massages being standard as opposed to like 60 minutes or like 50 minutes and then like 90 minute massage. That's generally what I run into. I mean, I see a lot of 60 minutes. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've seen quite enough 50 minute massages to feel like, okay, so this is.

D Carrie (40:00.838)

an industry standard, not necessarily the industry standard, but a lot of y'all motherfuckers is doing it. Enough of y'all are doing it that it's just okay, right? So anyway, that was the only sad part about it, and we couldn't have it added to the end or anything. That wasn't an option because there are reservations. You're supposed to hope for your shit on time. But it was a perfect massage. And I could absolutely tell that these are very well-trained professionals.

D Carrie (40:30.886)

Um, so I, you know, felt so much better afterwards. That's one of the things that I noticed, um, about this trip overall. I didn't realize how tense I was. I got out there and I kept realizing that I wasn't having to remind myself to relax my shoulders. I chronically live with my shoulders in my ears. And so like, that's where my stress kind of builds up.

D Carrie (40:59.526)

in my shoulders and my neck, so I'm consistently having to tell myself, relax. And by relax, I mean just relax your shoulders. And I'll tell myself to relax my shoulders and then realize that seven seconds later, I have to know you can relax more. I didn't mean just put them down. I meant relax. You know what I mean? Just like, untense them. And that's very difficult for me. However...

D Carrie (41:24.51)

I realized that it was much easier to do while I was there. I literally had nothing planned. All we had was, and we ended up booking these massages like the day before, so it was perfect. But we had food reservations for his birthday dinner at La Verunga, because if I'm gonna be in Montreal, that's where I'm going. And nothing else was planned, and it was a perfect weekend.

D Carrie (41:52.226)

When I tell you I kept telling him how grateful I was for the weekend and how beautiful a time I was having and how perfect each of the days were, I could not be more grateful. I had such an incredible time. I felt so rested and so relaxed while I was there and I wish that for fucking everybody. And I didn't have to go far. I didn't have to book an international flight. I didn't have to spend wild fucking money. I drove six hours from the house.

D Carrie (42:21.43)

checked into an Airbnb, and ate good fucking food. That's it. That's it. But that's for me. That might not be your bag of steaks. I don't know. Yours might be, you know, turn it up. Party here, go out there, brunch, mimosas, I don't know, whatever it is, you don't have to make an international flight. Travel is so much more than vacation. Sometimes it's just a change of scenery.

D Carrie (42:51.618)

that gives you that permission to just be like, oh, I can be the relaxed version of me. I can be the excited version of me. Whatever version of you you're not getting enough of, you can tap into that version of you if you allow yourself the space to get what it is you need. If you know that at home, you're always out and about and around people and having a good time and your job has you, like tending to many people at once, you may say,

D Carrie (43:21.494)

While I enjoy that work, I want to be the version of me that isn't getting enough quiet time. I want to enjoy the version of me that isn't getting enough time to read. Then make that happen for you. Just find what it is that you need at the time, at the moment, and experience that on your trips. And that, I truly, truly feel like, allows you to tap into so much more of the joy that travel gives you the opportunity to experience.

D Carrie (43:49.686)

Just gonna put that there early in the episode. So had the couples massage at Bota Bota, highly recommend. Place was super clean, great experience. Then we ended up going to dinner at Le Verunca. Shout out to Zoya and her mom. I made the reservations. I was able to request our table. We sit in the same table every time we've been there. And by every time we've been there, we've only been there three times, but we keep going back because

D Carrie (44:18.442)

Not only is the service top tier, the food is top tier, the people, everybody that we've ever interacted with, which has really just been Zoya, I wanna say one or two other waitresses, have been such a dream, such a dream, so pleasant. They care that you are enjoying your time with them. And a special shout out to them for, let me pull it up here.

D Carrie (44:48.324)

Um, lay via.

D Carrie (44:56.57)

U N G A, Montreal, Amazon Prime. There it is. They are meanwhile in the kitchen. Now, I had the hardest time finding this show. I figured, okay, when I get to Canada, I'll just use the IP address there. I'll just try to do with it. I have an American account, so they are not fucking with me. I couldn't see the show.

D Carrie (45:25.326)

and everything on the TV was in French, so I could not access the Prime. And I found the show on Prime, because I just did a search, right? And I found it, but I couldn't access it because everything was in French, asking for just like sign in. But it was just so much, so many. And then by the time we got back, we fell right asleep. So I was so grateful that Zoya was able to show us.

D Carrie (45:51.87)

a part of one of their intro episodes. And it was so, so interesting to see how much love and care goes into even sourcing the ingredients. So, Le Verunga is a French pan African cuisine restaurant and other worldly food. Like you can tell that people cooking the food want you to enjoy it. They care that you enjoy it. They care about the food.

D Carrie (46:20.022)

And it was so nice to see that not only do they care about the food in the way it's prepared, but it's where it comes from. Like they order, like I don't know that it's like for everything, but at least in this clip for that was shown and in conversation I was having with Zoya, what we were having with Zoya, they go to individual people. Like these are other small businesses that are providing the food and the materials and the produce that they are using to feed us.

D Carrie (46:47.966)

So in the clip she was able to show me, she and her mom had gone to a gentleman that grows a lot of the produce that she and her mom were able to get back home in, I wanna say they're from Democratic Republic of Congo. But back in Africa, so produce has grown in Africa, this man grows it in Canada so that they can literally go to the farm.

D Carrie (47:15.53)

and see the produce, talk to this man, and see what's available, what's, I guess, in season considering it's, I guess it's still in season, if that makes sense, even if you're growing it someplace that's not native to the soil that it's usually grown in, but apparently this man figures it out. All that to say, it was so interesting to see that little piece of the behind the scenes of someplace that I already hold in such a high esteem and high regard, so.

D Carrie (47:41.942)

That was really interesting. I'm still gonna see if I can maybe find myself a VPN. If anybody wants to throw a little assistance on that. I'm gonna do a little digging because I'm gonna figure it out, but I'm gonna watch the show. But shout out to Zoya and her mom. Congratulations. I hope you guys get all the love and the shine that you guys deserve and more. So 52 out of 10, highly recommend Le Verunga.

D Carrie (48:11.954)

would definitely say to visit there and if you do decide to stay at the Airbnb if you visit Montreal it's maybe like a 10 minute walk from there so and Can't say how much I love it there enough On the third day we ended up driving to Old Quebec, which is about two hours from Montreal we Stayed in a property that I found on Expedia

D Carrie (48:41.93)

And the property itself was gorgeous. We stayed at Les Lofts St. Pierre and I booked it on Expedia. So these aren't exactly critiques of the property, but it's more critiques on the process. So Expedia did not make it clear at all that this property charges,

D Carrie (49:11.022)

What do you call it?

D Carrie (49:15.222)

like that hold, like a credit card hold, because in essence, I get that it makes sense, especially when you are booking with say, a third party, as opposed to directly with the establishment, right? Because if you book directly with the establishment, they have your credit card number. So should any incidentals need to be replaced or anything comes up, we got you bro. Like, it's cool, we gonna get our coin.

D Carrie (49:43.158)

But if I'm booking through a third party and I'm paying, but they're asking for the room, I could see how needing the credit card for incidentals could be a thing. And they also want a photo of your ID. Fair, they wanna make sure that the names match. Ain't no funny business. Totally, I'm kind of okay with that because to me, at least that means, hopefully there is some type of, y'all know who's there.

D Carrie (50:09.986)

You know who's on the property, who should be there. And you can better have a gauge of safety concerns. That being said, I was not a fan of just randomly sending photos of the front and back of my shit to a random email address. And by random, it absolutely was info.at whatever, Quebec.com or whatever. I confirmed it.

D Carrie (50:40.694)

double triple time from all the emails that I got and spoke with someone at the property, but then I'm like, well, if I don't trust the email, why do I trust the number that they gave me? So I called Expedia and then Expedia contacted the hotel for me and confirmed all the information. And then I confirmed with them that I was getting the right contact information, even though the contact information that I was getting was from the Expedia website, but.

D Carrie (51:07.198)

I don't got wild money. So that's not exactly something that I want to just play around with. I want to confirm. And I ended up speaking with multiple staff at the property. There is no front desk there. So it wasn't something that I could just do in person. They did have an option of an offsite location that you could go to to present them your card physically if you prefer to do that. And just having that option made me feel a little bit more comfortable. But I was able to just read the card number over the phone. And I sent them a

D Carrie (51:36.482)

photo of my license to make sure that the name of the ID matches the credit card that I was using. Cool, cool, cool. I also opted to pay for parking because they had something listed about, you know, parking is nearby and we could basically take care of that for you. So we were like, absolutely, you can pay for it in advance with us. $18, not a big deal.

D Carrie (51:58.866)

It's Old Quebec, so the streets are already new, we're gonna be smaller, thinner. I'm thinking like Wall Street, none of them are gonna be like linear. Well, I don't mean not linear, but it's, I just learned, it's called, I wanna say vernacular design in terms of the architecture of old cities, the way they are not necessarily on a grid system. They basically go by the design of the way they move is based on whatever was going on at that time, whatever the need of the people was, right?

D Carrie (52:28.254)

So that being the case, I was not expecting street parking to be anything I wanted to grapple with. So I ended up booking the parking through them. Well, turns out they didn't do what they were supposed to do. Someone was supposed to call and arrange for that lot to have my license plate number stored, but they did not. So when I parked the car there, which was literally around the corner from the hotel, and by around the corner, I mean, it was like across the street.

D Carrie (52:56.258)

down the street and then around the corner. But yeah, maybe three blocks of a walk. They didn't do what they're supposed to do. So I ended up coming back to the car to get our luggage because we had dropped our stuff off, walked around a little bit, enjoyed the area before we were gonna come get ready for dinner. But yeah, I ended up with the ticket on the car. And...

D Carrie (53:19.586)

Thankfully it was just like a warning ticket apparently. I'm still gonna have somebody else translate that for me. That's not the hotel staff. And then they offered me paid parking lots and said that I would be good to park there. And of course I wasn't good to park there. I had to pay to get out of the lot. So I ended up paying for parking twice.

D Carrie (53:39.454)

It's $15 that I paid extra. So technically they need to refund me $18. It's a matter of me actually just calling these people and making sure, actually no, I do also need to check and make sure that the hold came off on my card. And that, cause I was charged multiple times. Yeah, it was kind of messy in terms of the backend, but the listing was exactly what they said.

D Carrie (54:09.082)

other units and they did give the disclaimer this unit picture may not be the one you have but when you're going through 67 photos you don't know which room you're going to get the shit i got was nice but it wasn't what i saw in the picture the main picture so and that was like a duplex but you know i mean for what i paid which was only like 200 a night i think i spent 188 and this was in the heart of old quebec so we are smack dab in the middle of everything that

D Carrie (54:38.774)

And by the middle, I mean, we were not on the outskirts of Old Quebec, we were literally in Old Quebec. It's right by the UNESCO park actually, and is along the water. Unfortunately, we were like third floor and our only windows were directly to a brick wall, but it was a beautiful property. It was a really nice stately building, if you will, kind of gave post office. Oh, there's a...

D Carrie (55:08.258)

There, man, there's a building in Wall Street, like in Fadai, in the financial district that actually looks very much like this building, but I can't remember what it is in Fadai to give you lower Manhattan, if you will, to give you the comp, because I can't remember what the New York spot is. I want to say it's, is it a Bulent? It might be a steakhouse. I think it's a steakhouse in the financial district, but.

D Carrie (55:38.11)

Either way, the properties look very similar. So I was trying to give you a visual, but it's a nice, beautiful corner property that looks like it was the front of a bank or something. Tall columns, it's giving really, you know, it's old Quebec, right? So it's giving old city shit vibes. Really nice. So, what do I have here?

D Carrie (56:03.594)

Yeah, and the hold placed on the card was more than the cost of the room. Like the hold they were going to place was like $300, which came out to actually to something once they converted Canadian money, um, and U S currency. But the room was only one 88. So y'all were charging me more for the incidentals that may or may not happen than you were for the room still. Okay. And that's one of those things where I've seen places that say that they hold and then they don't hold it.

D Carrie (56:33.354)

So like, nowadays, when I see that, I just assume that they just didn't update the listing and that they're just not gonna do it. So when it actually does happen that they do it.

D Carrie (56:46.83)

It's like, really? Y'all still doing that? Whatever. What did we have here? Did a lot of walking. The location we stayed at was walking distance from everything. And by everything, I mean all the food and the parks that we wanted to visit. And we just knew that they were bad parks and went with the shits. We don't plan parks in advance to visit.

D Carrie (57:13.802)

I just like staying someplace that's close enough to a park that I can walk to. So the first spot we went to was Pub Le Oncle Antoine. We got a flight of beers, nothing special, but the actual bar looks like you're in a catacomb. So it's a really nice ambiance to the space. It's really cute. So that was nice. And we were debating whether or not to get food from there.

D Carrie (57:41.634)

But there was like one waiter, and when I tell you, baby was running, he was literally running. He was working so hard, and he was just like, I'm so sorry for the wait guys. And we're like, bro, we're watching you zip between tables. You haven't stopped. It's not like you're ignoring us. You are doing a million things. So it is absolutely okay. But considering, it's just like, I don't wanna wait 20 minutes for food, so cool. Beers were all right.

D Carrie (58:10.934)

we could kick it to someplace else. So we ended up going to Qtasac and we were sold on there because they have duck wings. I was intrigued. Got there, they were delicious. And they were, you had the option of, I wanna say like a buffalo sauce, or you could do, which I chose, was a maple syrup and soy sauce concoction. That shit was good. So got the duck wings.

D Carrie (58:40.242)

enjoyed those. Boyfriend got poutine. It was so so. I've had better. But them duck wings were good. And they have they're right on the street that has the umbrellas. So there was a tweet recently, I want to say it was from Oh Christine. And she was saying, you know, how many cities have you been to that have had the umbrellas? And I did not know until

D Carrie (59:09.614)

I want to say it may have been Puerto Rico or it may have been someplace else we went, but I thought that, actually no, I thought that that was only in Columbia. So I'd gone to Columbia, saw that, and thought that Columbia was the only place that had it, right? And then I saw it on a different street in Columbia. So I'm like, okay, well I thought it was only the one street, but it turns out there are a lot of streets in Columbia that have those umbrellas that are hanging up, the colorful umbrellas. So I'm like, okay, cool.

D Carrie (59:37.794)

But then I realized I'm seeing pictures of people that are taking photos under those umbrellas that weren't just Columbia. So I'm like, oh, I was the doofus that thought that was the only place that had them. Apparently it's an international thing. Cause they had them in Montreal also. And Overseen had just posted about, you know, where's your favorite one? And I admitted that I naively thought that Columbia was the only one that had them. So that was my favorite one. And then surprise, I didn't even realize or

D Carrie (01:00:07.11)

noticed them until I was, you know, turn around because I was sitting with my back to the street actually, because boyfriend's back was to the people in the restaurant. So, you know, pick choose your battles. And I turned to people watch along the street and I realized there are a lot of people taking pictures and there it is. So, umbrellas in the street, that was cute. Food was...

