I flew from Austin to Montreal on Wednesday, and worked Thursday and Friday in Canonical's Montreal office (it's always nice to see those folks :-) Kim had two days of school left, but she flew out on Friday morning as soon as should could, and landed in Montreal in the early afternoon.
This was my 5th trip to Montreal, but the previous 4 were exclusively for work, and I had never hung around for the weekend. Wow, downtown Montreal bounces on the weekend!
"...in the summer" as my friend Jono Lange pointed out :-)
We ate some of the best sushi I've ever had on Friday night, which I will dedicate to a post all of its own :-)
Anyway, we stayed in a nice hotel in the old port, with spectacular views of the city.
Kim and I got up early on Saturday morning to do a little sightseeing before the wedding activities commenced. Walking around the Old Port, I saw two reminders of my childhood in Louisiana ... an art gallery called Addis (my hometown)...
...and the Iberville ferry terminal. It was neat to see Louisiana and Montreal so linked.
The Notre Dame cathedral in the old port is one of the most striking features of that part of the city.
We made our way to the science museum on the pier and took an (overpriced) tour of the special exhibit on Indiana Jones, with hundreds of props from the movies. My favorite part was that for each prop or scene that was represented, there was a little bit of real archeology that inspired that part of the film.
Wedding activities began around 4pm and would last at least 12 hours. Yeah, 12 hours. This was one hell of a party!
The wedding itself was held on a little terrace on the top of a building right on the water in the Old Port. It was a beautiful Canadian afternoon, with the light heat quenched by iced lemon-water just before the service.
Montreal is probably the most bi-lingual city in all of North America. Everything is done in both English and French. And so was this wedding. It was quite beautiful, mysterious, and romantic. Kim and I were picking up words here and there during the French portions of the wedding, but it was so much more telling to concentrate exclusively on the body language, facial expressions, and reactions of everyone around.
In any case, Patricia (pronounced pa-TREE-see-ya) and Mathias are such an awesome, awesome couple, we were thrilled to be there for their special day.
We stayed with Patricia and Mathias in Montreal almost exactly a year ago, while we were on our road trip around the country.
And then later in the year, we spent an awesome weekend down in Key West, Florida, again with Mathias and Patricia. That particular weekend was pretty special for the couple as that was when/where they decided to move from Montreal to San Francisco together and would soon led to their engagement and this wedding!
After the ceremony and a good hour of leisure and champagne on the terrace, we went downstairs for a spectacular, sit-down, 4-course dinner.
A series of toasts ensued. Some in English. Some in French. Some of those were in French French (as Mathias is actually from France). And some in Québécois French.
Some stories were really quite animated :-)
I gave the happy couple the one blessing I knew in French, a quite popular saying down in Louisiana, which, surprisingly, I learned, is not so well known in Montreal or Alsace, France ... Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Each time a toast was given, the couple were required to kiss :-) It's a fun tradition.
After dinner, we shared a series a cabs to head to the reception, which was held in a dance studio where Mathias and Patricia work. Mathias and Patricia are themselves are actually professional dancers,and that being how they met, this reception was perfect!
With a live band and a cadre of professional swing dancers, this was one rocking party!
When we left at 3am, we were as exhausted as this little darling. Yet the band played on, and the real dancers were just getting warmed up. Wow.
We had a lovely time, and we wish all the best to the new couple in their new adventures together as a married couple!
:-Dustin
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