Montreal, ci bon!

What did you do last weekend?

I did a 6-hr road trip with some dance friends to Montreal for the weekend! First trip of the year! 🙂

Next to Toronto, Montreal is the 2nd largest Canadian city and said to have a ton of tourist attractions, museums, cultural centres and historic landmarks.

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From the lookout onto of Mount Royal, Montreal

Montreal is known for its mountain – Mount Royal.  Lots of people often pack a lunch and head up to the catch the views for the top of it.  You can get to the lookout by bus, car or simply by walking up Peel St.

That’s one of my favourite things about visiting here – it is a total pedestrian city!!!

This was the 2nd time I’ve visited this city as an adult.  The 1st was this past Halloween for a fun Lindyhop Exchange.

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Le Salon 1861 – The Church of Lindyhop – Halloween 2015, in Montreal

Since I was only there for a weekend – this time a blues dancing event – there really wasn’t  time to explore any of the ‘typical tourist attractions’.

Although, I did manage to check out a few cool things this city had to offer.  Here’s a recap of what I did …when I remembered to take pictures:)

A Walk up Saint-Denis St. & Saint-Laurent Blvd.

I explored the city on foot easily, specifically the area in and around Saint-Denis St. & Saint-Laurent Blvd (not too far from Parc Jean Mance).

If you’re looking to see Montreal at its hippest and most happening, these are the streets for you!

Montreal Saint-Laurent Blvd
Saint-Laurent is easily found, as it has a strings of lights zig-zagged along it.

Plus, there were tons of  restaurants, boutiques, and vintage shops to tryout and poke around.

Maybe came home with a few treats for moi… 😉

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New-to-me finds from the various vintage shops of Montreal’s Saint-Laurent Blvd.

It was a fabulous weather day ☀️ to have been exploring Montreal on foot. After the shopping and a brief stop for Ripples Ice Cream🍦… a friend and I found ourselves on a sunny patio and prepared to play a Fun Drinking Game I’ve invented called: Man Buns & Beards 🍻😎 #ppmeowTravels.

It seemed that this city is populated by hundreds of well dressed beautiful people, which meant the rules to my drinking game needed some modifications 😉 …

Drinking Game: Man Buns & Beards
UPDATE: drinking game adjusted to Newsie Boy Hat + Scaf + Beard combo. 👏🏾#Montreal #men

The Underground City

Did you know that there are more than 30+ km of underground shopping in Montreal!? 😮

Yep! It’s essential for blustery, frost-biting cold, wintery days this city gets.  Which means shoppers can walk around the city during Winter without ever going outside.Ville-interieure-Montreal-Dessous-300x200

There’s really no “entrance” to this underground shopping world. You kind of just happen upon it.  You can pretty much find an entrance to the Underground City anywhere in downtown. Just about every building in downtown has a door that leads you to this place. There are information kiosks scattered throughout, so you can easily pick up a map and start navigating.

I believe I entered from the corner of St. Catherine and McGill (McGill stop on the metro)…after exploring the campus grounds a bit.

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Beautiful, sunny Spring afternoon on McGill University Campus, Montreal

There are LOTS of different shops and food courts. And few nice department stores, like SIMONS (one Toronto doesn’t have).  Eaton Centre Montreal is very similar to Eaton Centre Toronto.. same stores.. same sales…

What I notice was that aside from AdditionElle and Pennington’s, the plus-sized boutiques and offerings were scarce.  With extremely  limited options within the many corridors of the Underground City. :/

IMG_1543IMG_1542Because of this fact, I was very well-behaved… only spending a little $$ on some sale items to help with Project: Apartment Refresh… stay tuned to the blog for that 😉  A set of fleece doggie pillowcases marked down to $4.99, from Simons.

And this terrific watermelon shower curtain marked down to $9.99 (also from Simons).  Found some watermelon-esk green hand towels too (Winners $3.99).  Now just need some sort of watermelon floor mat for my bathroom theme to be complete! 😉

Last, but certainly not least, my Montreal trip concluded with….

