36 Hours in Montreal

David handed in his first paper so we decided it would be a good time to travel to Montreal. He had been away at school a lot and we wanted to do a Montreal trip before the roads got hit by snow. 

Thankfully our friends advised us to go through Ontario instead of Quebec (there are two main highways that lead into Montreal from Ottawa) because of construction. They recently went to Montreal going through the Quebec side and instead of it taking 2 hours it took 4 hours! 

Due to the recent findings of the corruption in the construction industry we have found that a lot of Quebec is under construction. As you may have heard, if you turn on any news program, there has been horrendous crimes as many construction companies were not able to bid on projects and a whole mafia-like structure was established where contractors and engineers were offered hundreds of thousands of dollars over the span of 20-30 years (this being taxpayer money!!) Projects have been delayed or huge corners were cut to reduce the actual amount of money that was spent. Recently a head engineer admitted he would go to his office and find envelopes of thousands of dollars in cash, expensive dinners, hockey tickets and was even offered prostitutes. He said he declined the prostitutes. I guess even the corruptible still have limits. Sheesh. 

We left early on Saturday morning, stayed overnight at a Marriott hotel (thanks to Expedia) and came back late Sunday evening. I figured if we left at 5 or 6 am that Dragon would sleep the whole time. He unfortunately, got up at 3am instead of the usual 5am for a feeding and then again at 6am so it threw off my well-thought out plans completely. NOTE: Don’t plan anything when you have a baby. It only makes things worse. He did do fairly well once we got moving and we only needed to stop about 30 minutes outside of Montreal to calm his roars. 

Arriving in Montreal was like stepping into Wonderland. It was full of the strange and wonderful! I was in awe of all of the huge ancient looking churches. They each demanded my attention and were found on every other street corner. It was hard not to wander off looking at the amazing architecture when I needed to be a diligent co-pilot to David and Rupert (our sexy British GPS guy). I couldn’t believe the massive bridges as I stared at the base of the one we travelled on much like tiny Alice to a toadstool. Seeing the island that has an outdoor amusement park (La Ronde) made me happy! That’s where our buddies A&B H. went to in August for an awesome concert. It does exist! That’s where Snoop Dogg was! Ha ha. And I also caught a glimpse of the failed Olympic stadium. That was enough for me. Thinking of it makes me laugh and simultaneously sadly tear up at the same time, what a waste of money. 

We went straight to the temple which is located in Longueuil.  Longueuil is located on the other side of the St. Lawrence River, just east of Montreal. I insisted that Dave do a session while I snooped around with Lewis in the temple waiting room and the nearby stake center. The session which usually takes 1.5 hrs took him 2.5! It was kind of crazy. He said things just aren’t as efficient as it is in Alberta. (The church, as any faith that isn’t Catholic, isn’t as strong here.) If you compared Alberta to being an adult the church here is still in its infancy (especially in Montreal). It also didn’t help that he sat on the back row of a packed session. Oh well. We all survived. 

We then checked into our hotel and ditched our car. It is well worth the $10 or so we spent on Metro passes and the $20 for a parking spot in the hotel parkade to get around the city. It saved us from the stress of driving and finding parking. The only major complaint I have is the Metro does not have elevators. It does offer a few escalators, however even these do not go all the way down to the tracks. Out of the 3 sets of stairs, there will be an escalator for one of them. This made it difficult to maneuver a bulky stroller. Dave and I had to work as a team as we waited for the rush of people traffic to pass by us, then we would carefully lift the stroller up and down the sets of stairs with Little Dragon looking at us like we were crazy. Oh, if only he really knew what he is in for! I will be thankful for when Dragon is big enough to sit up unassisted so we can use a lighter umbrella stroller for future Montreal trips. 

A bum! David later told me that it is illegal to take pictures of people in Quebec without their consent. Opps!

First of all I need to vent a bit about the driving culture (in Quebec especially). 

     A)  People do NOT allow you to merge. You have to just nose your way in and hope and pray they don’t hit your car. People also drive WAAY over the speed limit. Like I said before, I have to drive 20km over any speed limit to KEEP UP with traffic. I have yet to see photo radar or speed lights. Also, I would say, one in every five cars or so go REALLY fast. I have to be extremely careful when switching lanes because even checking my blind spot doesn’t really help because in a split second the lane isn’t clear anymore.

           B) Parallel parking is a must here too. I probably haven’t had to parallel park since I was 17 (when I took my Driver’s License test). I let Dave drive in Montreal, otherwise we would never be able to park. He says that it’s okay to “tap” on the bumpers of other cars when parking. It was made clear to me why this would be alright as we strolled through the streets and you see practically bumper-to-bumper parking.

           C) If you have Quebec plates it is LAW that one must get winter tires. We still have our Alberta plates so we don’t have to worry about this. If you do not get winter tires from Dec. 15^th to March 15^th you can be slammed with a $200 to $300 fine. Tire businesses do very well. I think they do this so that they can still drive like maniacs in the winter. We have all season tires but that may change for next year depending on how the winter is, so far we have yet to see any snow.

Once in Quebec, you see this flag more often than the Canadian flag. Oh those crazy separatists!

