Our Sabbatical Life

We wanted to wait a bit before writing this post about our Montreal neighborhood since first impressions of a new place are always a bit misleading.  Sometimes, the freshness of a new place seems to entice us to such an extent that we think there would be nothing more wonderful than life in this new location.  But, of course, we can and do tire of most places... Other times, the strangeness of a new city--not as in odd or weird but more just in the sense of new-to-us--can color our perceptions more negatively.  It's the reaction I would identify as: "What have we gotten ourselves into?"  Will and I admit with some relief--since that is no longer the case (whew!)--that our Montreal neighborhood initially struck us in this, less positive, way. Of course Montreal itself, especially the Old Montreal area, is stunning and beautiful, and everything one could hope for in a smallish city.  (Another post on that later, if we have time.)  However, our VRBO apartment was no