Post thoughts Montreal

Someone cheekily suggested smuggling sneaking in some "Montecritos", but the forbidden fruit just wasn't worth it. First, one might end up getting deported, fined, sent to the slammer or all of the above. Secondly, Adrian & I are non-smokers nor connoisseurs in this subject matter. I suddenly remembered this when we were lining up at the border coming back to New York. We saw a U.S. Customs & Border Protection officer, of the four-legged kind, going from car to car sniffing out illicit materials. The thought did cross my mind then, "Would Bobby be capable of sniffing out the cigarro?" Woof!

Montreal - Day 3

Day 3 brought us to Montreal's Olympic Park, Biodome and Mont Royal (St. Joseph's Oratory).

The Olympic Park is over 30 years old, home to the 1976 Summer Olympics so I expected it to be a little run down and less sophisticated. I thought by putting such expectations beforehand, I wouldn't be too disappointed when I visited the place. The Park looked abandoned but something was going on over there. There were signs of construction everywhere. No doubt that the Park is going to have a face lift soon.

We took the 2-tiered cable car to the Observatory and took some photos of the City and the Biodome (see below) which houses several interesting exhibits & aquarium.

The Montreal Biodome

Moi outside the Biodome, a long shot

Adrian just outside the Biodome

Stuffed animals exhibit in the Biodome...

In honor of the Year of the Pig (2007), here I am with a stuffed Wilbur, oink!

After the Olympic Park, we drove towards Mont Royal and grabbed a quick lunch on the way. Not knowing where to eat, we thought a short stop at McD's for a light munch made sense. Nothing could go wrong right?! Well, not this time.

First, our soda was flat. No bubbles at all. Second, they ran out of ice so we had to slurp room temperature soda :(. Thirdly, their fries was flat as a deflated tire and to top it off - drum roll please! I saw a kid hurled big time in front of the store counter. Yup! His entire lunch was on the floor in just seconds. They were so short-staffed that day, nobody was interested in cleaning up the mess. Yuck, yuck! Please do not ever go to McD's at Mont Royal Park.

On that note, we quickly left that sorry place and drove on to Mont Royal. We reached L'Oratoire Saint Joseph du Mont-Royal in less than 10 minutes. Ahh...what a sight to behold after such an unpleasant lunch experience.

This is my picture perfect, postcard view of the Oratory. It would have been a better photo if the man in blue shirt wasn't waiting for the shuttle to the Basilica there. Grrr..!

We climbed many, many stairs...pant! pant! Thank God for escalators inside the Oratory. Yes, it's a very sophisticated and modern Basilica.

View of the top (Basilica) - front garden

One of the prettiest and most serene area of the Oratory is the meditation garden depicting the last 12 hours of Christ's life.

Here are the disciples dozing off in the garden...zzz!

Lots of sculptures around the garden. Here's another of JC carrying his cross.

After the Oratory, we drove back to Mont Royal Park trying to find the gigantic cross by the mountain. Unfortunately, it was no where to be seen so we decided to go back to the City. In the evening, we took a stroll through McGill University; whereby we saw a typical college scene. An open field party with co-eds smelling of booze and other booze related weirdness.

Further down the road, we came across some modern sculptures such as this one. Its supposed to depict human reaction when confronted with some kind of danger??? Interesting...

This one is of Adrian trying to steal the boy's apple although it looked a bit like him touching something else??? Maybe he shouldn't have touched the apple.

After the long walk, we had a nice dinner at Quartier Chinois and called it the day.

Au revoir Montreal!

Montreal - Day 2

Parking meters in Montreal are placed all the way to the wall because it snows so much here that plowers would just mow down these meters in the thick of a snow storm.

Sometimes I get the feeling that the streets of Montreal isn't as crowded as I imagined it to be but there's a reason to it. Half of the population are underground. We explored the Underground City on Day 2. A great excuse to get out of the sun and window shop! Yes, window shop only because the US Dollar is now almost at par with the CAD. So, any major shopping is out plus taxes are ridiculous here. Having being spoiled in New Jersey (no taxes on clothing under $300), I wasn't used to seeing GST & PST totaling 13.5%. Yikes! Restaurants are the worst since you have to add tips on top of these taxes.

Anyway, back to the Underground Pedestrian Network. Below the City, is a vast network of walkways with thousands of shops, restaurants, entertainment outlets, cinemas, etc. and connection to several metro (subway) stations. With 20 miles of passageways, you can really spend the entire day underground!

Metro/subway underneath Eaton Center (mall)

Metro station at Bonaventure

Time to surface to the streets....

We took a walk along the shores of St. Lawrence River. It was a beautiful day and just perfect for a leisurely stroll. The Clock Tower was erected in 1919 as a landmark to the port. Next to it is the Jacques Cartier Bridge that connects Montreal island to Jean-Drapeau Park (home of the Grand Prix of Canada).

