This year’s ASRS in Montreal gave us another chance to revisit French food and culture, but with shorter travel and better weather than Paris. Westley and I arrived Wednesday to check into our upscale AirBnb apartment. Despite limited late dining options, we found a French bistro with respectable onion soup and escargot compared to our recent Parisian experience. On Thursday, we battled hordes of summer campers at the Montreal Science Center to learn Nanualuk skills, perform virtual surgery, and browse comedy wildlife photos. After pho from Pho Bang NY and pineapple buns from Patisserie Coco, we scaled lofty rope courses aboard pirate ship replicas at Voiles en Voiles, where Westley managed to conquer even the double-black diamond course. We shared Nouilles de Lan Zhou for dinner, then mingled with Duke friends at our rooftop reception before Melody arrived. I gave my talk on Friday morning, then joined my family at the Notre-Dame Basilica and at Le Central for lunch with tagliatelle from Ragu and lobster roll and crab poutine from Gaspasie. We shopped for Korean cosmetics in Chinatown and souvenirs on Rue Saint Paul and Marche Bonsecours, then napped until dinner with my auntie Kin at Kam Fung followed by mango slush and dragon beard candy (including a peanut-free version for Westley). We overslept Saturday morning, but made up the lost time breezing through the Biodome, Botanical Gardens, Planetarium, and Insectarium. We remembered the beaver habitat from our last visit here, but the massive French tacos at Chivetos put us to sleep through most of the Black Hole feature. Revisiting Au Pied du Cochon almost 20 years later brought us back to foie gras heaven with foie gras nigiri, duck-in-a-can, and an amazing pig’s foot stuffed with sweetbreads and more foie gras, of course. Our post-dinner Cirque du Soleil show Echo featured high-flying acrobats, comedic box stackers, and a giant red mannequin that kept Westley in giggles and awe. We awoke Sunday to skyline city views from Kondiaronk Belvedere, then hiked down Parc du Mont-Royal’s grand staircase to Mile End. There, we hauled 5-lb of PC cookies from Maxi and compared bagels from Fairmount and St Viateur (we preferred Fairmount’s), before queuing for Marche Hung Phat banh mi, and bargaining for an Inuit basalt muskox and Iroquois soapstone heron at an indigenous art gallery. We watched the FIFA finals on spotty WiFi aboard our VIA rail to Quebec City, then checked into the city’s iconic Fairmont Le Château Frontenac to catch Spain’s win over Argentina at the hotel pool. We passed crowds enjoying the last day of the FEQ festival en route to dinner at Le Hobbit, and supplemented our free beignet dessert with Cows ice-cream while listening to the headliner’s concert from our hotel window. After a breakfast buffet at Place Dufferin, we spent Monday exploring picturesque Quartier Petit Champlain sampling goat cheese soft-serve, touring La Citadelle’s military installations, learning maple syrup production from animatronic beavers, and dining on rabbit pot pie from La Lapin Saute and Quebec-style shepherd’s pie from La Buche. We returned to old town after sunset to snap selfies, watch street performers, and enjoy more ice-cream before calling it a night. On Tuesday, we took advantage of our Chase Edit benefit for another breakfast buffet and take-out lunchboxes, enjoyed a morning stroll along Terrasse Dufferin, then rode the train back to Montreal for our flight home. Between our high-flying adventures, art gallery treasures, and amazing meals, our Quebec journey helped restore our faith in French cuisine and culture.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a black cloud on call, but the past two weeks brought it all back. I spent most of July 4th weekend repairing retinal detachments and surprisingly no firework injuries. Fortunately, I had just enough time to grocery shop and host our lab BBQ despite having to bail before the fireworks began. Back home, we hired roofing experts to repair our roof leak while we troubleshot our own irrigation, which turned out to involve a broken solenoid in the front yard and a punctured line in the backyard that was caused by my over-enthusiastic maple tree staking. Westley returned to his summer routines of Davis and Aggie camps, completed his quest to save Arcadia in the Outer Worlds 2, and embarked on a path of vengeance as the Ghost of Yotei. He was too sick to enjoy the resident welcome BBQ, however, and vomited all over Melody’s car just before her workgroup meeting in Florida. He eventually recovered over the weekend so we could spend time together cleaning mom’s car, playing ping pong, building beadbots, and watching Arcane – a beautifully-animated steampunk adventure series set in Riot’s League of Legends universe. After a few consecutive late nights of NIH grant reviews and editing travel photos, we were ready to drive to SFO to kick off our second visit to Canada.

