2 Days in Montreal

Sooo…two weeks ago I packed up my little pink suitcase, took the warmest clothes I have and traveled to Montreal to visit my friends! It was not my first time there, but this mini trip was ideal for revisiting some favorite spots and discovering new ones. Oh and eat delicious food!! My friends are experts at getting me in places with yummy food and desserts and as I say, I have to fast for a few days before getting there!

My trip to Montreal (by bus) was an adventurous, to say the least as there was a snowstorm that day in New England and things stalled in Vermont due to a disabled truck. So our 8-hour trip got to be a 15hour trip after a further delay in the customs. The good news: no snow in Montreal! The bad news: I lost half of my first day there because I was sleeping!!

Day 1

But when I got up, I was like go, go, go because I had to take advantage of the daylight! Thankfully I did, but as it was also cold I decided to visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which falls in the aforementioned “new places” category! I admit I visited mainly because of the “Van Gogh to Kadinsky” exhibition but on top of that, I got to see an exhibition with Andy Warhol’s illustrations and some of the Museum’s permanent collections! Afterwards I got to walk a lot on St. Catherine’s street right in the city center, window shop and research for potential buys, (yes that’s a term in my books). My paws hands were freezing, so photos were kept minimal and sparse unfortunately! I met just in time with my friends and headed for dinner in a funky little place called Chalet Bar-B-Q, where you get to choose from quarter, half or whole chicken. The chicken is accompanied by fries and coleslaw. We ended the meal with a pecan pie! Before heading home, a small drive up on Mont Royale was in order, so as to see the the view! I was lucky and saw raccoon as well…but they were to fast to snap a photo of them (yes it was my first time seeing one).

 Day 2

The second day started off with a visit to one of my favorite areas in Montreal: Plateau Mont Royale, which is in the city’s French side and yes it has more of a French air, though the architecture here is unique! We had brunch at Beautys and then we walked around the area and also visited Carre St Louis (St Louis Square) where the house pictured in the first photo is. There are actually 3 almost identical houses in a row (there is also the one with the purple details below) which are frequently pictured in postcards!

After a pit stop to my favorite Juliette et Chocolat, it was time to head to the South Shore and specifically Candiac. We took a drive around residential areas and saw some large, nice and luxurious houses. We stopped briefly at the  new shopping area (because I cannot call it mall or shopping center because it’s more like a city) Ten30. As I said the stop was brief, but “crucial” for me! I took advantage of Black Friday sales and snapped a light grey sweater from Banana Republic.

Thankfully it was time for dinner and further shopping was avoided (I am susceptible to buying pretty things you see). We headed to La Carcasse, which is a cozy little dim lighted restaurant. Perfect! The menu as you can guess consisted of mainly meat dishes. I particularly liked they way they presented the french fries which I got as a side: they here placed in a metal pot (like the ones you uses for flowers)!

…and a half day

On my last day in Montreal we drove around the “old money” area of the city, West Mount, which is in the English part of the Montreal. Now I know that most of you believe that all the Province of Quebec is French speaking (and Montreal as well), but it isn’t so. There’s an avenue in Montreal, Saint Laurent (yes like the fashion house, but actually named after the river) which is the “divide” among English and French speaking Canada. East of Saint Laurent is French, West is English, so that you know! After admiring Montreal from above one more time, we headed to the center in order to get a book for my trip (you see I finished the one I had with me during our delay in Vermont). I bought Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and the latest Elle magazine…just for variety!

I bid adieu to my friends and got on the bus back to Boston!

Thanks for having me Montreal (and dear friends of course)!