Montreal

... at the very last minute, Joachim and I decided to take a little road trip to Montreal before spending Christmas up at Uncle Pete's house... and what a lovely trip:

On our way north, we stopped along the way in Burlington Vermont, to grab lunch and stroll the streets of what I think might be my all time favorite town in the North East. A huge lake, mountains, farms, and vibrant culture, what more could one ask for?

 Enjoying the view from Lake Champlain. Across the lake, you can see the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Equation of my life::: (Mountains + Lake = Heaven)

 Then, after we cross the border into Canada, we're greeted with an agricultural landscape. It felt like we were driving through Iowa, or something, I never saw so many silos along a single stretch of road in my life!

 Our first stop was to climb up Mount Royal. Can you tell how cold and icy it is! Joachim and I were slipping along on the slick ice, but the Canadians seemed unfazed. There were even joggers prancing along in sneakers as if they were running on dry asphalt!

 Our first view of the city! Marvelous!

 Yay! We're so excited to be in Montreal!

Next morning, we headed to the Biodome, an amazing zoo divided into four ecosystems. We had a blast seeing all the animals and plants, and the amazing way they had configured the exhibits.

And then, I nearly wet my pants I was excited when we entered the Canadian Laurentian Forest Ecosystem and saw this: 

 My very first EVER live beaver!! AMAZING!!!!  I was jumping up and down as soon as I saw this little guy swimming towards us!! AHHHH, so cute! I was bummed when the beaver disappeared into his lodge, but then we saw that they had installed a camera in the lodge, and we got to watch him gnaw the bark off this branch from the safety of his lodge!

Next stop: Old Montreal and the Basilica de Notre Dame. We got a tour of the church, and the amazing history it has in Montreal.

Then playing around in the park, and walking the streets of Old Montreal. Somehow I didn't take a single picture of the narrow, European-style streets of Old Montreal since I was so focused on finding a warm place to eat our packed lunch. It was freezing! But did manage to get these fun pictures using an outdoor colored glass art exhibit in a park we found:  

 And, no trip to Montreal would be complete without some ice-skating. Here I am skating on Beaver Lake (!!!! I love how Canadians love beavers !!!!)

In a dark winter world, the Canadians make warmth and light happen wherever they can!