Paris is so often romanticized that when news emerged of a heat wave spreading across Europe, we knew our summer trip would not match the hype. We arrived Monday to the long CDG immigration lines that I had encountered on my recent visit, but managed to shorten our wait by switching lines halfway. Unable to find the rideshare pick-up, we took a stuffy commuter rail into the city, where we were relieved to find our non-AC AirBnb cooler than expected. For dinner, we queued up for steak frites at Relais L’entrecote, but even the more tender rare cook on my steak didn’t explain the chain’s popularity. On Tuesday, we snacked on award-winning croissants from Gosselin and lined up for Musee d’Orsay. There, the impressive impressionist collection was juxtaposed with themes of art and love from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as part of a special exhibit on the game. Feeling the heat, we splurged on an Uber to Kubri for lunch despite having Navigo weekly passes, where the Lebanese small plates of burrata, octopus, and hispi cabbage hit just the spot. Exhausted from the interactive exhibits at Cite des Sciences et de l’Industrie, we lounged at the air-conditioned library as I sipped cafe viennoit and played Squadro with Westley, snapped pics of La Geode, then headed to Boom Boom Villette for food court banh mi and ramen before an immersive Assassin’s Creed orchestra concert at the Philharmonie de Paris that recalled our adventures as Altair, Ezio, Cassandra, and Eivor. On Wednesday, we armed ourselves with cooling towels, neck fans, and iced water to brave the 107-degree heat at Chateau de Versailles, racing through its vast gardens and state apartments, but skipping the late-opening Trianon estates and buggy Rabbids app. While Westley rested at the apartment, Melody and I shared foie gras and beef bourguignon for lunch at Les Antiquaires, followed by a much-needed family siesta and clumsy hibachi acrobatics at Chez Hanafousa. With tickets cancelled due to extreme heat warnings on Thursday, we scrambled to reconfigure our itinerary. After wandering the Louvre courtyard and learning they would not take stand-bys, we pivoted to the rapidly-warming Notre Dame and chilly Pantheon, stopping briefly for ice-cream from Berthillon and more award-winning croissants from La Maison d’Isabelle before lunch at Cafe des Ministeres, where the local dachshund and patrons shared our enjoyment of their chou farci and vol au vent. We passed out for the evening, gladly staying in to watch Bill Making Stuff and the Sheep Detectives in our underwear with leftovers. Melody awoke Friday with a full-body rash and stomach cramps, but bravely pushed through Musee l’Orangerie for Monet’s Water Lillies. Westley was unimpressed by Le Souffle’s namesake dish, but the AC there and at the Grande Galerie de L’evolution provided respite as we snoozed in leather chairs surrounded by taxidermy displays until closing. Melody could barely enjoy the Japanese-influenced French cuisine at Michelin-recommended Les Enfants Rouges, and slept in on Saturday while Westley and I took advantage of the cooler morning to stroll along the Seine, snap selfies at the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, and sample croissants, eclairs, and sandwiches before reuniting for our scheduled tour of the Palais Garnier to peak into Box 5 and more French fare at Au Bon Accueil. By Sunday, Melody’s urticaria had worsened to angioedema, dysphagia, and dyspnea that necessitated a frantic 5 am telehealth visit with a doctor from New Zealand and mad dash to a 24/7 pharmacy for prednisone and loratadine while I scarfed down a Nutella crepe. Despite being bedridden, Melody modified our Disneyland Paris itinerary for me and Westley. Armed with Premier Access, we breezed through the attractions, despite some dark rollercoasters that left me dizzy and nauseated. With the cooler evening, Melody rejoined us for escargot, onion soup, and a decadent profiterole at Le Petit Cler before we climbed to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower to watch some World Cup and gaze across the Parisian skyline. At the airport, we picked up macarons from Ladurée and Pierre Herme, said hi to Hank Green, and enjoyed our last pastries, thankful to have survived a beautifully disastrous week.