I was very keen to show Lucy and Ben Montreal, having been there once before and loved it. And I was actually even more excited to show Neil Montreal; despite having lived in Ottawa (just over 2 hours away) for half of his life, somehow he'd never quite made it. So, on Thursday afternoon we rolled into Montreal and set about finding our home for two days. We were experimenting with Airbnb.com which i had only recently come across, when we got together with a group of tree planting friends post-season this year and stay up near Gibson on the sunshine coast, just north-west of Vancouver. Having had an excellent experience there, we thought we'd try it again here.
OK, so while writing, i went off on a bit of a tangent about airbnb and how it's under threat in NYC- which you can now find on a separate post - here.
Our first stop in the city - with the exception of a fantastically cheap Chinese buffet lunch, was the old town and port area of the city. Montreal's old town is small but beautifully formed. It seems to be based around a pedestrianised square in front of the town hall and supreme court, with a couple of blocks worth of streets either side.
It's definitely true to say that it has a distinctly European feel to it - especially when you come across hidden little nooks and crannies in the alleys and court yards.
Last time I was in Montreal, one such court yard was the view from my temporary home, smack bang in the middle of the old town. It was a great place to stay - at 17 dollars a night it was one of the cheapest hostels I've stayed in in north america. It was a loft just packed with bunk beds, divided by curtains, but downstairs it just looked like a normal house, so you could feel at home. The owners turned up once in a while to take payment if they saw you, and if not they'd just charge you in retrospect after you left. Super friendly, awesome place to stay, and with a fantastic view and location in the old town that I found my self returned to now. The weird thing about the last time I was in Montreal, is that I'm not entirely sure how I spent all my time there. Don't get me wrong,I had a fantastic time, but I seemed not to have done much that there was to do. This time we would set that right. So for the rest of the after noon we mingled through the intriguing art and fur shops that are plentiful in the old town. Found a couple of stuffed polar bears for sale - only, like, 20000 dollars, or 30000, if you like...
It's definitely true to say that it has a distinctly European feel to it - especially when you come across hidden little nooks and crannies in the alleys and court yards.
Last time I was in Montreal, one such court yard was the view from my temporary home, smack bang in the middle of the old town. It was a great place to stay - at 17 dollars a night it was one of the cheapest hostels I've stayed in in north america. It was a loft just packed with bunk beds, divided by curtains, but downstairs it just looked like a normal house, so you could feel at home. The owners turned up once in a while to take payment if they saw you, and if not they'd just charge you in retrospect after you left. Super friendly, awesome place to stay, and with a fantastic view and location in the old town that I found my self returned to now. The weird thing about the last time I was in Montreal, is that I'm not entirely sure how I spent all my time there. Don't get me wrong,I had a fantastic time, but I seemed not to have done much that there was to do. This time we would set that right. So for the rest of the after noon we mingled through the intriguing art and fur shops that are plentiful in the old town. Found a couple of stuffed polar bears for sale - only, like, 20000 dollars, or 30000, if you like...
After that, we started to wander slowly in the direction of the Bell stadium, which is where the NHL team, the Montreal Canadians, plays. I figure that if you want to experience Canadian culture then both a hockey game, and also Tim Horton's for breakfast someday, are both requisite. I had, myself , also never gotten around to going to an NHL game, which seemed like a bit of a travesty.
That night it was the Ottawa senators vs the Montreal Canadians. Obviously, we were rooting for the Sens. It started out well, but after the first period stated going rapidly down hill... The playing aside though, it was an awesome experience and totally different to seeing it on TV. I guess it was also quite a depart departure from the Giants game I went to in Vancouver too. Firstly, because there's a crowd of close to 20000 people there - mainly rooting for our opposition too! That's pretty cool being in a common cause with so many people (and getting everyone to sing the national anthem!).
