Montreal

 

Montreal is a very European feeling city, including a great subway, a lot of French influences in culture and architecture, and a vibrant street life with parks and festivals.  We were here mostly for the race which took up a lot of the available time but we did manage to see quite a bit of the city including the art museum and the Olympic stadium.  

Our trip started with a long layover in LaGuardia where we went to one of the flagship airport lounges and one of the nicest we've been to - Lauren got a free facial as the massage timeslots were already booked.  LaGuardia itself is also dramatically nicer than the last time we were there and it's like a different place.

Our time in Montreal was great, the weather was perfect, and we enjoyed the city a lot.  

We saw the beautiful riverfront and old-town, the historic Olympic venue now turned into stadiums and a science center, art museums, a French EDM festival, and some of the most authentic European inspired architecture this side of the Atlantic.  

Canadian Grand Prix

 

For Christmas Lauren got me tickets to the Canadian Grand Prix, including access to one of the tents - low-tier, we're not in the class to afford high-end anything at these Formula 1 events!  But low-tier F1 is not exactly slumming it...

Montreal was a cool city and although the public transport was busy, it was only a minor inconvenience to get out to the track which is on an island in the river and surrounds the Casino - all pretty neat stuff. 

The weather for the race was a little warm but honestly terrific - the year before it was a torrential rain the entire weekend so we were glad for the pretty weather when we were there.  

The race itself was pretty interesting, with an unexpected winner, but there wasn't a ton of action on track for us to see for some of it.  The lower category races were pretty interesting though, especially the F1 Academy races.