Our train pulled into Gare centrale on time at 12:17. Our first goal was to get our bearings and stand outside of the front entrance and look a little lost: it’s a great way to get a cab! …And not two minutes later and we were on our way up the Décarie (slowly: thanks to traffic) and to our hotel, where I would be staying for three days and Kathleen for ten.

Settled in, it was much too early for dinner and far too late for lunch and it was sunny and hot out. To my mind, this meant one thing (and one thing only): ice cream!

One of the reasons I got myself an Instagram account a few months ago was to better find local vegan options and one of the more enthusiastic users of the platform I found in Montréal was Iconoglace, who boast a significant number of vegan options.

Agreeing that ice cream was the best way to start, we hopped on the Métro and made our way to Mile End, where they have a popular location on Laurier. I had their weekly special sundae, Le double trouble (lemon and lime curd), and Kathleen had the classic deluxe sundae: both all vegan and both all delicious.

I think for the first time, Montréal’s charms worked their magic on me almost immediately. I was filled with delicious ice cream, I had already made it through most of a roll of film, and we just strolled about, allowing photo-making and curiosity to be our guide.

Our next stop was Drawn & Quarterly, a lovely publisher and book shop on Bernard. Although Kathleen was a bit too toasted in the heat to activate her mind’s book acquisition centres, knowing that I would need something for my recovery time, I ended up walking out with copies of Zoe Whittall’s Bottle Rocket Hearts and Myriam Lacroix’s How it Works Out.

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