I guess the second difference is that it's televised. Some how it had never occurred to me that when you have an ad break in a hockey game, that the game much stop in reality, as well as on TV. So, more frequently than you would expect, every thing just stops and they tidy up the ice a little bit. The result is that an hour and half's worth of game lasts almost an extra hour. Crazy north Americans... Despite this extra stoppage, there was actually way less entertainment between periods in this game than the giants game I went to, perhaps because they know that you're gonna spend quite so much time queuing to get a ridiculously expensive, weird tasting beer. C'est la vie. At the end of the game we were keen to head to bed, having had a long day already, but crowned our evening with some really run of the mill, gooey poutine, in true Quebec style.
I guess the second difference is that it's televised. Some how it had never occurred to me that when you have an ad break in a hockey game, that the game much stop in reality, as well as on TV. So, more frequently than you would expect, every thing just stops and they tidy up the ice a little bit. The result is that an hour and half's worth of game lasts almost an extra hour. Crazy north Americans... Despite this extra stoppage, there was actually way less entertainment between periods in this game than the giants game I went to, perhaps because they know that you're gonna spend quite so much time queuing to get a ridiculously expensive, weird tasting beer. C'est la vie. At the end of the game we were keen to head to bed, having had a long day already, but crowned our evening with some really run of the mill, gooey poutine, in true Quebec style.
The next day we decided to hear out to the botanic gardens. Having done some research, we had collectible decided that this was the main thing to see and do in Montreal. Now I'm pretty sure the last time I was there, I looked into this, thinking out was a good idea, but quickly discounted it after looking at the astounding summer ticket price - somewhere up around 30 bucks. That said, I'm glad we bothered this time. In also glad we went early - by midday there were queues stretching for quite some distance in to the car park. I have never seen such a ridiculously popular garden before - especially one that charges you quite so much to have a look. I figure it truly must be doing something right.
In fact, it turns out that they do every thing right - well they do bushes and trees very right in any case. And the bushes get special mention. When we went they had an exhibition on called 'mosaics of culture' which is a moving international competition, where counties compete to make living sculptures on the theme of nature. The result is basically the best topiary you've ever seen. Pictures follow.
(Just a small selection - you can see more on my Picasa web albums - here)
Besides the fantastic bushes, the Chinese and Japanese gardens were also of note. We actually saw them twice because at the same time an exhibition lighting up the gardens was running in the evenings, so we returned later that night to see them in all their night time glory. One we'd got there, we almost didn't bother, so popular, again, was the exhibit that the queue for the Chinese garden stretched for quite a distance across the gardens as a whole, with waits of over 30 minutes, at the shortest. They're clearly doing something right...
Besides the fantastic bushes, the Chinese and Japanese gardens were also of note. We actually saw them twice because at the same time an exhibition lighting up the gardens was running in the evenings, so we returned later that night to see them in all their night time glory. One we'd got there, we almost didn't bother, so popular, again, was the exhibit that the queue for the Chinese garden stretched for quite a distance across the gardens as a whole, with waits of over 30 minutes, at the shortest. They're clearly doing something right...
The next morning we had planned to meet some friends for lunch, and on our way took in the view off mont royal, spectacular as ever, even if i couldn't work out how to get back to the view point I had previously been to up there.
For lunch, Montreal smoked poutine, for the boys at a local Jewish deli, and a good catch up with some tree planting friends.
Our last stop before leaving Montreal was or third attempt to go and see the Notre Dame basilica. We'd been thwarted on previous occasions by weddings and actual church services - dammit... But Lucy was very keen and I'm glad we got there in the end. It looks pretty much like most churches on the outside, but the interior decor is fantastic, and completely different from the European style too. Super colourful and ornate. We also listen to a fascinating explanation of how key the church was to the origins and expansion of Montreal and the region reaching up to Quebec too.
By that point it was getting kind of late and we still had a fair drive to go to get to our digs in Quebec city that night. We drive out of Montreal in rush hour traffic, so it took a little while longer than expected, but once we were on to the scenic highway by the river, it was a beautiful drive of scenic villages and views of the river, where we occasionally stopped for pictures, and to stretch our legs, until it got dark when we went onto the highway proper.
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