June 29
Eventful few days. Borno and Linda finally arrived. I had to prepare my place for their pleasant stay. A globe trotting couple, so I’m glad they decided to visit Quebec. Perhaps the main attraction of Quebec is me!
They liked my dinner arrangement – plain white rice, spicy beef shank, seem with tomatoes and shrimp with Loti. All of these are my personal favorites. I refrained from using more “burnt red chilies”.
June 30
Next morning I made coffee for our special guests, which was terrible. Linda doesn’t eat in the morning. We travelled to Quebec City, via Montmorency Falls, of course. Stopped at a Tim’s and had breakfast. It was a sunny day. We spent a few hours at the falls. They have a mini train station there, never knew it existed. We hiked a bit, took pictures. Then we drove around the area to park at the ground level near the falls. I introduced Borno and Linda to a special person. Historic.
We had lunch at an Indian restaurant. There we met a Bangladeshi dude who was very amiable. Food was ok. All these South Asian restaurants are cautious not to use hot spices in order to cater to the global demographic.
This time Quebec City exceeded my expectations. Ville de Quebec is actually very pretty. The alleys are beyond beautiful. Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and its surrounding areas were buzzing with tourists on Canada Day eve.
Staying away from Izzy was more difficult than I thought. I couldn’t help but check security cameras every 30 mins. He was staring at the front door. It was not an easy night for either of us. To add to my dismay there was no fu** fan in the Airbnb. Ok for one night though.
July 1
Our first Canada Day as Canadians! Borno and I grabbed coffee at a deserted city block on federal holiday. It started raining. We got back to Montreal. On our way we had a tough yet revealing discussion on life, parenthood, expectations and realities. Midlife crisis is a real thing. Good talk. Despite the hardship caused by heavy rains and storms of life, our car kept moving towards the end our journey. Life is like a rolling stone.
When we arrived I literally ran to Izzy. I’ll always remember – I held Izzy in front of Borno and Izzy meowed like a pampered toddler.
Rain limited our activities. I escorted Borno and Linda to my favorite coffee shop at Place des Arts – 5 Senses. We walked around Place des Arts, my favorite place in Montreal, and immersed ourselves to the beautiful music of Montreal Jazz festival.
Linda was curious to check some shops at Saint Catherine street. We had pizza with Borno’s cousin at Charlevoix. Heavy rainfall, there was hardly any sign of slowing down. We got back home. Izzy maintained his distance from our special guests. Clearly it takes Izzy a considerable amount of time to get “easy, Izzy”.
July 2
We went downtown looking for crepes. Linda was adamant I have it since I’d never eaten crepes in my life. It was okay. The server was quite helpful and seemed like he enjoyed his work a lot. I got angry because Borno and Linda were paying for almost everything and not letting me pay. We agreed that I pay for food next day. Finding parking as always, was a major frustration.
I got myself a cosmic red PS5 controller. Linda picked all my gifts for Masa’s newborn son. We explored a bunch of shops at St. Catherine, and walked and walked. I gave them a political lecture at Dorchester Square. Borno declared me a conservative. Then we went to a nearby church.
Next, Mont Royal. The area was annoyingly crowded, mostly people visiting from Ontario and the US. We departed looking for food. I took them to a local Thali restaurant. Ate my heart out, even though we had a dinner invitation. Borno and Linda seemed to like apple garden as well. Quite, chill. I explained to them why Montreal is my kind of city. It has something I can’t quite explain – that was my explanation!
Dinner at Masa took a wild turn. We (I) started a heated argument. Aunty and Dola left the living room. Just like the old days. I was never a big debater. And then more arguments between Borno and Linda on our way back, it was cute. I didn’t want to intervene a couple’s affair. We watched a wild TV series back home. Arousing. I talked on the phone and slept.
July 3
Hot day! Orange Julep was so good! Schwartz always worth the wait! Linda liked their pickles so much she got herself a couple of jars and ate in the car. We went to old port and then changed plans to come back home for a break. Costco on the way.
In the afternoon we went to watch the famous light show of Notre Dame de Basillica. We strolled around the old port area and took pictures. It was a beautiful evening. We walked up to the other side of the river where it was buzzing with restaurants and street performers. We enjoyed a brilliant group of musicians, ate random delicacies, and walked some more. It was late when we arrived at China Town. I didn’t eat anything. Borno and Linda got takeout for me.
Next morning, I had a great talk with Borno over coffee in Rougemont park. This is the place where I sit and think about the world. And then, it was time to go. My crib looked so empty, but that’s life. It’s great that they visited and we shared space and time together. It means a lot. Borno and I were roommates in boarding school for 8 good years. And then at a different stage in our lives we were roommates again for a few days. It’s all good. We are all going somewhere, all the time. Just need to find a little time for each other. This was a special one to remember forever.
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