Friday, February 5, 2010

The Moon of Honey

OK, I alluded to our changed plans for the honeymoon in my post on Sunday. Now, here are the details!

First, we were going to the Azores. We love the show "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain. When he toured the Azores, ate great food, and drove through beautiful landscapes, we started looking into going there. The flights were reasonable, the accommodations were pretty & cheap, and they were islands! In the middle of the Atlantic! We were sold.

However, when we started really thinking about how much time we could take off work and how much money we could afford to spend, we started drifting closer to home. The Azores were out and the Isles of Shoals were in. Again with the islands! In the Atlantic! Except these islands are a mere ten miles away from our house, so that cuts down significantly on travel time & expense. Plus, they're gorgeous islands and despite living in Portsmouth for a couple of years, neither of us have yet set foot on them (I've cruised around them in a marine research vessel, but that's it).

However, there's only one place to stay out at the Shoals - the Oceanic Hotel. And they also host large Unitarian Universalist conferences in the summer. When I emailed to check on a room for the dates we needed, they weren't sure they could guarantee something because of a large conference that week. Cue sad trombone noise here.

So . . . we picked ourselves back up and started planning again. And somehow, this time, things came together. We were brainstorming locations that were close enough to drive or take a short flight to, that were far enough from home that we felt like we were getting away, and that were within our limited budget. And as we were falling asleep last Wednesday, it hit me! Montreal.

Montreal is an easy five-hour drive from here, it's in another country, they speak another language, and in just a couple hours of googling, I found a lovely inn at which we booked a swanky suite for around $200 a night! Bingo. :)

The inn, Auberge de La Fontaine, is located in a great part of Montreal (according to the internet). It's called the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood and it's famous for its shops and restaurants. Our inn is walking distance from most of the neighborhood and directly across the street from a big park (bottom photo). Our suite has a queen size bed, jacuzzi in the room, and a private terrace that overlooks the park! Photos below.






So glad this is all sorted out!

2 comments:

Justin said...

and friggin' Au pied de cochon! It's right down the street! The place that nearly killed tony bourdain with foie gras! It has been number 1 on my list-I-just-made-up of restaurants to go since that episode aired.

Andrew said...

the greatest part is you can say "poutine" and no one will know if you're talking about french fries with gravy or the prime minister of the Russian federation! :D