D Carrie (01:00:36.142)

It was good. That was good. Then after that we went for a walk. We ended up stopping in Montmorency Park. They had that in English and that's what it is in English. And that was right next to so what was cool about there is you had like a really nice vantage point of a little bit of people watching because there were like some people in the park and then you also had a nice view of the water.

D Carrie (01:01:05.25)

We started walking around a little bit more and we ended up seeing the Quebec City mural. Actually, I don't know which order it was that we did it, but it's all in the same couple of blocks. It's all in Old Quebec. There's a lot of walking and there are a lot of hills. So most of the walking that you're doing into the city, you're kind of going upwards. You're going up hills, you're going down hills. It all is a kind of hill system.

D Carrie (01:01:34.978)

But it's beautiful, it's really picturesque and quaint. A lot of bright colors, a lot of like, I guess you could say old and timey or traditional, you know what it's giving? It's giving Belle in the town square and Beauty and the Beast. That's absolutely what it kind of feels like, but more modern if that makes sense. So I'm not seeing like.

D Carrie (01:02:02.366)

It had that feel in terms of colors, buildings, the way the structures were designed, but then you also had more modern signs, and you had cars, and you had the people dressed. So it's like the two worlds collide, if you will. Live action in current day, wherever Belle the fuck was from. So Old Quebec was cool, and while we were there, we visited Montmorency Park, La Citadelle de Quebec.

D Carrie (01:02:31.394)

which was immediately next to, like a street between them, if you will, from Mount Moransea Park. And there we ended up sitting on kind of like top of a hill and just watching like the boats and stuff go by. Just a really great view of the water. You can see there's like a castle in the middle of all of that. And I'll get to the castle in a minute, but yeah.

D Carrie (01:03:00.414)

Sat there for a little bit and just watched people. Looked out at the water. It was just beautiful, beautiful scenery. So that was a really nice time to kind of just sit outside and enjoy a little bit of sun for that. I really do enjoy a good park. We saw the Quebec City mural. It's like this really tall, gorgeous mural. And it is kind of situated in a spot where, depending on how it's photographed and the lighting and all that jazz, it kind of feels like, oh shit.

D Carrie (01:03:30.326)

Which way does the street go? It's pretty cool. And that was in Parc de la Setiere. And then we ended up going for dinner and we went to this spot called Sagamite, which was incredible. All the food, all the food in Montreal and by extension, all Quebec was fan-fucking-tastic.

D Carrie (01:03:58.986)

So at this box, Sagamite, they basically had indigenous cuisine, First Nations, Native Americans, if you will. I actually pulled up a picture of the menu. So let me tell you what I had. I started out with smoked bison, marinated beets, and a, I can't see it that far. It's like a cream or something on top. I'm not a cream, I'm not a toppings girl, if you will. Not a dip, girl.

D Carrie (01:04:27.938)

But that smoked bison, baby. It was given like a prosciutto. It was giving smoked meat. It was giving cheese, like charcuterie-ward meat, if you will. The shit was great. Very much so enjoyed that. And it kind of was, it was cut like deli meat. That's what was laid out on the plate. And they had a little bit of sprinkle of the beets. Said it was smoked. It could have fooled me. I thought they were pickled. Then there was a soup.

D Carrie (01:04:55.114)

I want to say it had supplemented for duck confit. I don't know. Like, the soup was wild good. Whatever it is, it was so fucking good. So so so good, y'all. My god. And then for my meal, I ended up doing the surf and turf. I got the bison tenderloin and shrimp. Both fantastic. The vegetables were excellent. Really, really, really enjoyed that.

D Carrie (01:05:24.618)

Um, well seasoned, maybe a little on the salty side, but I think that's just my, I'm older palette. Um, Oh, we ended up getting like really good gelato also while we were in old Quebec walking around. That shit was good too. Um, I always ask people for recommendations when I go in places, cause I was about to change my order and I asked him, I was like, yo, you eat this? And he was just like, yeah.

