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Introduction. I have three siblings: an older sister, Jean (married to Ozzie); and older brother, Don (married to Terry); and a younger sister, Lois (married to Casper). None of us live near the others. For at least the last dozen years, my wife, Jane, and I have gotten together with them more or less annually for a "sibling reunion." We agreed on Quebec Province for our millennium trip. Don and Terry would drive from Kansas City to Milwaukee, and from there would ride with Lois and Casper to Quebec. Jean and Ozzie would drive from Atlanta to our house at Massanutten, Virginia, and ride with us. On the way, our group of four would spend a day visiting our son Larry and his family in New Jersey. Jane and I had made almost the identical trip in September 1997, but we looked forward to doing it with the siblings.

Friday - Saturday, 8 -9 September. Jean and Ozzie arrived at our house on Thursday evening. We left at midmorning Friday for the six-hour drive to Larry's century old home in Glen Ridge. We spent Friday evening and all day Saturday visiting with his family. On Saturday evening, we all went to the Star Tavern in Orange for dinner.

Sunday, 10 September. We left Larry's after 9:00 a.m. and, with a short stop for lunch and another at the border, we got to the hotel in Montreal about 4:00 p.m. Don, Terry, Lois and Casper were already there. In fact, they'd made such unexpectedly good time driving from Milwaukee that they had arrived the previous day.

Downtown Montreal

The hotel was La Residence du Voyageur, whose name is somewhat more grand than the hotel itself. But it had an elevator, which was important to some of our group. Also, it was on Sherbrooke, just a short block and a half from the subway station, and it was only one more block to rue St. Denis in the heart of the Latin Quarter. The low price included a continental breakfast. We even found free parking on the streets near the hotel, although we had to move the cars at certain times to comply with local restrictions. Jane and I had stayed on St. Denis, about three blocks away, in 1997, so we were familiar with the neighborhood.

Sibling reunion

After unloading the car and unpacking, we met the others to go out to dinner. We walked down rue St. Denis soaking up the atmosphere while also looking for a nice place to eat. The weather was chilly and damp. Almost all of the restaurants were ethnic, but surprisingly few had French cuisine. We finally settled on an informal, non-ethnic place called the Café Cherrier. Afterwards Jane and I, joined by Lois and Casper, walked a couple of blocks down Rue St. Denis for the atmosphere and some ice cream. Then we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

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