After Wednesday night’s loss in Springfield, I suspect my drive home from that lovely Massachusetts town was more enjoyable than the Rocket guys on the team coach.
Posted yesterday at 11:46 p.m.
First, the Laval players left at the end of the evening, and we agree that on the road, with the lights off, it’s not super pleasant. Impossible to admire the decor, and moreover, impossible to stop on the way because everything is closed.
Then, there is that this route, the 91 North then the 89 North also, in the direction of Quebec, is one of the most beautiful stretches of road in this corner of America.
Especially for landscapes. We go through lots of nice little nooks, and we discover things, lots of things. Like those two whale tails sticking out of the ground to the right of the road near Burlington. Who, exactly, chose to erect a monument with the effigy of whale tails? It is one of the great mysteries of life.
Just before, however, there is the capital of Vermont, I named Montpelier.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Vermont State Capitol in Montpelier
It’s a special little town, Montpelier. When we leave Montreal to cover a Canadiens game in Boston, that’s often where we stop, because it’s about halfway.
The city is planted in a poetic setting worthy of an 1980s postcard, and on the small main street, you can find all the necessities: a pub, a small grocery store, a bookstore, and on the side, a vinyl shop , the timeless Buch Spieler Records, alive and well on the same creaking wooden floor since 1973. It’s for this kind of place, where time has stood still, that life is worth living.
Finally, at the end of the street, there is an old Italian restaurant, Sarducci’s, which is a bit special in my eyes.
Because that’s where I imagined Molly Monroe, the star of my novel A girl and a butterfly ball, working, hoping to find meaning in his life. On the side of the restaurant, on the left, there is a kind of small passage, where I thought that Molly would go to throw lemons, hoping to end up mastering a butterfly ball later in the story.
By the way, the pasta here is fabulous.