Very close friends of mine have a house on the lake in Ayers Cliff, which has been in their family for four generations. They invited me to spend the weekend with them in Quebec, my second time to the lake house. Lake Massawippi is about a 7 hour drive from New York City, 6 if you live in the suburbs of Westchester or Connecticut.
We drove up on Friday morning and decided to stay until Tuesday since we were having such a great time and had some rain, so we wanted an extra day on the lake with nice weather.
When we arrived on Friday afternoon and went grocery shopping so we could have a relaxing bar-b-que at the house, have some rosé and sit on the porch gazing at the beautiful lake views. We also took a fun boat ride on the lake that evening, and of course brought along some of that rosé!
Saturday was another gorgeous day on Lake Massawippi. We laid out on the dock to work on our tans and took another awesome boat ride, drinking rosé (as usual). We hit a wake that sent the rosé flying EVERYWHERE, but nothing a little freshwater couldn't fix!
There is this cute restaurant, Pilsen, in North Hatley, where we went for dinner Saturday night. You can take the boat there and dock right in front, but due to the impending rain, we decided to drive instead. Well, it did start raining while we were eating outside, but then this awesome double rainbow appeared, so it was still worthwhile.
Sunday was supposed to be a rainy day, so since two of us had never been to Montreal, we decided to take the drive there for the day. The drive from Ayers Cliff to Montreal is only about an hour a fifteen minutes. It was a super easy and beautiful drive, well worth it if you have the time and have never been!
We started the day off in gorgeous Old Montreal, walking along the cobblestone streets and checking out the local shops and restaurants. We visited Notre-Dame Basilica, which is absolutely breathtaking. The amount of detail that went into the interior of this church is astonishing and stunning. Notre-Dame is definitely a must visit when in Montreal, if anything to just admire the architecture and craftsmanship.
After, we had a snack down by the water in Old Montreal and decided to instead find a true french bistro and have an early dinner. We drove around the city a bit as the rain was about to start, and we ended up in chinatown. So, naturally we got soup dumplings and ate them out of the trunk of our suv. Yes, we basically tailgated in Chinatown in Montreal!
We discovered this awesome french restaurant, L'Express in Plateau-Mont-Royal, which is also an adorable area of Montreal, with cute shops, restaurants, brownstones and alleyways. At L'Express we had a fantastic bottle of Médoc and awesome skirt steak and fries. They also give you a massive jar of cornichon's and spicy mustard! mmmm Btw I ate way too many potatoes (in all forms) while in Quebec that I am now on a potato detox! Montreal is a really cool city that I can't wait to explore more. I felt like we were in Europe, but we drove there!
On Monday, our last day, we decided that since we did our own little food tour of Montreal, that we would do a drinking tour around the lake, which did not last very long. We started the day with a boat ride across the lake to Ripplecove Inn, where I had the most amazing scrambled eggs with black truffle, chives and toast! I'm not kidding it was insane! If you ever take a trip up, this is a MUST try. We also had a few rounds of mimosas to compliment the eggs! ;)
We then decided to have lunch at the Relais & Chateaux on the lake, Hovey Manor. It was quite the expensive day! Although I was still so full from breakfast, we did order a bottle of wine and I did have the salmon tartare. The views from both hotels are amazing. The gardens alone are just breathtaking!
On our last night we picked up a few lanterns and lit and released them over the lake at night. It was beautiful to watch them disappear as we wished away our troubles.
If you are looking for a long weekend getaway, I highly reccommend Lake Massawippi, they even have camping grounds, if you're into that sort of thing!
Below are a bunch of my long exposure shots on the lake from the house. The fog rolled in the first night and unexpectedly made for the best shot of the weekend!
Bisous
