We left New York and were headed to Montréal. I could not wait to hear the sounds of French again and was excited to be off. We boarded some type of smaller plane that completely freaked me out. I still hadn’t flown much and this thing had one aisle with two seats on either side. The engine was really loud and the whole thing felt shaky. That’s the only time I’ve had a panic attack in the air — even when we were in that helicopter on a glacier in Alaska. Suffice to say, I was doubly glad to get there. We were spending one night in Montréal before heading on to Québec City and we were staying at the original Ritz-Carlton. It felt very Edwardian and I loved our white marble bathroom. I discovered Montréal overall though is a very modern city. Since I live in a city that rips everything down every two seconds it felt like a newer, sleeker, French version of Dallas. When I asked our concierge about dinner recommendations I stopped the minute I heard “loup.” That’s “wolf” in French and I was ECSTATIC! Burk was fine with it so our bellman hailed a cab and we were on our way. We were dropped off at a charming restaurant which read “LALOUX”. Both sound the same but in my excitement I missed the “la” when I knew that “wolf” is “le” which is masculine. This just turned out to be the last name of the chef. Oh well it was truly one of the best meals of my life and Burk made friends with a guy his age at the next table who was a member of Parliament. It was fascinating speaking with him and he graciously allowed me to translate even though he spoke a little English. The next morning we ate our breakfast in front of a little duck pond at our hotel. I should have known there was a French connection; the Hotel Ritz in Paris’ first arrondissement (the heart of the city) was the first in Europe to provide bathrooms en suite. Our hotel was about to undergo renovations and I found myself glad we got to see it as it was. Confucius said, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” That is exactly what we have always tried to do.
