Easter Weekend

Members on the tour:

Timo - Driver
Matthew - Navigator
Chris - CD selection
Me - Walking guide

Destination: Montreal

This post is a bit long as I tried to recap our trip. To spare you the details here are some of the highlights:

- No less than five times that cop cars' light was flashing on our road trip
- Laval Transit $2.90 + Montreal Transit $2.50
- Coin-acceptor on buses takes only one coin at a time
- Llama-feeding to lamb-chop hunting
- St. Eli's courtyard is still charming as ever
- Holiday Inn Chinatown does have a chinese garden!
- Jacket-swapping between Kristi Matthew and me
- Never buy umbrella just when it rains
- Club 737 opens 10pm on weekends
- Labanese food is very yummy and filling
- Pour ici ou pour emporter?
- Sunday grill - rabbit, steak and mussels
- cafe and chess on st. laurent
- hotel+gas: 2-nights/12-hour drive
- Ka-ching $109.05

Friday
Leaving the gray sky in Toronto behind us, we were promised of good weather when the blue sky was creeping through the clouds as we approached the French autoroute
signs. In less than six hours we arrived in Laval, a city across a river from Montreal on the north - but a suburb really - with its malls and big box stores. After hotel check-in, we had our 3pm lunch at a nearby A&W, gulping down root beer and iced tea served in chilled pint glasses. The 10min commute from Laval to Montreal included a bus ride to Metro Henri-Bourassa.

The "critical walk" commenced at Metro Mont-Royal. On axis of rue Mont-Royal is Mount Royal and the olympic stadium, visible on either end. The street seemed especially vibrant on this sunny day when people were sitting outside chatting on the doorsteps, and a guy playing guitar sitting on a window sill. We walked a good portion of the street before we headed over to the east slope of the mountain to the Cartier monument to check if the Tam-Tams was happening. To no avail, as it might only happen on sundays, we continued to explore and criss-crossed between Rue St. Laurent and Rue St. Denis towards rue Sainte-Catherine on a beautiful friday afternoon.

Across from Places-des-Arts, we checked out a shopping mall, the Complexe Desjardins, entrance flanked by Terra Nostra and a restaurant, only to discover that a "farm" was on display in the atrium complete with a few goats, rabbits, pigs and llamas. Timo and Matt took the opportunity to feed them.

Chris and Matthew at St. Eli's

Taking advantage of the beautiful sunny day, we slowed down our pace in the evening at one of my favourite bar off rue Ste. Catherine, Le Saint-Élizabeth Pub Européen, boasting one of the most gorgeous courtyard/terrace in the city. The outdoor terrace is framed by the two-storey pub and three 45-foot walls covered in vines. There are a number of gas-powered torches to keep us warm in the "in-between" s/s season. On offering was still the happy-hour-before-8pm $4/pint local Boréale that comes in blonde, rousse, noire...

With Timo's craving for lamb chops that stemmed from animal-feeding earlier in the day, we headed to St. Laurent to look for lamb chops in restaurant menus and discovered Cabane, a pub across from Schwartz the smoked-meat place. Suprisingly delicious sirloin steak (my comment) and lamb chops (commented by Timo and Chris)... By the time we finished dinner it was almost 10pm.

Saturday
The gray weather did not let our spirits down. Our itinerary was to visit the remaining part of Montreal. A metro ride on the Orange line brought us to Place d'Armes where the Palais des Congres with its colourful facade was located next to Place Victoria. Then we had a quick visit to Old Montreal. We started heading back to the front gate of McGill to meet with Kristi just when it started pouring. Got soo soaked, we went to the Holiday Inn for shelter and waited out until the rain stopped. Finally we met up with my friend Kristi.

After quick introductions, Kristi and I came to the conclusion for a good lunch spot - Santropol. 10 minute walk from the front gate of McGill, we first were seated in the front of the restaurant, but knowing how nice their outdoor backyard is, we decided to move outside to a table under the awning. Infamous for their gigantic sandwiches and the landscaped outdoor patio, Santropol was one of my favourites. Pepper Island Sandwich with ham was my choice. Kristi and I both had ice-cream floats and it got us kinda chilly. She first asked me for my jacket, then I felt cold so I borrowed Matt's. Funny situation on the coat swapping, but the hail then rain didn't help with the situation! Weird weather...After lunch we parted with Kristi and continued our stenuous walk, sightseeing and window shopping.

On St. Laurent, we stopped at a little convenience store to get $5 umbrellas. You probably guessed it, we hardly used them for the rest of the day! Rue Ste. Catherine was very busy as usual and our plan was to check out Club 737 on top of Place Ville-Marie tower for their 5-7pm happy hour. After getting lost among the shops on Ste. Catherine all the way west, we made our way back to College St. to discover that we passed PVM long ago and on top of that (pun intended) the club's not open until 10pm on weekends!

Little disappointed, we went to an italian restaurant for little snacks and drinks. Timo's brilliant idea of getting labanese food was fulfilled when we came across one (on Ste. C) of the many labanese restaurants in the city. (we found out the very next day) Shaved beef and chicken with tons of lettuce, rice, potatoes and pink-pickled turnip as garnish are the platters.

Sunday

After the hotel breakfast, we got into Timo's car and off we went to Mont Royal. The relatively short ride along the less-than-winding road brought us to an observation area where we could see the Olympic Stadium and La Ronde amusement park. Our car trip continued along rue Mont Royal to the stadium. We didn't stay long before we headed back to the city on St. Laurent where we continued our window shopping.

We had lunch at Janos, a portugese grillade on St. Laurent. They all ordered grilled rabbit and I was the unadventurous one who got grilled rib steak. Picture: Matthew bought the colourful figures from a gift shop and they are not easter eggs. In the paper bag was grilled rabbit from lunch - what a combination in the easter weekend.

At one point, while Timo and Chris were checking out a clothing store, Matthew and I waited outside and decided to get a coffee a few doors down. The cafe was filled with chess players and cigarette smoke. I ordered a latte and matthew got espresso with biscotti. We got a table with chess all laid out on the gameboard near the entrance so we could keep our eyes for Timo and Chris while playing a game of chess. We did miss them walking past the cafe, however, the two came back to find us. After a few more chess moves of the Kings and Queens, what seemed to me to be a losing game turned out to be the opposite! Beginner's luck!

I insisted that Chris should try the Montreal smoked meat from Schwartz so while Matthew and Timo waited in a bookstore across, Chris and I lined up outside Schwartz for 30min+ to get their legendary $9.95/lb Montreal smoked meat.

A visit to the City of Festivals always brings back the good memories and offers new experience. In two years time since my 4-month visit in 2004, Montreal has changed for the better as one of the great cities, namely with its vibrant streets, new and historic architecture and great food! Probably it is about the European vibe from the francophones that makes Montreal special.

On Sherbrooke, a new hotel with
adaptive reuse portion (left) and the
new music department at McGill (right)

PS: you did not miss any significant details - no we did not go to strip clubs that are infamous for this city...there's a lot more that Montreal offers!

Many thanks to you guys for this wonderful trip!