After only 1.5 days of actual holiday in Chicago, we already had to leave it. It is important to mention here, that we were positively surprised by this beautiful city. Not only was it far less stressful than we expect, but it was also very clean, much greener than expected and perfect to explore by foot.

Early in the morning (7:30 am) we got into a cab and headed towards the airport for our first 3D scanner experience. After Nino’s laptop was additionally screened for explosives and drugs, we were allowed to fly to Canada.

The flight was calm and rather short with only two hours. However, what we did not expect after our experience in the U.S. was how calm even the border control in Montréal was. No trick questions and no interrogations for 10 minutes. And the large difference between these countries concerning infrastructure was just vexing: while the Chicago airport and the highways were crowded and about to collapse, Montréal’s airport was welcoming, modern and almost empty. But it did not stop there: The metro we used to get to our hotel was probably the most futuristic and comfortable once we have ever seen. This is how traveling actually gets enjoyable.

Below you can see the view from our hotel room in the 20th floor. Right underneath our view is a large “park” with the metro station. And since we are in a rather social part of the city, there is also a big event right now, leading to live circus performances and beautifully decorated streets (the spheres are colored to form a peace or LGBTQ flag along the street).

Close to starving, as we did not eat during our journey, we decided to stick to our new attitude and try out the local dishes. There are many in Montréal, however there is only one which is that prominent, that many restaurants are actually called after it (it is even often said, that if you don’t like it, you should better leave the city): Poutine! What sounds like a president are actually double-fried French fries, covered in gravy and melted cheese and topped with any possible vegetable (e.g. in Nino’s case black olives and barbecued red pepperoni and mozzarella as cheese) and meat (we skipped on that one but took some local beers). And since that dish is not yet strange enough, we also took breaded and fried pickles. But doesn’t matter how crazy it sounds, the only crazy thing was the size of the dishes, however the taste was amazing!

And with that, please enjoy the following images of our short walk through Montréal to Poutineville and of course of the dishes themselves: