“Montreal – Week 1”
I enjoyed this online story, celebrating a truly amazing individual:
One of Britain’s biggest mazes is celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday by creating a spectacular design in the shape of a mountain gorilla.
Wistow Maze in Leicestershire, England, came up with the design to pay tribute to the legendary broadcaster who hails from their local county, having grown up near the University of Leicester.
The popular award-winning attraction features a winding labyrinth that stretches for three miles and takes around two hours to walk.
After my posting last Sunday, England beat Mexico 3-2 with Harry Kane scoring 2 goals, all while down to 10 men for much of the game. It was a very exciting and entertaining match.
We watched the movie “The Choice” on Sunday evening. This was our third attempt and we were successful in finishing before Diana “fais do do.”
There were more good sporting opportunities on Monday. The great British hope, Fery, made it through to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in entertaining fashion. Later in the day, the USMNT was dominated by Belgium from start to finish, ultimately losing 4-1.
I watched “Still of the Night” in the evening – a movie from 1982 with what I thought was a 25 year old Meryl Streep, turns out she was 33, alongside Roy Scheider. This was very much a noir style mystery with an early eighties feel. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
We had an early start on Tuesday, 6am in an Uber, to catch the first of our two small (American Eagle) flights to Montreal. I watched a movie called “The Christophers” on the flight from New Orleans to Chicago. This starred Ian McKellen and a leonine looking lady (stand by while I look her up..), Michaele Coel, in a story about an aging artist, forgery and the greed of his children. It was a quiet, “adult” movie that I enjoyed quite a bit.
A long layover in Chicago was eased by the Admirals Club with good coffee, creative food, and excellent WiFi. We were able to watch Zverev defeat Lehecka, and some of Argentina vs Egypt (Messi missed a penalty.)
Diana had an impressive set up on our next flight (Chicago to Montreal.)
Mimosa, book on iPad, Wimbledon on phone and texting on phone. Check, check, check, and check. All taken care of.
All that multi-tasking was stressing me and so I went old school, finishing off my Violent Femmes book from the book store talk several weeks ago. I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to referring to my marked up sections when I listen to the album next.
It was quite a trek from the arrival gate, through immigration and out to the Uber pickup area in Montreal. Our Lyft (much shorter wait time than Uber) driver dropped us off in the alley behind our building rather at the front door. That was pretty disconcerting but he was sure it was the right place and we figured it out after he left, dragging our luggage down the alley, past the famous bagel place, and around to the front door, where we were able to easily gain entrance to the lovely Airbnb.
Next stop – the local stores for some supplies. There were several small grocery stores very close by and a liquor and wine store right next door. Easy peasy.
After our pre-dawn start, we opted for a nice early night.
We awoke early on Wednesday morning. I went back to sleep while Diana explored the neighborhood. She did report back on a restaurant that she found that ended up being very good (more to come.)
Later in the morning we headed out on an expedition to summit Mont Royal, the mountain/hill that Montreal is named for. My research showed that Chemin Olmsted was a pleasant and meandering trail with a light gradient, passing Beaver Lake before arriving at the Mount Royal chalet and terrace. That was all true, however, the weather was not what my research had indicated – hot and humid, and not the cold, crisp respite from the New Orleans swamp that I had hoped for. Oh well, I took a few breaks to cool off and ultimately summited.
There was an interesting statue as we entered the park.
Diana was not a fan of my “bucket hat” and particularly the orange colour. I stuck with it all the same, and was delighted to find a tribe of my people on our ascent.
Here we are up on the terrace with a view of downtown Montreal.
Kenny and Kara (henceforth known as the “KKs”) arrived around 5pm and seemed not to much the worse for their day of travel. We started their first evening with dinner at Molenne, the restaurant that Diana found on her ramble.
This was an excellent dining experience all around – fun and attentive service and wonderful food all around. Kenny’s raw scallop was a big hit, as was Kara’s clam pasta dish.
I loved my cod in mushroom sauce and McD couldn’t resist the bison tartare.
Kenny found an excellent stop for dessert on the way home. Some wonderful cakes and after dinner drinks.
The KKs were at it early on Thursday. They got some bagels from Saint Viateur and then navigated their way down to Old Town and the Riverfront district on foot. We arranged to meet them at Maison des Eclusiers by the riverfront and enjoyed our first taste of poutine.
What is poutine? I’m glad you asked – fries, cheese curds, and gravy with various other optional toppings. I thought it was relatively tasty but didn’t need to order it again on the trip.
Fred texted us that his favourite stop in Montreal was Pub Saint Pierre. We hoped to camp out there and watch the France vs Morocco World Cup game. Alas, that was a no go. They were fully booked with supporters of both teams and so we had to vacate our table before the 4pm kickoff.
There was a decent rain going when we were ejected from the Pub, and so we made our way back to the Airbnb to prepare for dinner.
Dinner was at a lovely Indian place that Kara discovered, Le Taj. A fancy/cool setting with very good food. We enjoyed onion bhaji and samosas to start, followed by chicken korma, lamb vindaloo, mixed grill and garlic naan. Lots of yummy food and plenty of leftovers. Nice job, Kara!
We headed back downtown on Friday morning. First stop was the Crew cafe, a coffee shop in a very fancy, old, art deco style Royal Bank of Canada building. The lines for coffee were too long, but the building was worth the visit.
The World Trade Center building was next door and we gave that a quick visit. Long enough for Kenny to purchase some cool new shoes, and for me to snap some pictures of a part of the Berlin wall.
We then made a decent hike over to Rue Crescent, a “super cute street with bars and flower boxes.” The street also sported the first of two Leonard Cohen murals. I think it’s a very well done representation of the Canadian gentleman.
I first discovered him in my mid teens via the “Greatest Hits” album.
Look at that list of songs! “The Partisan” and “Suzanne” were my youthful favourites.
We made our way from the mural over to the Boulevard Saint Laurent, which we believed would ultimately take us close to home. There we found mural number two:
Do you think he might be a bit of a big deal in Montreal?
We stopped at a cafe for a lunch snack of Breton style galettes, sitting outside on the street.
Kara wanted to try the world famous smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s deli down the street from Cafe Breizh. This wasn’t overly appealing to me but tasted good – somewhere between pastrami and corned beef. This place is very popular – seems to have a constant line out the door.
After that sustenance, we hiked onwards to the Avenue Mont Royal, a pedestrian street (mostly.) Kara browsed a used record store and we ordered up macchiatos from a coffee window. We stopped into a little Chilean place to try and watch the World Cup game. They had it on but didn’t serve any wine or beer. I ordered an empanada – very good with a delicious sauce. When I complimented the sauce, the owners told me they brought the recipe from Chile and gave me a little sample to take home.
After a quick freshen up, the girls walked around to the Sparrow, a restaurant/bar with an amazing oyster happy hour – $1 Canadian/oyster – that’s $0.70 US. Granted, these are the smaller, PEI oysters, but those are usually even more expensive than our local gulf varieties. I prefer the small, briny ones, but most others like the gulf ones.
I think you can tell from these pictures what the girls thought of the experience:
There was a small music club across from the Airbnb and the girls alerted us to the band playing that evening – Kataklysm. I listened to a few seconds of a track – do so at your own risk. There was an interesting Nordic/French band playing later in our stay.
Kenny and I joined the ladies at Sparrow and gave them an excuse to order some more oysters. The place did make a very good gimlet.
The oysters weren’t enough to sate everyone and an Uber driver had recommended Fugazi pizza – handily just across the street from Sparrow.
That place made a tasty pizza.
I was amazed at the number of pizza, bagel and coffee shops in our neighbourhood. It was a younger area from a demographic perspective, but still – how much pizza can one eat in a week?
The KKs were excited to try the local ice cream before leaving. The line wasn’t too long.
Some down memory lane ice cream pictures:
The KKs went off early to summit Mont Royal – successfully completed. Diana went out for a wander and I walked down the street to Chez Greenberg for breakfast.
Something about Montreal – everybody knows how to make a macchiato. The special thing at this place was the latke with schmear, smoked salmon, chives, onions and crunchy things. Different and delicious.
I rendezvoused with my spouse and we went to Bishop and Bagg to watch the Wimbledon ladies final.
It looked like it would be over before the KKs could join us. Fortunately the match became competitive and needed a third set to decide.
The ladies went out for an extensive walk prior to another Sparrow happy hour, while Kenny and I watched the World Cup game at the apartment.
You’ll have to ask them about the background on this picture. The one I got seemed quite fishy.
And then back to Sparrow to discuss the cover story.
We tried a well recommended and reviewed neighbourhood Greek place for dinner – Faros. Again – great service and delicious food. I tried something new – squid stuffed with cheese and veggies.
Diana had a grilled octopus, Kara lamb, and Kenny steak.
There was an interesting option where you could select a very fresh fish.
The bus boy was helping us with coffee and desert and recommended the yogurt plate. Great recommendation – we all enjoyed it a lot.
And we were not done at that. A fruit plate appeared. We asked questions about one of the melon looking fruits and the owner/chef (for 30 years) came out with an explanation and then reappeared with another exotic melon that he wanted us to try. What a great experience!
Somehow, on returning to the Airbnb, we got on a favourite show from our childhoods kick. We watched Lancelot Link and the episode about the “Hong Kong Sneeze” – one of Kenny’s favourites. Then I shared some Magic Roundabout, The Herbs, and then we finished with the Pink Panther for Kenny and my Dad.
The KKs left us on Sunday. We sadly moped around and watched some Wimbledon. In the evening, we couldn’t resist revisiting Molenne for a reprise of that ridiculous raw scallop, bison tartare, and spaghetti clams trifecta. Just as tasty.
I finished up John of John by Douglas Stuart this week. Not one of my top reads of the year, but as I said last week, some interesting things about life on the islands.
Poor David’s Pub has been the site of many wonderful concert memories for me. David retired recently and his daughter is now carrying forward the responsibility for the club. Here’s a Dallas Observer article with the details: