Rappelons Montréal

As much as we don't like travel in winter, Graham couldn't get his holidays approved for an earlier time. We decided, stuff the weather, let's go to Montreal even if it *is* November! The first day had it's ups and downs, literally, but our second full day was more successful, if not diverse. It started with culture and ended in a sports event!

Lundi...Nous arrivons

Le 2 Novembre

I know the headers are in French, but the travelogue won't be! We flew to Montreal and arrived mid afternoon on a sunny day. We decided to get a taxi to the hotel since two aerobus tickets would cost almost as much as the flat rate for the cab and the bus wouldn't get us to the door. We are staying in the Embassy Suites by Hilton. We thought staying in a suite hotel might be a nice change since we were going to be there for five nights. We weren't really planning on cooking but it was nice to have the fridge and microwave for snacks and leftover Chinese food, that sort of thing. The suite is really large and the bedroom is separate from the main living area that has a sofa bed, two chairs, a desk and chair and the kitchenette. There are two large flat screen tvs, one in the bedroom on the wall and one in the living area. Large bathroom with jacuzzi! You have to call reception to get dishes and cutlery delivered which we did and they brought them forthwith. Breakfast is included and we get two free drinks per person for an evening happy hour each night.

We are on the doorstep of "Old" Montreal, the historic original area where the city was founded in the mid 1600s as a missionary and fur trading post. Our first order of business was to find a cafe or some place for lunch so we went out and around the corner, up a short hill into the old district. Notre Dame basilica is practically right behind the hotel! we weren't three blocks from the hotel when the next thing I knew, I was face down on the sidewalk! There was a little dip in the sidewalk where a tree would normally be planted and I wasn't looking where I was going, taking in all the lovely buildings and I was on the ground before I even knew I had fallen! Luckily, no twisted ankle, my back was still intact and I only had some scrapes and bruises on one hand and a knee so on we walked.

There are lovely buildings in Old Montreal, some dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries and some newer. None are what you might call "Modern" architecture though there are some really nice 20th century art deco buildings including one that looks like a smaller version of the Empire State Building and is owned by an insurance company. The grand City Hall is at the top of the sloping Place Jacques Cartier, cobbled and lined with shops and restaurants in the old buildings. This square is heaving with people in summer but in November, there aren't more than a dozen or so wandering around. The restaurants are all nice but not cheap so we didn't stop there for a bite. There's also a little street off the square, Rue des Artistes, lined with galleries and artists selling prints and paintings outside the shops as well. The streets in Old Montreal are narrow and cobbled, with old stone buildings along them. There are little alleys and alcoves with hidden gems, a little bistro or B&B. The main street through the old section is Rue St. Paul which is where most of the shops and restaurants are. Even so, we still weren't too successful finding a cheap(ish) little cafe. Most of what we saw were proper restaurants but we earmarked one or two to check out for evening meals later in the week.

We stopped into Marche Bonsecours, which is a long building centred with a shiny silver dome. It's been a market and various other uses over the last couple hundred years and is now an upscale shopping centre with boutique designer craft shops featuring Quebec artists. You'll find jewellery, native art and crafts and galleries in here. There are some restaurants as well, but again, not a casual type of cafe, not what we wanted. We didn't linger. Across the street from it, though, we thought we got lucky. There was a little cafe with wooden tables and chairs called Serafim. They even advertised a burger though also there were signs up about it being an all organic cafe. We went in and thought, yes, this is what we're looking for. The menu showed various sandwiches and salads and some vegetarian options. There was indeed a burger on the menu but it had a tsaziki sauce on it rather than mustard or mayo. Wasn't sure Graham would like it but the waiter brought out a little sample and Graham thought it was ok. He ordered the burger and I had a spinach pie and soup. I quite liked my food but G. said his burger was pretty dry and tasteless after the first couple of bites. It served the purpose but not enjoyable at all. Oh well. I think if you're into organic food or are vegetarian, you'll probably like this cafe. In retrospect, perhaps it was naive to think we'd find a cheap and casual little place in the prime tourist area of Montreal.

From here, we walked down one street to the main road along the waterfront. This is the "Old Port" though it's all renovated and has quays and attractions built so far out into the river you don't see much water from the street! There's a science centre here and an IMAX as well as a marina and cruise ship dock. We walked a bit further and then back up into the old streets, poking into a few shops and picking up some snacks for the hotel suite. We went back to the hotel for a bit before heading out later to find a place for our evening meal. Where to go?

We are only a block away from Montreal's Chinatown so, both loving Chinese food, that's where we headed. There's a little pedestrian street between Rue San Antoine and Rue St. Laurent that is lined with restaurants and crowded little Chinese shops, The first place we went into only had large tables left and we didn't want to wait. We walked along, perusing menus and on Rue St. Laurent we found Fung Shing (1102 St. Laurent). It's a basic, nothing fancy restaurant but it was warm and the food was really good. We particularly enjoyed the lemon chicken and the beef and black bean sauce. Neither of us could find any fault with it and we brought the leftovers back to the hotel seeing as we have a microwave. We walked along the street to see the lit up Chinese arch and then a little way along Rue St. Catherine. This seems to be a somewhat seedy end of the street and there are clubs and sex shops. Many of the clubs seem to have a series of red spotlights over the sidewalk. Doesn't seem to be a designator of any kind of dodgy club like a peep show or anything, just that it's a nightclub.

We walked back a few blocks to the hotel and I decided I should probably have a hot bath to sooth the muscles that are going to hurt tomorrow from that fall earlier. I filled the tub and couldn't find the switch to turn on the jacuzzi jets but i hit a panel when i eased myself down into it and it bubbled to life. I always find that they're loud and i worry that it will disturb people in the rooms around me so i didn't let it whirl too long. The bed was comfy and warm and we settled in for the night.

