Montreal in August

I'm a little delayed in composing this journal (as in one year) but hopefully I still have something useful to share.

We departed Washington Dulles the same morning that the big scare concerning liquids came to light.  Fortunately for us I had turned the TV on that morning and rearranged my liquid items.  We were on an early morning flight I feel we moved through the airport as efficiently as is possible these days.  I did make the mistake of opening a water bottle while in the very long security line.  A woman came in and swooped it out of my hand as I was raising it to me lips - like a hawk out of nowhere - surprised the **** out of me.  Lesson learned.  It was kind of comical, it retrospect, because of our early flight people just had not received the word about the liquids.  There were airport employees roaming through the airport with handmade signs taped to their front and back about no liquids allowed.  Anyway on to the trip...

We arrived in Montreal with no problems.  The airport in Montreal was earily deserted.  Ours was literally the only flight we saw.  When I asked if this was a busy airport I was assured it was.  Oh well, better for us I guess, we were out of there pretty quick.  We took a taxi to the Old Port and our hotel, Auberge du Vieux-Port.  I knew Montreal was a French/English speaking province.  I was unprepared for the fact that our cab driver appeared to speak nor understand ANY English.  He was very nice though and as my French pronunciation is VERY poor I wrote down the name of the hotel and we were fine.  He did not take the scenic route from the airport to the Old Port.  I was not impressed at all with what I saw.

But... then we arrived (about a 15-20 minute drive at a high rate of speed) at the Old Port.  Very charming.  Our hotle was absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend it.  I really can't say enough good things about it.  Check in was smooth, the room was beautiful, it is right on the river.  I did not use it but there are internet accessible computers in the lobby.  It is important to remember that this is an older building so you do not have the massive entry ways that you see in the newer hotels.  At the same time it has been very well renovated and you do not experience any of the common problems with older buildings such as poor water pressure or problems with temperature control.  In the evening they have wine and cheese hors du'veoures for their guests.  The cheese was wonderful.  I was not really impressed with their wine selection - either of the menu or during this little reception.  It wasn't bad, just not impressive. 

After we dropped our bags we walked around a bit and stopped to get something to eat.  I unfortunately don't have the name of the restaurant on my schedule but it was just one of many on the pedestrian square in the Old Port.  The one happened to be right on the corner.  We sat outside and each had one of the biggest bowls of mussels I've ever seen along with a couple of beers.  The mussels were good but if I'd known the serving would be so big we would have only gotten one.  I enjoyed the square... more on that later.

We then went to take a little trolley tour of the Old Port.  This was a mistake after the early morning and the beer.  The rocking of the trolley put me and my husband to sleep.  There were not a lot of people on the trolley.  The tour is recorded - I'm not sure I can recommend this but given my state I probably shouldn't judge - I'll try the carriage tour next time.

That evening we had dinner at Les Remparts.  This is the restaurant on the rooftop of our hotel.  Absolutely wonderful views.  The waiters were very good.  The food, while good, was not everything I expected.  Almost everything was some form of wild game.  I would absolutely go back for drinks and maybe hors du'veoures but I'd probably skip dinner.  The interesting thing is we struck up this conversation with our waiter.  He has a very interesting French/English/Italian background.  He referred us to a great little family owned restaurant in little Italy that we never would have found in any guidebook.  Unfortunately this happened a year ago, and i did not keep good notes so i cannot remember the name except to tell you it is one the corner off the main street in Little Italy.  (sorry)

The next day we rented bicycles and took the path along the Lachine Canal.  This was a very nice bike ride and I highly recommend this.  There was a steady breeze that day which made the cycling a bit challenging if you aren't used to it but it wasn't bad.  On the way out we stopped at the McAuslan Brewery.  This place did not look like its advertisements and web page.  There was a picnic area and a booth that sold beer.  You could order burgers and sausage, which we did.  The beer was okay and the burgers and sausage were burgers and sausage.  The young couple that were serving were also trying to manage their children at the same time - been there done that.  It was an okay place to stop while taking a trip up the canal.  They did not seem to be offering a brewery tour that day.  On with the ride.

We biked to the end of the peninsula.  It was very pretty and the St Lawrence River is impressive.  We rode back to the Old Port along the river.  We stopped at Atwater Market along the way.  I really, really like this place.  I highly recommend it.  We stopped a few other time just to view the river, I shouldn't say "just" because it is very interesting.  At different points they have the information plaques that you can stop and read to get a little history.  We arrived back at Old Port (with very sore backsides).  The whole bike trip was only about 7-8 miles and there are shorter routes than the one we took.

That evening we had a most awsome dinner at Restaurant Le Parchemin.  If you are looking for a great meal, romantic, impressive, fantastic!  this is the place.  Not inexpensive but this is the place for that one special meal.

I really enjoyed the pedestrian square in the Old Port.  In the evening the street performers would come out.  they were very entertaining.  We walked through here every evening (and mornings too).

We did not rent a vehicle while we were in Montreal.  We easily got to all of the places we wanted to go either on foot or public transport.  We went to the Botanical Gardens via subway.  The is one of the nicer Gardens I have visited.  I like it verymuch, much better that the botanical gardens in DC.

For lunch we went to Chinatown.  My husband couldn't remember ever having Dim Sum, even when he was in China.  We went to Maison Kam Fung.  It was not that easy to find as it is on the second floor of a shopping center in Chinatown.  It is highlighted in the book Access Montreal.  I highly recommend this travel book by the way.  From here we did a lot of walking.  We walked through Chinatown (not much to it really), we ended up near the University.  I was looking for an Irish bar - O'Regans.  Found it (again through the Access book) It was your typical Irish bar.  We were there earlier in the day so it was fairly sedate.  You could tell that this part of the city gets wild at night.  Anyway the bar was nice in your Irish bar sort of way.  The bartender was an interesting woman from Edmondton.  She was very particular and quite precise in the way she poured her Guinness.  I like that (and the fact that it was served cold - I am American after all).

At this point of our trip my things to do list exceeded the amount of time we had left.  We did view several interesting architectural buildings from the outside only, such as Notre dame Basilica.  The architecture everywhere around the city is worth seeing.  We did go in one church in little Italy that our waiter from the first night told us about.  It wasn't very big but its claim to fame is the mural on the ceiling that includes Mussolini right next to (or very close anyway) to Jesus.  Beyond that, it is a large mural worth seeing.

Highlights of the trip were our hotel, Auberge du Vieux-Port, Lachine Canal, Atwater Market, Botanical Gardens, Old Port, and Le Parchmin Restaurant.