  

I loved the art in the subway. This mural was made entirely out of tiles.

      Back to the great weekend story....We got Metro passes and hopped on the train to St. Catherine’s street. We walked down the street and I was so intrigued with the people. I was definitely staring and literally checking everyone out! It was fun. In September David kept telling me, “Abby, you have to see the fashion out here. You will love it!” Ottawa has its fair share of hipsters but I haven’t seen a ton of amazing dressers where I had to take note. However, Montreal is crawling with them!  I loved seeing the different boots, scarves, hats, tights and sweaters the women (and men) were wearing.

We also saw a lot of openly gay men. One couple in particular did not strike me as “gay” looking, you know, the typical masculine and feminine role. They were both very attractive men holding hands. Out East people are a lot more accepting of the gay community in comparison to Alberta. I remember this one news story that happened in Edmonton this past summer about a young openly gay man getting beat up and threatened by a truck load of some random guys who saw him (this was near the more liberal University campus area too). So sad. David said that Montreal is the San Francisco of Canada. True.

Some more Metro art.

Anyways, I literally could spend weeks just "people watching" on St. Catherine’s Street. We went into an H&M as we had a gift certificate from some ladies at where I used to work. Sadly, in the store, they did not have a kids/babies section. I love the H&M kids clothes!! Earlier in the year at the Edmonton location I bought Little Dragon his first “band t-shirt” featuring the Ramones! Poop! St. Catherine’s Street had many, many stores on it (and X-rated peep shows) and it reminded me of kind of an outdoor West Edmonton Mall that spanned across many, many city blocks. No seals though.

It was past lunch time and David was starting to turn into a Big Dragon so we stopped in a pizza place and got a couple of HUGE slices of pizza. YUM! 

Happy David!

We walked by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I wish we could have stopped there but we had already overbooked a very short trip and this one we wanted to get in as much “sight-seeing” as possible. They even had a Dali exhibit! Oh man!! “ I see..... RHINOCEROS!”

I loved how the building to your right looked like steps.

Our family then went down St. Laurent Blvd which is comparable to Edmonton’s  Whyte Ave.We were told we HAVE to go to Schwartz Deli, a delicious restaurant that specializes in smoked meat. I am soo glad we did. It was so tasty! A couple of guys whom we sat next to told us Celine Dion recently purchased the restaurant in March/April 2012. It was hard to take the guy next to me seriously as he had a bunch of toilet paper shoved in one of his nostrils to stop a nose bled. I later confirmed this to be true with one of the servers who was all too eager to show me a picture on his cell phone of him sandwiched (pun intended) between Celine and her husband, Rene. Now, I wish I took a picture of that picture. Drat! The only thing about Schwartz Deli is that it is SOO BUSY. I thought I might be able to nurse Little Dragon in it. Fat chance! It was an enormous hassle to get the stroller through the door as there was only enough room for people to walk single file to their table. The staff was very friendly and helped park my stroller at the back of the deli (by the bathrooms). A random lady reminded me I should take out my valuables (camera and wallet) before abandoning the stroller for our chairs. Bless her! It was a Saturday night so I guess it was more of a busier time but we literally spent maybe 15 minutes inside. Not the best “family” restaurant. But the food was to die for! Next time we may go to the Schwartz Deli (I know, confusing, eh?) next door which offers only take-out. 

This is the entire width of the restaurant. From where people are sitting on bar stools to the mirror on the wall.

Mmmm... I ate it so fast, I almost forgot to take a picture.

Notice the two Schwartz restaurants, side by side. One sit in and one take out.

We walked down the boulevard a bit more and stopped in a cute shop. I asked the lady if she knew of a thrift store nearby. She explained (in broken English) there was one located down the street a bit beside a store that had a giant moose head on the front. Yes, a giant moose head. I guess I wouldn’t miss that! We found the place only to discover, much to my dismay that it was a “Vintage Boutique”... this is very different than a thrift store.  A “Vintage Boutique” is a store where someone, like me, would scour thrift stores and buy cute items and then jack-up the price tenfold or collect things like a consignment store. This is not what I had in mind. Not cool. 

Lastly, on St. Laurent Blvd we stopped at YEH. I just randomly picked it because it wasn’t very busy and had cute chairs and tables. I thought it would be a great place to feed the Dragon. It turned out to be like a do-it-youself ice cream place. What a great idea!  There is a franchise of these out East. I think it would do well in Calgary or Edmonton. 

Yes, I had Dragon in his Batman outfit. It's adorable and warm.

Get a bowl, fill with frozen yogurt, add toppings and pay. Like the Mongolie Grill but better!

So many flavours of frozen yogurt to choose from.

See! Cute white chairs on fake grass carpet. I love!

We returned to our hotel to relax! Ahhh! Take off the shoes and stretch out! Dave and Little Dragon had a quick dip in the hotel pool. The indoor pool was on the Penthouse level. It was a medium sized rectangular pool that had glass windows which overlooked Montreal. I liked going out on the deck and seeing the city lights glisten in the crisp, cool air. Little Dragon lasted in the pool for about 1 ½ minutes. He might have done better if it wasn’t in the evening or if I was holding him. He usually LOVES his baths. 

My two beauties. Also... David is wearing his swim trunks. I swear! (Notice: the hotel had a little kitchen nook. So cute! Unfortunately, we didn't bring anything to cook up or store as we were planning on eating out at all the yummy restaurants. We did it fairly cost effectively as we shared everything. Half the price, double the fun!)

Sunday morning we went to church and attended sacrament meeting. It was all in FRENCH! Dave served as a missionary 10 years ago in this particular ward so it was neat for him to see some familiar faces. He went up and bore his testimony and our friend Melissa, said to me “It’s true” and some people laughed at what Dave was saying. I just said “I have no idea what he is saying.” One day, I might be able to understand the language. Apparently Dave was saying that when he was a missionary he loved to talk to people on the Metro, all the time. He would talk to everyone on the Metro (how annoying, eh? Ha ha) and get a group discussion going. That’s how he first met Melissa. That’s a teaser for the rest of the story which I will later tell...

This is the LDS church. Doesn't look like a typical one, eh? Dave said that in Montreal there is some kind of building code where the roofs have to look like that (green).

I loved the little bridge we had to walk over to get into the entrance. I also liked the garden feel of the landscaping.

We did a quick change in the church parking lot (literally!) Hey, it was 8 degrees out! Off for some more sight-seeing. Luckily we were able to ditch our car in the church parking lot. They usually lock up the gate at night but we were told that it was broken so it would be safe to leave our car and not worry about getting back to it at a certain time.

We took the Metro to the Old Port area and saw the replica of Notre Dame Cathedral. It was breathtaking inside. No pictures or video was allowed and a mass was in progress. The stained glass was beautiful beyond imagination. Then we quickly trained it to the legendary St. Joseph's Basilica. We would have liked to tour inside it, however there were way too many stairs to climb with our bulky stroller. We’ll be back again to this spot. 

Notre Dame. She's a beauty!

Walking to  the square area where the Notre Dame was located. Old Port was a beautiful area! I would have loved to have spent more time there.

Little Dragon and I in front of St. Joseph's. Look at ALL of those stairs! And they continue around the building to your right hand side!

Then we went all the way to the Orange Julep to check out their famous drink and poutine.

The poutine did not do anything for me as it was sweet to the taste and I prefer mine salty. It was like eating sweet potato fries with gravy and cheese curds. The drink was alright, it tasted similar to an Orange Julius but a little sweeter. The food at the Orange Julep was sufficient but I don’t think it is a repeat restaurant like Schwartz will be. Also, the hotdog was gross. It had nothing on my Costco hotdogs. Mmmm boy!

In front of the BIG ORANGE. It was more fun to see the building than to eat the food. Also, note the HUGE parking lot. It's a swinging place in the summer as people order and then eat their meal in their vehicles. The only seating they have indoors is a single picnic bench, so we took our food into McDonalds. We are rebels like that!

Here's the grub. Not the best poutine. I am excited to try some more at different restaurants next time. Do you have any suggestions?

We did hit up a Value Village on our way to our friends Melissa and Guillaume’s house. The unfortunate thing about doing a Saturday/Sunday trip is that we tend to do a little shopping on the Sabbath. Next time, in the Spring, we plan to do more of the commercial stuff on Saturday and picnic in Mount Royal Park on Sunday. Anyways, the selection of clothes was nice. We got Little Dragon a cute penguin shirt with a French saying on it. I even found a cool striped Holt Renfrew shirt! 

On the Metro. Zoom zoom!! Batman is here to save the day!

Finally, that evening we had a delicious meal with our friends Melissa and Guillaume. I did not want to impose our presence on them as Melissa was 38 weeks pregnant (she later had her baby only a few days after) but they insisted that we come for dinner. They have two sons, Thomas and Justin (and now Alexis too, another son, it’s a French boys name). 

I was in love with Thomas who is four years old and talked to me in French a mile a minute. He reminded me of my nephew Sam, when he was that age. Thomas, like Sam, was so friendly and had the cute shaved hair with his little ears sticking out. So cute! I should have got some video of him talking to me in French for my family back home to hear. I don’t know what it is about children talking in French but it sounds so beautiful, like a song.  Once again, something to do next time we visit!

When David was a missionary he and his companion, found Melissa on the Metro. They taught her and she was later baptized. She told us her conversion story and it was quite touching. Guillaume attended Melissa’s baptism in place of his mother, who was unable to go. It was fate! He thought Melissa was beautiful and they started dating and fell in love. They put getting married on hold as they both served missions. Melissa in Belgium and Guillaume in France and after the two years of service they got hitched. They both were so grateful to David that he served a mission and brought them together. I like hearing love stories like that, it makes me happy.

We had this substitute coffee after dinner. It was tasty. Melissa has officially got me hooked on Cafe Lib. It’s like coffee but made out of chicory, with no caffeine. I have been drinking like a cup a day since!

And then we drove home. I tanked up Little Dragon at our friends house before going and he slept the entire way back. What a happy ending to our trip to Wonderland! (Think Arnold Schwarzenegger voice) “We’ll be back!!”

Who wears short shorts?