The Dinner
- Guy
- Oct 26, 2017
- 2 min read
Journal entry number One | 25 October 2017 | Montreal
That famed night was the turning point in our decision to move from beautiful Mont-Tremblant to Portugal.
Dinner was agreed. We were to meet them at Le Mount Stephen Hotel. Marie-Michèle had taken the lead in scheduling this dinner with her cousin and her husband, both senior and seasoned bankers in Montreal. After cocktails at Bar George inside the hotel, we moved to the dining room where the conversation went from catching up on each other's news to children, to travel and to: is there a life after the professional rat race? Anne and Patrick said they were planning to retire within the next five years or so but were looking to do so outside Quebec, probably somewhere in Europe.
We said that my soon to be 21-year old son William was now in university (Concordia) and well on his way to living it up, having moved into his own apartment and holding a steady job at Le Bon Vivant restaurant. The last thing William needed, I said, was his daddy constantly looking over his shoulder. Anne and Patrick said that their children were not all quite ready for them to cross the ocean for good, but they had tickled our brain in a big way.
And then, they mentioned Portugal.
Portugal? But why? And why not!
For the next two hours, we talked and planned and dreamed of living our retired life in Europe. Marie-Michèle and I had long ago decided we would spend large swaths of our time off on extended trips in various European cities. Having traveled and lived extensively all over the world, we were ready to touch down and grow roots in locales for long periods at a time. But to actually move to Europe? And leave everything behind? Start a new life? Learn a new language - or at least give it a go!? Make new friends? Pray our family and friends would come visit? Take in whole new cultures and imbibe ourselves with deep history? And of course: enjoy some of our favorite pastimes, including food and wine. Oh yes! So that's where and when it all started: over dinner with Anne and Patrick, thanks to Marie-Michèle.
The very next day, we had lunch with Nicolas, the Swiss banker, son of André, our Canadian friends living in Geneva and Monaco. It so happens that lunch took place in one of Montreal's best Portuguese restaurants: Ferreira Café. Under the watchful eye and ever so attentive and generous care of Maître D' Damiao Santos, that's where we decided there was no more time to waste. William joined us for a digestif and later on as we said our goodbyes to Nicolas outside Ferreira in the pouring rain, William celebrated our resolve to jet off to Europe and go live our lives as fully as he is living his.
Three weeks later, we were wheels up on our first flight ever to Lisbon...
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