Montreal in the details
Well, there had been a woeful lack of puns in recent posts so I thought I’d address that.
A wonderful trip to Montreal was had…I could describe it as a quest for exotic eastern Canadian thread which just happened to coincide with viewing a certain high-speed car race, but don’t think anyone would believe me : ) (I did pop into a Fabricville though).
Montreal is quite the work of art. The old buildings are full of fascinating variations in brickwork and ridiculously ornate doors, and the more modern buildings seem to have been built with appearance in mind just as much as utility, with uncompromising use of colour to set a mood in certain locations. There seems to be a rule that nothing is allowed to be ordinary, which I love.
A meal we particularly enjoyed was at Gibby’s, fabulous from start to finish. As you know I’m just a freak for details…the big things have to be done right, but if they also take care of unique details they will be remembered forever.
Things I’ll remember forever about Gibby’s:
They have their own Gibby’s brand of sugar packets. This restaurant is not a chain. Their own little printed sugar packets! It’s a large restaurant, but still. As you can probably tell, I just can’t get over this.
They bring chocolates with the bill that are embossed with their own iron gates logo.
When you ask for black coffee they bring it, and they don’t bring milk. This quite rare and special thing shows they really pay attention to the individual instead of just loading up a standard tray of coffee/tea fixings.
The photo above is just a reference snapshot taken in passing of what looks like an art gallery/store, typical in its uniqueness of the hundreds of storefronts in old Montreal.