Let's continue the tales from the Mild Honeymoon, shall we? In our last chapter, we discussed how yours truly learned both the definition and the value of a winter coat. I realize it's going to be one of things that I laugh about, and others laugh at me about, for many moons to come, but it was all part of the experience. We took all of it as it came, y'know?
Now, for this blog post, there's a bit of an interesting back story. After we got engaged, the Mild Wife wanted to prep for the wedding. We did a lot of it together (there was a spreadsheet), but some of it she just had to do herself. In fact, some of it didn't even cross my mind. For example, the Mild Wife had to figure out what makeup she was going to wear on the day of the Mild Wedding. In hindsight, I understand why: it was a fairly long day, and the makeup had to simultaneously photograph well, allow her to eat, but still look how she wanted. That's a lot to ask for, and you don't necessarily luck into that.
So, she did her homework. She looked at reviews, she watched YouTube videos (I actually know some of the YouTuber's names now), and she actually put some of them on. It was that last part that was particularly amusing to her. As soon as she'd tell someone at the makeup counter that she was trying things on for her wedding, the people behind the counter became like one hundred times nicer. They'd give her tons of samples, they'd put stuff on her whole face, and they were generally very eager to please. I suspect they figured there was a big potential payout coming, but regardless of the reason, they were all super helpful.
In fact, these associates were so helpful that for a while the Mild Wife's share of the medicine cabinet was stock full of free samples. I don't think either of us ever counted, but the sheer number of samples was probably measured in the dozens. It wasn't a high number of dozens, but still, that's a good number of free products. The Mild Wife was quite amused by the whole process. To this day, that's one of her pieces of advice to newly-engaged couples: tell associates about the engagement and they'll hook you up.
How is this relevant to Montreal, you ask? Well, we didn't speak tons of French, so it usually became apparent to restaurant servers and hosts that we were from out of town. They'd inevitably ask where we were from, and why we were in town. When we responded that we were on our honeymoon, it was like the makeup counter treatment all over again. I think we got something like four free glasses of champagne apiece (incidentally, I happen to think that Montreal is one of the friendliest places I've ever been).
The Mild Wife chuckled once she realized what was happening, since she'd lived through this once before. I, however, had not, so I was both pleasantly surprised and somewhat taken aback. These people were just handing me stuff. That was different.
In hindsight, it is also a bit striking that they always offered us champagne. I mean, if they'd given us a free dessert or an appetizer or something, neither of us would have batted an eye. We're not in the habit of looking gift horses in the mouth, and it's not like I'd judge an ice cream as somehow less celebratory than a glass of champagne. Hell, it might've even draw a bigger smile from us.
Regardless, the kicker of this was that we actually got champagne so often that we decided that we were almost tired of it. It just got to be a bit much to have once or twice a day for several days in a row. Have you ever had a craving for vegetables after eating poorly for like a week? It was sort of like that. Our bodies just knew that we shouldn't keep it up for prolonged periods of time, and we both sort of collectively decided that we were going to minimize the champagne (and alcohol) consumption after that. Who knew?
So, to recap: we showed up, restaurants were very friendly to us, we got free champagne, and we had enough that we limited ourselves for a good half of the trip or so (with one glaring exception that I will write about shortly).
The Mild Honeymoon sure did provide lots of laughs.
Now, for this blog post, there's a bit of an interesting back story. After we got engaged, the Mild Wife wanted to prep for the wedding. We did a lot of it together (there was a spreadsheet), but some of it she just had to do herself. In fact, some of it didn't even cross my mind. For example, the Mild Wife had to figure out what makeup she was going to wear on the day of the Mild Wedding. In hindsight, I understand why: it was a fairly long day, and the makeup had to simultaneously photograph well, allow her to eat, but still look how she wanted. That's a lot to ask for, and you don't necessarily luck into that.
So, she did her homework. She looked at reviews, she watched YouTube videos (I actually know some of the YouTuber's names now), and she actually put some of them on. It was that last part that was particularly amusing to her. As soon as she'd tell someone at the makeup counter that she was trying things on for her wedding, the people behind the counter became like one hundred times nicer. They'd give her tons of samples, they'd put stuff on her whole face, and they were generally very eager to please. I suspect they figured there was a big potential payout coming, but regardless of the reason, they were all super helpful.
In fact, these associates were so helpful that for a while the Mild Wife's share of the medicine cabinet was stock full of free samples. I don't think either of us ever counted, but the sheer number of samples was probably measured in the dozens. It wasn't a high number of dozens, but still, that's a good number of free products. The Mild Wife was quite amused by the whole process. To this day, that's one of her pieces of advice to newly-engaged couples: tell associates about the engagement and they'll hook you up.
How is this relevant to Montreal, you ask? Well, we didn't speak tons of French, so it usually became apparent to restaurant servers and hosts that we were from out of town. They'd inevitably ask where we were from, and why we were in town. When we responded that we were on our honeymoon, it was like the makeup counter treatment all over again. I think we got something like four free glasses of champagne apiece (incidentally, I happen to think that Montreal is one of the friendliest places I've ever been).
The Mild Wife chuckled once she realized what was happening, since she'd lived through this once before. I, however, had not, so I was both pleasantly surprised and somewhat taken aback. These people were just handing me stuff. That was different.
In hindsight, it is also a bit striking that they always offered us champagne. I mean, if they'd given us a free dessert or an appetizer or something, neither of us would have batted an eye. We're not in the habit of looking gift horses in the mouth, and it's not like I'd judge an ice cream as somehow less celebratory than a glass of champagne. Hell, it might've even draw a bigger smile from us.
Regardless, the kicker of this was that we actually got champagne so often that we decided that we were almost tired of it. It just got to be a bit much to have once or twice a day for several days in a row. Have you ever had a craving for vegetables after eating poorly for like a week? It was sort of like that. Our bodies just knew that we shouldn't keep it up for prolonged periods of time, and we both sort of collectively decided that we were going to minimize the champagne (and alcohol) consumption after that. Who knew?
So, to recap: we showed up, restaurants were very friendly to us, we got free champagne, and we had enough that we limited ourselves for a good half of the trip or so (with one glaring exception that I will write about shortly).
The Mild Honeymoon sure did provide lots of laughs.
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