TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Monday in Montreal with Friends, by Cecilia Brainard

Our small group in Canada includes close friends from high school days when we went to St. Theresa's College, San Marcelino. We were a close knit class, and a cluster of us in the back row were closer still, bonded by the secret notes we passed around during class hours and our occasional giggling fits. The friendship has remained through the years. It is amazing. Sometimes we go for years not seeing one another, but when we are together it's as if time had stood still.

Evelyn Morales Del Rosario who lives in Montreal had been inviting us, and now finally before she leaves at the end of the year, we decided to do so. Chit and Albert Acayan drove from Connecticut; Guia Lim flew in from Manila; and I (Cecilia Manguerra Brainard) also flew in from Los Angeles. We met in Toronto and spent a few days there.

Today after a seven hour drive with stops from Toronto, we made it to Montreal before dark. It had rained in Toronto and we wondered if Canada really is this cold, even in the summer. But fortunately when we arrived Montreal, the sun was up and even the slight nip in the air did not dampen our excitement.

We still have to see Montreal, but there are plans to see the St. Joseph's Oratory, the Notre Dame church, Toque restaurant, Botanical Gardens. and others. Quebec is also in our plans. (We're brushing up on our Francais since Montreal is in French-speaking Canada.)

Right now we are lounging in Evelyn's lovely fourth floor condominium with a breathtaking view of downtown Montreal and the St. Lawrence river. We'd finished a bottle of champagne, had a great chicken dinner and leftover Chinese dimsum, had choice cheeses, salad with pomegranate dressing, oven-hot French baguette. One will never go hungry in Evelyn's abode. Her refrigerator overflows with gourmet eatables -- blueberries, strawberries, cherimoya, cherries, chocolates, cheeses the list goes on.