I went to  Montreal last week for four days but it wasn’t until the last day, an hour before my mom and I had to leave for the airport, that I found my favorite place in the city: Eva B, a mash up of a thrift shop, book store, and cafe.

This is the outside of the store, which stood out even among the posters and street art that covered the rest of the street.

Entering Eva B. was kind of like entering art. Not like a museum, but like I was inside of a collage. The same excitement I felt writing and painting I felt all mushed together when I walked through the doors.

There was so much going on in Eva B. I never knew where to look.  Things hung from the ceiling, books were stacks on the floors and bizarre clothing was lying around everywhere. The railings were dusty, and the floor was littered. And the more I walked around the more rooms I found!

I didn’t know if I wanted to concentrate on the cafe or the hanging racks of clothes or the the bookshelves. I wandered around the store, piles of clothing and books in my arms, my eyes darting around, trying to take everything in all at once.

It was complete sensory overload. It was bliss.

I mean the potential of what could be found in this store! Without even looking I spotted an entire stack of feminist theory next to a rack of school teacher dresses!

(This suitcase was my down fall. Best eight dollars I spent in my life!)

I could only imagine that the employees must be marvelous, artsy, witches to have created such a magical place.

I was a Shakespearean heroine who had stumbled upon a coven of modern day witches! The witches steamed their clothes with their wands,

practiced Herbology on their smoking breaks on the patio,

and made my tea in cauldrons while dancing to Stevie Wonder!

Like the store itself, the witches that occupied it also looked like art. They wore it on their fingers and in their hair. They ran around carrying plastic baby dolls and cutting out pieces of lasagna for their customers, as Michael Jackson played in the background.

This is a picture of me in their patio/cafe area. I look pretty composed, but on the inside I was beautifully overwhelmed. It is what I imagine the people who stumble upon dancing fairies felt like. The fairies seduce them to join their dance and once the people start dancing they never can break the spell and just dance and dance the rest of their lives.

It was my day with the fairies and witches.