Montreal Weekend Wrap Up

There were a few creperies near our hotel, but none of them wear open at 10ish when we set out for breakfast, so we ended up eating at a small cafe just down the street. I had a croissant sandwich, but the croissant was grilled on a panini press, which was different and delicious.

Next, we headed towards Saint Catherine's street, the other major walking street that was recommended by the HP folks in Toronto and Montreal.  There was an underground mall that was recommended to wander around in, but it wasn't all that special.  The area was more touristy and had a McDonald's, Dairy Queen, and other American fast food chains, but we found a nice Mediterranean place and I had a gyro. There was not a lot of things that interested us on Saint Catherine's, but we did pop into the Canadian contemporary art museum. There were 5 or so exhibits, but I only liked Robert Polidori's photographs. The other exhibits were just weird and not what I would consider "art". I guess that's where the contemporary part comes in. 

Afterwards, we had an adventure trying to get to Little Italy, where there was an open air market. We got there eventually after a few wrong turns and not going far enough down streets, and I'm glad we did. The market was cool, kind of similar to the Howth weekend market, but much larger. Dan asked that I make special note that the Lebanese cucumbers were amazing. There were some cool shops surrounding the area, and we popped into a fromagerie just to have a look around after resting our feet and having a drink at a sidewalk cafe. Dan bought some cheese and I spotted 3 new drinks to add to my root beer collection; spruce beer, maple beer, and birch beer. Not exactly root beer, but I figure I'll never see spruce or maple beer again, so I saved a bottle of each.  I tried the maple immediately and it was ok, but I wish I tried the spruce before I got back to Houston. It is far and away the greatest soft drink I have ever tasted, and I really wish I bought more than two bottles.  Dan also picked up a bottle of wine somewhere along the way to go with his cheese.

After awhile, we made our way back to the hotel to regroup and figure out dinner plans. It seems that every weekend in Montreal there is some sort of festival. We were a week too early for jazz fest, but it turned out that we were at the right place at the right time for a science festival, which we had seem some tents set up along the port the day before, and more importantly, lobster festival!

We decided to head to the walking district off Saint Laurent after reading some good reviews that a different Portuguese restaurant, under the same management as the one we had eaten at before. Dan and I each had the lobster dish, which turned out to be two lobster tails, and James went the adventurous route and tried the rabbit.  Everything was really delicious. (see picture above)

After dinner we walked around some more and stopped at a bar. Montreal must be a good place to party, because we saw 4 different bachorette parties roaming the streets. I had some more red beer, it's really grown on me but I had been drinking a local Montreal brew most of the time that I suspect will be difficult to find elsewhere.

It was pretty late at this point and I just wanted to go back to the hotel and take it easy, but James and Dan had other plans and eventually I succumbed to peer pressure and we went back out to try to find some nice bars.

Turns out I had the right idea staying in, all the bars had either ridiculous cover charge or even more ridiculous bottle service, where you can't get in unless you order a $130+ bottle...The one bar we did get into had bottle service, but it turned out to be a pretty antisocial place because of the set up. Groups just stayed at their own table and everyone who was having a good time had come in a group anyway.  We tried the bar scene for 2 hours maybe, but then called it quits.

That was about it for this trip. Sunday I led everybody the wrong direction so instead of getting to a recommended bagel place for breakfast we ate at another small cafe, which was fine with everyone.  We walked to the bus station to get to the airport, but it turned out that a taxi would be cheaper for 3 people. 

At the airport, I noticed both coming into Montreal from Toronto and flying back to Toronto that you don't have to take your shoes off at the security checkpoint, but that you did flying from Toronto back into America.

I bought some French vodka made from distilled grapes at the duty free and some other gifts at the airport, then hopped on the 4 seats per row back to Toronto and 3 seats per row back to Houston.

All in all, it was a good trip, and I really enjoyed the spontaneity of not having a set itinerary. I'm also glad Dan came up and James decided to stay as well.