A Mourrail

As some of you might know, I adore traveling. And living in Toronto affords you so many exciting travel opportunities within a reasonable time and expense. So it's a bit shocking that I haven't yet gone to Montreal.

Well, this past weekend that all changed. My friend Jennie and I decided in the summer to plan a weekend out there- and so we did! I rented a car for the weekend and we booked a VERY cheap hotel. At the last minute my friend Isabel decided to come along so expenses were cut even cheaper!

I rented a car, and I was pretty excited about driving again. It's been since I toodled around Victoria in April. I've never driven in Toronto, but really driving is just driving and one great thing, they drive fast enough here!

Early(ish) Friday I picked up Isabel and headed up to the "nosebleeds" to pick up Jennie. Then we got ourselves caffinated and put our on Thelma and Louise style headscarves and booked it out of the city! BON VOYAGE!

The drive to Montreal is pretty easy- you get on the 401 and head right- that's about it, it's not as exciting as driving through the rockies but not as dull as driving across the prairies. And the leaves were just starting to turn so the colours were great!

We arrived in the city from the South? I think- I am directionally challenged, all I really remember is taking some VERY rickety looking overpasses, nothing like exposed re-bar to make you feel secure as you are driving over and under a river. It took a little bit as our faithful navigator TomTom seemed to have some issue with the language change (could he be from BC?) but we made it to our hotel and got checked in. The hotel was indeed seedy! But you get what you pay for, and when you are paying less than $30/night for a hotel expectations must be kept to a minimum.

From there we drove up Mont Royal to get some scenic Vista shots of the city. I had had thoughts of getting there via transit or foot- but we had a car! Let's not waste this opportunity to be lazy. And I'm sure glad we did! It is kind of high up! After that we had a bit of a mission finding the parking I had sussed out for us. All of the research I had done on Montreal cried, "This city SUCKS for parking!" And yes, it kind of does. However we found our parking garage under Le Bibliotheque Nationale- camera secure, reasonable ($10/24 hours), and about 7 minutes from the hotel.

We all had a bit of freshen up time (and beer!) and then headed out for a wander on the streets- turns out we're all a bit directionally challenged, but Isabel must contain more estrogen as she made us check the map and figure out where we were and where we should head to. I will just go with my being lostness, generally because I don't want to look like "a tourist", although hopelessly lost seems to be just fine.

We finally made our way to Rue St. Denis (I think- really I have no idea where I was all weekend, I kind of said- I am driving us here and back and that's all I can do- lead on!) and we found a nice Indian restaurant to have dinner at. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

By all accounts it SHOULD have been a nice place, it smelled good, it was bustling inside, everyone seemed happy. And it was alright, until the food came. I had ordered a Rogan Josh (lamb) because it's one of the spicier options- I like me some spicy. But I thought, you don't know this place so don't go whole hog and get the Vindaloo- don't want to spend my trip to Montreal strapped to the toilet. However, the food was, in a word- bland. We all found this to be the case. Not spicy and not spiced. As much as I love burning my mouth off with some spiciness, I definitely appreciate a delicately spiced meal. Major fail on both counts. It just tasted like tomatoes, with a side of staples. YES- staples. I found a staple in my food.

The best part of this dinner was calling over the waiter and letting him know there was a staple in my food- he didn't apologize or fall all over himself trying to placate me- but just heaved a giant sigh and shook his head and wandered away in what looked like a- NOT AGAIN- type of mode. It was really hilarious. I have learned that often lamb is stapled together in its preparation, so it wasn't like a random person was coallating over my food. Their naan was quite tasty though- I will say that. And if I could remember the name I'd go and give this place a poor review- good thing I can't remember the name.

After dinner we headed out to a hookah bar. I've never been to one of these before, nor have I ever smoked a hookah. But if the catepillar from Alice in Wonderland can do it- so can I. And all in all it was my favourite part of the evening. Smoking hookah is very interesting, it's relaxing but not intoxicating, and easy on the lungs as it's processed through water. And oh yeah, one other thing- DELICIOUS, there are a variety of "flavours" you can choose- Jennie has done this before so she choose and it was a delicious mix of roses and apples and some other things.

We headed back to the hotel after that because- honestly, I was zonked. I didn't sleep well on Thursday night and all that driving is actually tiring.

Saturday we were up and out by 9.30 or 10am and headed to Beauty's for breakfast. This was up on/near St. Laurent and we arrived just as it really started raining. We managed to sit out most of the rain during breakfast and then walked down St. Laurent, wandering in and out of the neat-o stores they have along the strip. We saw the famous smoked meat place- that I now can't remember the name of. (too much hookah the night before?) There was a massive line up outside of it, and I guess it's like that ALL the time.

