*** All pictures were taken with the Canon S90***
I took the 6 hour drive from Boston to Montreal via the red eye Greyhound bus. Definitely not a great nights sleep, but not terrible either. When I go to Montreal the first thing that surprised me was how French it was. I mean, I knew that French was the primary language but I didn’t expect to be so immersed in the french culture and language. I actually liked that aspect of it, it truly felt like I was on vacation, not being able to understand what the billboard ads were saying and resorting to body language to figure out what people around me were saying.
The greyhound terminal was right next to the busiest metro station, luckily information design is universal and I figured out how to navigate the metro within 10 minutes. I decided to head to the Place de Armes and start walking around the city to get my bearings. I saw a very Parisian looking cafe and decided to stop in for some coffee, I also met the most jacked barrista in the entire world (see picture).
As I was walking around I crossed through Chinatown and ended up near Notre Dame. Keep in mind this was around 8:30 AM so there were hardly any people around. Lucky for me, the basilica was open an I got a chance to go inside the basilica while there were hardly any other tourists inside.
After spending a few more hours walking downtown and grabbing lunch I decided to head out to the Olympic Stadium and the Botanical Gardens. the stadium itslef is pretty much defunct, nothing much really seems to happen around the site except kids skateboarding or attempting parkour. The botanical Gardens were a bit of a miss too due to the time I went to visit. Turns out that by mid-August most of the plant life was beginning to wilt away. Still there was a cool exhibit of bonsai trees that made the gardens a worthwhile visit for a couple of hours.
After getting back into the city I decided to grab some food before heading towards the hostel for check in. I ended up going to a bar which recommended a local restaurant in Old Montreal called Chez L’Epicier. This actually ended up being the best meal I had during my stay at Montreal, so this place is definitely recommended if you have a chance to visit. I ended up ordering the carpaccio with wild mushrooms and the Foie Gras special. the carpaccio was ok, but not the best have had, the Foie Gras however might have been the one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time. It was a pate that had a hint of banana that made it unusual. It was serve with this jellied pepper and chocolate mouse. Despite the sweetness, the dish worked out amazingly well. I would totally order it again if I had another chance.
I spent the next day walking around the city, one of the waiters at Chez L’Epicer told me to check out Kitchen Galleria which I did. They have a few locations, but the original restaurant is almost impossible to get into. I instead went to their downtown location for dinner that day. The food was good, but honestly I felt it was forgettable, especially compared to dinner the night before. he food started out with a crab and corn bisque, which was pretty good. I followed this up with a seafood tagliatelle, that had a few generous chunks of lobster tail along with scallops, shrimp and morel mushrooms.
After dinner I wandered outside and ended up sitting in a park where an event was going on. Apparently it was a free film-fest organized by local directors that were showing off their short films. The movies were being projected against a wall that was painted to look like a old TV set. People brought bottles of wine and sat outside watching movies and hanging out together. Seemed like a pretty cool scene.
The next day I decided to hike around the huge park of Mount Royal that looms over Montreal, getting there was all uphill and along the way I ended up at a cool brunch sport called La Cantina that kinda reminded me of Lime Brunch in San Francisco. I had the ham stuffed croissant along with a mimosa and a complimentary blood orange shooter. The rest of the day was spent hiking around Mount Royal and getting lost in the trails that permeate the entire park.
My last day in Montreal was spent first checking out the contemporary museum of Montreal. There were a few cool exhibits, but poverall the museaum felt pretty small. After visiting the museum I went just outside it to BraserrieT! which was a cool artsy looking bistro that looked like it came from the future. I had the Foie Gras pate with bread. After this there happened to be the Montreal Gay Pride Parade just around the corner of the museum. Montreal is far more progressive than most American cities, even the octogenarians seemed to show their support for the parade (can’t see that happening in Boston any time soon).
I had a red eye bus to catch back to Boston, giving me enough time to do a last ditch bar crawl and check out some of the places that I had missed out on during the last few days. I ended up checking out Santos, Merchant Boef and another restaurant (which I can’t remember right now). Obviously I had a great time in Montreal and I can’t wait to go back. It definitely has a very European vibe to it, a cheaper alternative than taking a transatlantic flight out to Paris.