D Carrie (01:05:54.454)

I'm like, all right, well, mixed berries or the raspberry? He was like, oh, oh, yo, no, raspberry all day. Raspberry's so much better. Thank you, appreciate you. If you're not sure, when in doubt, fucking ask. I'm a fan of asking questions. And then for dessert, what did she bring out?

D Carrie (01:06:19.822)

can't print. Yeah, they don't have the English translation on the menu for this one. I'm trying to remember what it was.

D Carrie (01:06:29.41)

I remember what it was, a brownie. I am the one that did the course meal breakdown, so my meal came with a brownie, his didn't. But that brownie was good. I ended up asking her to just pack it up for me to go. Ooh, that shit was good. But yeah, so definitely, definitely, definitely enjoy Sacameete. I don't even know of a restaurant and by no stretch of the imagination do I know of all the restaurants in New York, but.

D Carrie (01:06:59.626)

I've heard of my share and I can't say I've heard of anywhere to get indigenous cuisine. So I was absolutely on board with trying this. I love how they had a focus on meats outside of your traditional steak like cow. So any opportunity I get, I love to try new dishes. This did not disappoint. We closed out the night.

D Carrie (01:07:27.35)

by going to the Fairmont Les Chateaux Frontenac. It's basically a huge castle that sits high up a hill. It's gorgeous. They have this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful bar. And he'd been talking about taking me there for a while. So it was finally nice to actually see it in person. It's beautiful. It's a 16 away bar. It's inside the Fairmont. And

D Carrie (01:07:56.946)

Our waitress, no I won't say waitress, she was a bartender. She was a mixologist maybe. It was so fun watching her make even other people's drink because you don't see the preparation that goes into really, really high-end cool cocktails. The ones where they have orange peels twisted. And it's like.

D Carrie (01:08:17.026)

They rim the orange peel and then put it in your drink or when they shave, what do you call those things? I don't even know what the fuck was in my drink, but I watched her shave it. Maybe it was a carrot, I don't know. But they shave it and then they'd make the garnish out of it and just watching them do like the... Sometimes you don't think all this stuff is done fresh for me right here before it's given to me. It's not necessarily pulling a cherry out of a jar.

D Carrie (01:08:43.97)

When you got a really good cocktail and they do the extra step, it's so appreciated. So it was really nice to watch her do that for our drinks, as well as everybody else's drinks. All of them shits were good, but my favorite one was the Thai Buck. That shit, I made sure I took a picture of the ingredients so that we could try to remake that shit at home, because that was great. It was in a, like the castle itself was...

D Carrie (01:09:10.954)

really nice inside really long corridors. It was late so we didn't really do the whole let's walk around and explore kind of thing. Most of the stuff was closed. Oh it was also nice that at the bar they gave us like our own mini bowls of popcorn and chips. So they weren't like huge bowls but like you know a little bar size little finger like a little potpourri dish size you know popcorn and chips. I appreciated it. So

D Carrie (01:09:39.862)

That is pretty much it. Montreal part two was a fucking blast and I cannot wait to go next year or some other time during this year. I just am very excited to go back. So again, Les Fountain was it?

D Carrie (01:10:01.546)

Le Fabrique, Le Darling, and Le Verunga. Cannot recommend those three enough. And if you can only go to one, I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely recommend you check out Le Verunga. Black women owned y'all, get up in there. That's it. I hope you guys.

D Carrie (01:10:27.514)

are reminded that there are some really close by accessible for those of us on the East Coast. I'm sorry to those of you that aren't, but let this be your reminder to tap into what is around you. Travel is so much more than vacation. It doesn't have to be, you know, tropical vacation all the time. Sometimes it's just a change of scenery and a change of pace to get you right back on track.

D Carrie (01:10:55.022)

I appreciate y'all being here with me and I can't wait to talk to y'all next week. Bye!