The Barbie Expo

Whilst exploring the Underground City… we stumped upon the most wonderful exhibition which featured more than 1,000 Barbies in designer clothes!! ❤ ❤ ❤IMG_1536The largest permanent, haute couture Barbie exposition in the world has taken roots in Les Cours Mont-Royal in Montreal!

I Love Lucy Collection
I Love Lucy Collection

There was even a special I Love Lucy feature for the show’s 65th anniversary, with Barbies dressed up in Lucy’s costumes from the most memorable episodes ❤

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Much photo love to the Barbies of the Motherland:  India 🙂

This Barbie Expo had high-fashion Barbies, designer Barbies, and even celebrity Barbies!!!

Some dolls were wearing designs from Armani, Dior, Versace, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta and many more notable names from the fashion industry. ❤

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Needless to say I kinda lost my mind, and iPhone camera space 🙂  Are you following me on INSTAGRAM?

If so, you’ve likely seen a few more pics and video clips as I took them during my trip.

Search for the hashtag: PPMeowTravels to see more of my adventures there.  Thanks for following and reading:)

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Choir! Choir! Choir!

I love to sing.  I’m an off-key karaoke fiend, and often have broken into song on the streets whilst listening to my iPod.  I’m not particularly good at it … except when I’m singing “Drunk In Love” in my shower – then I sound EXACTLY like Queen B 🙂

Singing  makes me happy.  And I’m determine to discover and DO more of those things – that make me happy.  I’ve been told of social choirs outside of a ‘church type choir’ before, however many of the ones I’ve been looking at have strict rules and restrictions before one can become a member.  Plus, most of these chapters are located in Whitby, Mississauga and Oakville.  Not at all what this Downtown Toronto gal is looking for.

SIDE NOTE:  Just recently found this BlogT.O. article: Karaoke Nights in Toronto – every night of the week?! I’m definitely gonna have to investigate this list and the different spots this summer FO SHO!!!

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I often sing the praises  (see what I did there…ya, I’m clever like that) of Toronto being the best city ever — and I’ve recently discovered yet another reason why this city is  so great:  Choir! Choir! Choir!

C! C! C! is a singing group based in Toronto. Since February of 2011, they have been throwing down and saving lives.  www.choirchoirchoir.com

I’ve actually been a member of this Facebook group for a few months now.  Always wanting to go to an event, but feeling shy and discouraged to go alone.  Alas, my social circle’s avaliability has dwindled due to life, marriages and babies….. and of those who still remain, they are less than enthusiastic about singing loudly in public than I am 🙂

But when I received the invite to last week’s session – I was def gonna check it out not matter what!

Don’t You Want Me (Human League) and Tainted Love (Soft Cell) –  Yup!  Two classics. One glorious night!

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Typically, C! C! C! meets at two different pubs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Toronto’s Little Italy (College/Shaw area) …

Daveed Goldman & Nobu Adilman are the musical leads/directors who kick off the evening with riffs and banter before corralling us all to stand tightly as close to the stage as possible, grouping those who sing “highs and mids” separate from “lows and base”.

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With minimum practice, Daveed and Nobu were able to make us sound amazing in 3-hours of fun filled singing with beers!  Don’t believe me – check out the SoundCloud clips … thrilled that MY voice will be among a few of these renditions now.  Oooop Boop!

I really can’t describe how amazing it was to be surrounded by a bunch of strangers singing our hearts out in unison and harmony.  The only way to capture that feeling is to show you friends. Check out this clip of C! C! C! singing Neil Diamond’s hit “Sweet Caroline”.… if you’re not smiling ear-to-ear by the end of it, then you are a robot.

Oh … here’s what I wore done collage-style (as I forgot to take pics of the actual outfit) – my #ootd was uber casual for pub singing with C! C! C!:

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How I got the Look: Black tank maxi dress from H&M; Great back lace sweatshirt from Penningtons (click here and here for other posts featuring this one);  Medina Bib from Stella & Dot; Purple patterned scarf and memory foam soled Sketcher — essential for all the STANDING required for 3+ hours of singing with C! C! C! 🙂

Can’t wait for the next sing-a-long event with this fantastic group of people! Just thinking about it makes my heart happy!  Weeeeee!

Want more details about C! C! C!? – Read Here, New People 🙂

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