Canada day 5

Another early morning and I even let Andy sleep for an extra hour. We were supposed to go to Baie St Paul / Bay St Paul today, but since the weather is really quite horrible we decided to postpone the trip till tomorrow and Monday. Which feels like the right decision when it's raining cats and dogs and it's cold. 

Andy and I had a pre-breakfast at around 7 a.m. I ate my favorites Poptarts and that is nostalgia for me. We used to eat PopTarts in Egypt. I don't always want to toast them though, sometimes I love them cold and "un-toasted". Poptarts are a simple pie dough pocket with some kind of filling and a frosting on top, that when toasted in the (bread) toaster become warm and crispy. There are pretty much a million and one flavors but my favorites are Strawberry or Raspberry with Vanilla Frosting or Brown Sugar Cinnamon. So good! 

When the In-laws woke up we made breakfast and decided to make our way to the Quartier Dix30, or the 10-30 shopping area, named by it's location in the crossing of Road 10 and Road 30. It is a huge area with 100's of shops in the categories of Fashion, Electronics, House & Home, Entertainments, Big Box Chains, Real Estates, Other and then there are restaurants galore. 

We started out going to Canadian Tire and made some really good bargain shopping there. We found some kitchen appliances from KitchenAid/CusineArt for a very low price. We bought an enamel pot as well as a set of 5 pots and pans that were of great quality. Andy checked out the hunting gear and found lots of fun things that he wanted to buy, but since we are going to a Military Surplus in the US soon, he thought he'd wait till then. Just a recommendation, Canadian Tire is a really cool store with pretty much everything in it! I really think you should have a look there if you have the opportunity.

Then we went on to Pier 1 Imports, one of my favorite as well as my Mother-in-Laws favorite store. They have some really awesome things. It is a House & Home store that have everything from candles to furniture and Taste-sets and other really wacky things. The boys, Andy and his Dad went to FurtureShop to check out the Electronics. I found lots of things that I really want, but at the same time, that is the feeling that I've had in every shop that I have been to here in Canada, so it's starting to scare me some...

We decided not to buy anything today, but think about it and come back another day if we wanted to buy things.

Great wacky and beautiful furniture and some awesome decorations. I really like this umbrella stand...

After some shipping we made our way home fore Lunch. My Mother-in-Law  makes a really mean salmon and serves it with asparagus and a home made Hollandaise sauce. Then we spent the afternoon relaxing and trying not to do so much since we knew that we were going to a party in the evening, to see The International Fireworks Contest.

Around 6 p.m. we made our way into town and into the area just "above" Vieux Montreal and ChinaTown, to where my Father-In-Law's colleague M and his wife T live in an penthouse apartment with a beautiful view of the city. The weather had cleared up, there was no longer any rain but at the same time, it sure didn't look like it would be too long before we got very wet standing on their penthouse balcony. The St Lawrence River looked grim...

The view from the balcony. Spectacular. The Fireworks-team that were competing tonight were the Chinese team with the theme Kung Fu. We were all anticipating the dusk to come so that we could see the show.

T had made lots of lovely food. Since they are both from Singapore there was quite a lot of Asian influences which I absolutely adore. The BBQ was on and made lots of lovely meat and chicken wings. There were Spring rolls, Samosas, Dumplings, Prawn chips, Spicy Meatballs, and lots and lots more. Unfortunetly I'm a complete idiot and forgot to take any pictures of the wonderful food, I guess eating it was way to rewarding =)

Then the sky started to darken with dark clouds but we kept dry with only a few drops of rain. We stayed out on the balcony the whole time, eating beautiful food, interesting conversation and great views.

The International Fireworks Competition was to start at 10 p.m. Obviously it had to be dark as night to be able to see the display. But since it's summer the dusk really took it's time.

The International Fireworks Competition or Le Concours International d'art Pyrotechnique de Montréal, known for the past few years as L'International des Feux Loto-Québec was founded in 1985, and was a direct success. The countries that compete are different from year to year and the themes are different, but it is always a spectacularly popular show attended by more than 3 million people. The show has to be choreographed to music and the piece is judged in several criterias; Pyrotechnic pieces : diversity and quality of the pieces as well as diversity and richness of colours used; Synchronization : precision of simultaneity between the music, fireworks elements and sound effects; Soundtrack : selection of music and the mixing from one musical piece to another; Technical design : use of space, density of products and the ability to sustain the same level of quality performance throughout the display; Pyromusical concept : how the music relates to the quantity and the choice of pyrotechnic pieces and the originality and dynamic rhythm of the entire display.

The winners are selected by a 12-persons jury, that are recruited from the general public, of different ages and a love for fireworks. That can give out the Gold Jupiter, Silver Jupiter and Brons Jupiter. The competing countries are China, Czech Republic, England, Italy, Australia, United States, Canada, France and lastly a Beatles Tribute. It was a fantastic show and lots of fun - Andy took 400 pictures and I filmed the whole thing with my camera. I'll put up more pictues and the video at a later date.

It was a wonderful evening with great food, great company and a lovely show!

Andy's picture.

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Dix30, Quartier Dix30, Canadian Tire, KitchenAid, CusineArt, Le Concours international d'art pyrotechnique de Montréal, Pyrotechnic pieces, Synchronization, Soundtrack, Technical design, Pyromusical concept, Gold ...gar.se/om/Italy" rel="tag">Italy, Australia, United States, Canada, France, Beatles Tribute, Singapore, Asian influences, BBQ, Spring rolls, Samosas, Dumplings, Prawn chips, Spicy Meatballs, Pier 1 Imports

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