The Elf, post poutine

Phew! I’m back from my mini-vacation. I had a lovely time in Montréal and in Ottawa. Who says you have to go far to have fun? I did miss my computer though, so it’s good to be home again with hound and cat in my tiny house.

If you haven’t been to Montréal, you must go. You will eat poutine (yes, even in July). You will discover charming little tea shops and cafés. You will feel all Euro and you will not have even paid for a plane ticket. If you are really, really lucky, you might just stumble onto a street festival and be luckier still to see L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres in action. Check it out:

(Part 2: here. Part 3: here).

Ah those kooky Montréalers. How do they come up with this stuff? Pure. Artsy. Awesomeness.

After that (which was so fantastic we could have come home straight away and still had a fabulous vacation), it was on to Ottawa, where I stood underneath this for a while:

She lives just outside the National Gallery of Canada and she is creepy, but kind of sweet. Her name is Maman and her legs remind me of the Other Mother’s hand in Coraline (don’t you think?). I did lots of other things beside stand underneath a giant spider, but I am too tired to tell you about them now. There will be book reviews tomorrow or the next day.