Welcome 2008!

Goodbye 2007! Welcome 2008!

The friends I spent Christmas with arrived in Montreal Saturday night. It was cozy in my "cute" little "junior suite" so it was bit like having a 3-night sleep-over. We spent Sunday shopping, mostly at Atwater Market. If you're the least bit a foodie, you must visit Atwater. We bought fabulous tourtieres, cheese, pate, teas, strawberries that were actually red inside and croissants that are supposedly the best in the world. We even sampled ice cider -- similar to ice wine, but made from frozen apples. One friend got addicted to wild Madgascar black pepper and proceeded to add it to everything (tea, red wine, you name it!) all weekend. Going to the market will now become a weekend ritual for me. At some point, I'll have to try Jean Talon market and compare.

New Year's Eve was spent at Les Trois Minots bar on St. Laurent. We knew one of the bands - Schomberg Fair (pictured above). The bar is a tiny alternative music hang out, reminding me a bit of Clark Hall Pub but the floors were not as sticky. All the bands were young and ranged from punk to alternative to rock-a-billy. It was a cool way to welcome 2008.

My friends had to drive back to Toronto on New Year's Day in yet another snowstorm, unfortunately. I had tickets to the Salute to Vienna concert at Place des Arts. The best way to describe it is that it's a Viennese classical variety show -- a bit of symphony, a bit light opera, a bit of dancing. Of course, one of the encores was the Blue Danube waltz with the dancers waltzing. It was also a trilingual event, confirming that my German is definitely better than my French.

All in all, a delicious and musical way to start the new year.