Happy Times in Montreal

Our journey is now nearly at an end, as we take a flight from San Francisco to Montreal.

 

Here we are going to spend a few days saying goodbye to friends and picking up a few suitcases that we decided we could not risk shipping.

 

First off we visit our friend Stephane and his lovely partner Laura and are made to feel very welcome and at home.  We get to spend the day relaxing and regrouping by the fabulous swimming pool!

 

Next, it's time to head into the city.  I go into the office and have a lovely time catching up with friends and colleagues, having lunch and coffees!

 

Stuart goes for a bike ride with his cycling buddies (and possibly has a less lovely time!)

 

These guys (Michel, Keith & Alain) are the ones he has spent the last two summers cycling with.  The first summer he was recovering from chemo, and gradually the rides helped bring him back to fitness.  The second summer he had spent the winter training hard with indoor spinning classes and surprised the guys with his cycle strength and speed.

 

They took no prisoners on this ride, they knew that Stuart had not been cycling for the last two months, and was also incapacitated with a cold, a bad knee, a rental bike and no proper cycling shoes.  They made him pay for last summer!

  

 

Later on that day we headed to Parc Lafontaine for a candlelit picnic in the park.  We are joined by Stephen, Fred, Adrienne, Cecile, John, Nobuko, Gavin (edited in, as he was turning away in the most complete picture of people, and deserves to be in, as he answered most questions about the blog correctly!), Tristan (and Lucy, arrived too late for the photo!) 

 

A great group of friends who we should have learnt to speak French with, but instead spent time enjoying Montreal's outdoor summer and winter activities.

We spend the next few days staying with Alain, Xuan and their daughter Zari Mai, and again are made to feel very welcome.

 

We are staying downtown, but feel that we have to head back to the Plateau for one farewell visit.  We go past our old house and find that our next door neighbours were in, so get to catch up over coffee! 

Our final evening, Michel and Suzanne host a wonderful farewell supper.  It's a fabulous evening, and they prepare a superb supper (particularly the cake!)

 

Pictured below (L to R) Angelo (new cyclist, picked up by Keith, (as they all were), to replace Stuart), Marion, Suzanne, Xuan, Alain, Zari Mai, Keith, Nicole, Me, Stuart and Michel.

 

 

So that's it from us!  End of an era, end of a journey. 

 

Thanks for reading the blog, we both really hope you enjoyed it, we certainly had fun making it!

 

 

... and one final word from Keith and Stuart