After a brief respite of refreshements we headed out to Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal) we arrived and walked up to Notre Dame which is a giant church- (Quebecers are into churches) to find a wedding just finishing up, we stood for a bit and watched the photos being taken. Jennie of course being a newlywed was all giddy and excited, Isabel and I being bitter singletons were a bit more meh about it.

Old Montreal is very european, the streets are cobblestone and narrow and well, just really lovely looking. While we were there it began to POUR with rain and my alert went off that we needed to plug the meter. So we headed back towards "new" montreal, not knowing how we'd get back in there but stumbled upon a very pretty fountain. And being giant nerds we took pictures of each other at the fountain in the rain. And a few of the bride and groom who were also out there for their wedding photos.

That evening we met up with Jennie's friends from Quebec City for dinner at a BYOW restaurant. It was quite nice, but ridiculously busy. And I was very tired and sore. Because of course, I decided to dress up nicely and wear my cream trousers! Which had to be paired with my patent black and cream heels for two reasons: 1) they look hot and 2) they keep the hem of the trousers from dragging on the ground.

This could have been a tactical error as we walked from our hotel to the restaurant which was a good 20 minute walk. These heels are what one calls "limo to lobby" shoes. Not meant for crazy activity, such as leisurely walking. They are there for one purpose- to make me look good. Anyway by the time we were seated and at the table and the wine was uncorked I had slipped off my shoes and was really enjoying myself!

After dinner je refuse to walk back to the hotel and Isabel, having imbibed the better part of a bottle of rose, was in no real state to walk and we cabbed it back. The cab driver had a couple of giggles at my tipsy attempts at french- but hey, when in QUEBEC do as the Quebecers do.

Jennie arrived back at the hotel shortly after we did and we staked out the party across the street, wondering if we should head on over there and rip er up for the rest of the night. After a few shots of vodka and some ridiculous giggling we decided to head out into the streets! We wandered around and watched the post-bar bru-ha-ha. Tried unsucessfully to get into a strip club, only because, as it turns out- it was really a brothel. And there is no way Jennie or I are going to pay $50 just to get into a place to oggle some ladies. I can go to the changeroom at the gym, or just stare into a mirror to oggle should I feel the need.

After some more of a wander, we headed back to the hotel, only to get stopped by the guy at the front desk who was in a word- weird. Jennie was a much better sport about it, I was just starting to fade into drunken oblivion. We were finally able to get back into our room and get to sleep at about 4am.

Sunday morning came FAR too quickly, but we managed to get up and get packed up. If you've ever wondered how much stuff 3 girls bring for 2 days away- I can tell you it's a LOT. And it's all TOTALLY necessary.

Once I fetched the car and loaded it up, we were off to Banquise for some poutine. This was on my must do list for Montreal- La Banquise is pretty much universally named one of the best poutine places in Montreal and the poutine in Quebec is delightful.

I've been a big fan of the poutine since my univsersity years, and to think how disgusting that poutine is compared to the real deal! This poutine, I got mine with bacon, was beyond delicious! Served piping hot and with a side of very strong Americano it hit the spot and cured any left over maliciousness from the night before.

From there we were off to the Jean Talon market- an amazing place, similar in concept to the St. Lawerence Market, but in more of an outdoor setting. I bought some very weird broccoli, cheese curds (for home made poutine), goat cheese of a couple varieties and a locally made wine. I love markets- they are so much nicer than a grocery store. We packed up our goodies and went off to see our final destination- Fairmont Bagels.

(I bought the weirdo brocs to the left of the purple cauliflower)

All out of Everything Bagels I had to make do with some Onion ones instead (ahh people LOVE it when I have those for breakfast) and a few sesame and poppyseed for those who think they are the only suitable bagels.

And thus began the trek home. It seemed long on the way back to Toronto, probably because I wasn't filled with the excitement of visiting a new city and hadn't quite slept much in the past 4 days.

We stopped briefly at a cheese farm where Jennie could buy some curds and we all picked up a little something. I myself bought a little mini bottle of maple syrup. TEENSY. And it will most likely last me years. As they say- a dab will do you...

I think we were near Cornwall, it was all picturesque: green fields, gravel driveways, two lane roads, mail boxes at the end of the drive. Isabel commented on how lovely it all was and how she could see herself out here in the future. My only thought was GADS WHERE IS THE CITY- if I don't see some concrete soon I will FREAK THE HELL OUT.

And thus- confirmed- I am a city girl.

Amen for that. And thanks to Montreal for being such a lovely city. I can't wait to go back and spend more time. Maybe late spring....