Mardi...La Musée

Le 3 Novembre

It's overcast and a little rainy this morning so it's a perfect day for a musuem. I'm a bit sore around the edges and my hand is bruised but I'll be fine. We are heading to the Beaux Arts museum (museum of Fine Arts) on Sherbrooke Street West. We had breakfast in the hotel dining room. It was a bit odd, Graham had his cereal and left the bowl on the table while he went to get his eggs and I had gone straight for the breakfast buffet. When we got to the table, someone else had put their coat on the back of one of the chairs. They must have thought we had finished as we didn't have coats or anything on the table. We sat down and the person came back with their breakfast and sat down and ate! Nobody said anything to the other and he did leave after he finished while we lingered a bit over ours.

We lingered because the museum didn't open until 11 anyway. Before leaving the hotel we booked a bus tour through Grayline via the concierge. They have hotel pickup in the morning and then we went across the street to the metro station. We got 6 tickets each so we'd have some for the rest of the week and took the metro to a station near the musem. Probably should have gone one more stop because we still ended up having to walk a bit, partly through the underground network of tunnels and then down the street a few blocks.

The museum covers two buildings on opposite sides of the street, connected by an underground passage. One building is older and one newer. The permanent collections are free with the only charges for temporary exhibits. They had an exhibit on the Pre Rafaelites but we didn't really fancy it and just went with some of the free parts. We didn't see the whole thing because there is quite a bit there. We had a quick drink in the cafeteria, tucked away behind the more formal bistro and planned our attack. Start at the top and work our way down. We saw the Renaissance and early European paintings first. Lots of religious and mythical themed pictures here and some nice artifacts. The next floor down had a new exhibit, a 2 room display on Napoleon and items from his reign and era, the late 18th and early 19th century France. They had quite a few items that actually belonged to him or came from his palaces and households including his writing desk and his black hat that was apparently worn during the Russian campaigns. Graham was particularly impressed by that hat! I really enjoyed this bit, with the gold mantle clocks, the bust of Josephine, the miniatures and paintings and they even had his death mask! How cool is that!?

The main floor of the museum had some Impressionists and Picassos and a Rodin statue that i really liked. I"m not a fan of Picasso but it was interesting to see a couple of his original artworks as i don't think i'd seen any before. By now our feet had had enough and we didn't go across to the older building where the Canadian and Native collections were though i think they would have been quite nice, too.

The sun has finally peeked out so we went outside and walked a few blocks to St. Catherine Street. Montreal has a few really long streets. St. Catherine and Sherbrooke are two of the long east-west ones and St. Laurent and St. Denis are the two best known and traveled north-south ones. St. Catherine has loads of shops and shopping centres and restaurants though, as i mentioned before, parts of it can also be a bit seedy further down. Even so, in the middle of all the modern stores and restaurants at this end, you'll see a sign for a sex peep show on one of the floors over a perfectly respectable trendy fashion retailer.

We stopped into Starbucks and i fired up my iPod touch which has wifi. I can get free access in Starbucks due to having a coffee card that i registered. It's a bit cludgy but not bad for checking and sending email. We discovered that the concert for which we had tickets next week was cancelled. Graham was bummed about that though i can't say i was overly disappointed. Slayer and Megadeth are more his type of scene than mine!

We meandered along the street window shopping and went into one of the malls looking for a drugstore and I also wanted to find a camera since mine had been lost/stolen just before we came to Montreal. We found both and i was pleased with the camera, a near replica of the vanished one and it was marked down $50 on sale! Result! My feet are blistered and tired so we trudged back to the hotel and ordered room service. A much better burger this time and the price was actually pretty reasonable for hotel food! We are going to the Bell Centre tonight for a hockey game and i had to set up the new camera!

I used to be a dedicated hockey fan back in the day. Montreal Canadiens were "my" team and since we were going to be in the city while the team had a home game, i just had to try to get tickets. Graham isn't a sports fan but generously agreed to go anyway because i wanted to. (The now-cancelled Slayer concert was payback!) His opinion of the evening was that at least he got to have a truly Canadian experience though wasn't fussed one way or the other. Me? What a buzz! Our seats were fairly high up but we were on the side by the blue line so had a pretty good view of all the ice rather than being stuck at one end. They had a pre-game show with video clips and lights and music that was good. The crowd really gets into the game and it's infectious! They played a team from Atlanta and lost though if they'd played the whole game like they played in the third period, they might have had a win. Didn't matter. Standing and hearing the national anthem sung in French just like the old days on tv was a thrill anyway even if it wasn't in the old Montreal Forum. I'll probably never go again but i'm very glad i went. *And* the camera did very well!

Even though the centre was pretty full, getting all those people in and out went fairly smoothly. They had one way escalators going up and a second set that went down and people queued without issue. Once we got out and figured out which way to the street the hotel is on (which runs along one side of the Bell Centre), we manaaged to get pointed in the right direction from a friendly passerby. We walked back instead of taking the Metro, thinking it wasn't too far. The night was cool but not unbearably cold and though the walk took a little longer than we thought, maybe 20 or 30 minutes (but then, we weren't walking really fast due to sore feet from earlier), we got back in one piece and felt safe walking along the route. It's mainly office buildings along that road at that point before you get to where the hotel is and there didn't seem to be a bus that we saw. When we got back, i plugged in the phone and the camera batteries for charging and heard from my aunt who is in Montreal visiting her son/my cousin who we are going to see on Saturday. She's going back to the west coast early so we will miss seeing her.

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