Plaque on the Clock Tower placed in memory of sailors who lost their lives at war.

View of the port and City from atop the Clock Tower.

Hochelaga - Ville Marie - Mont Royal (Montreal) la nuit

While exploring St. Lawrence River, French navigator Jacques Cartier discovered a village called Hochelaga in 1535. He met some Amerindians who led him to a mountain he subsequently called Mont Royal. Many years after that, Sieur de Maisonneuve founded Ville Marie and this area later become Montreal.

Montreal may have many names in the beginning but one of our "must-do" while traveling is taking photos of historical buildings at night. La nuit, these buildings somehow appear more mysterious when illuminated. Now, I must credit these photos to Adrian since he was the one that took the time to ensure that they were blog worthy enough.

Bonsecours Market

Notre Dame de Bonsecours Chapel

City Hall

Notre Dame Basilica and its "And there was light - sound & light show"

La lumiere fut?! What's this? The lights on the top right was missing and I really wasn't interested in paying another CAD9 to see the light show inside. However, I was a fooled into believing that the lights spiraling out from the windows would be stronger just like the brochure. Hmmph! False advertising, indeed.

Jacques Cartier Place

Montreal - Day 1

We practically breezed through the Canadian check-point at Champlain and arrived at our auberge around noon.

Our hotel. Clean, reasonably priced, great location and very friendly staff. This B&B has great croissants in the mornings!

Bathroom - bright and cheery. Bath towels are thick and nice smelling; unlike some hotels' heavily Clorox-scented towels.

The mattress was "Tempur-pedic" like although I doubt it's the original. Bed could have been better if it was a Queen size instead of a double/full.

Our very own kitchenette and mini fridge.

Best of all, free Wi-Fi and a nice spacious work desk to match.

We quickly left our bags at the auberge and started exploring the City. So off we went...

Ok, left or right??? Where should we go first? Everything is in French but Montrealers are very tourist friendly. I think we got away with murder just because of our looks. We even had people asking us if we needed help. Fortunately, we met a very efficient tourist staff at the rest stop earlier on and he circled all the spots that we should visit. Merci!

However, I also quickly discovered the dark side of Montreal. Homeless people sleeping in random corners of abandoned buildings and some very openly. Beggars asking for spare change along the Rue. And, yes. They begged in French. Truly, it sounded glamorous even though the act wasn't.

Anyway, we started our exploration at the Old Port & Old Montreal. Cobblestone streets and historical buildings. Yes! That's my kind of town.

Ben Franklin stayed and dined here - at the corner auberge at Old Port.

This is the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum (a contemporary art museum).

Notre Dame de Bonsecours Chapel with a big figure of Christ facing the Old Port.

Bonsecours Market or Marche Bonsecours along Rue de la Commune.

Carriage ride at the cobblestone Rue St. Paul.

Quaint shop signs and the state flag of Quebec - Fleurdelisé.

Al-fresco dining at Old Montreal.

Notre Dame Basilica at the corner of Rue St. Sulpice & Rue Notre Dame.

Inside the Basilica, after paying CAD8 per entry. A suggested donation would have been more appropriate, I'd think!

Noel is a X'mas shop that's everything X'mas throughout the year. Yup! Even when it's 80 degrees outside, it's still X'mas inside Noel.

Wherever there's a City, there's a Chinatown. Wherever there's a Chinatown, there are Falun Gong followers. Montreal is no different.

Greetings from Montreal

Bonjour/Bonsoir! (depending on what time you're reading this)...

I am blogging from Auberge Montreal Espace Confort at the heart of Quartier Latin. Quartier Latin is the hip and happening place at Rue St. Denis. We skipped the club scene since we've been walking around the Old Port, City and "underground City" the entire day. There's a shisha bar/cafe right under our auberge/hotel and I can smell fruity essence each time I enter the hotel door. The entire Rue is lined with restaurants, bars, cafes, strip clubs, etc. and particularly popular with students from McGill University and the young/hip. Right now, there are some happy revelers just outside my window. Never mind them. Let's crap about crepes instead.

One of the most wanted "to eat" on my list is crepes. I finally had crepes today at Creperie Chez Suzette at Rue St. Paul. Three floors of sitting area and an extensive crepe menu to match its floor space. The owner sat us by the window "La Quebecoise" at street level which is great except that it's bee season and they kindly asked us not to open the window. We did see a little bee hovering around our window but didn't do us any harm.

Adrian had the "Symphony". He thought that the sauce would be too sweet but it wasn't. So, he was pleasantly surprised. It's loaded with all his favorite fruits & topped with maple syrup.

I had the "La Melba". Yummy! But I had to move the generous helping of whip cream and raspberries aside. A tad too much for me to handle. Delicious nonetheless!

Creperie has a variety of savory and dessert crepes. I'm going back for more!!!