We finished our drive through Ontario to enter Quebec. Throughout Ontario, all the road signs were in both English and French. We thought this was kind of fun, and I got to practice my French on the way as we neared French-speaking Quebec. We were really surprised then, that as soon as we crossed the river into Quebec, all signs were only in French. Even ones that seemed important like road construction ahead, etc., were only in French. I guess this is part of Quebec’s desire to protect their French language.
We camped three nights in a suburb outside Montreal which allowed us to explore the city. We drove to the nearest public transportation terminal and took the subway into town. On our first day we started in the old city area where we had lunch in a quaint restaurant called Jardin Nelson. I had a crêpe with sautéed rabbit meat while Sophie tried a typical Québécois dish called Pâté Chinois. My crêpe was really not that good (Sophie makes much better ones!) and Sophie’s dish was basically a “hot dish” of mashed potatoes, creamed corn and some meat. Luckily, the dessert “pot d’amour” saved the meal. It was a delicious layer of cookies, mascarpone and maple custard.
After lunch we strolled through the old town streets and visited the historic Bank of Montreal. The bank had an interesting history museum that included old motion-activated piggy banks they used to give away. The Notre Dame Basilica was just across from the bank. It was very beautiful inside and very unique in that the walls were colored a pretty light blue color, and the altar was huge with many statues. The organ was also very impressive looking – I wish we could have heard it!
Later in the afternoon we took a ferry to Île Ste Hélène. It was interesting to cross the Saint Lawrence river as the currents were extremely strong. The island was the site of the 1967 World’s Fair. We walked through the Parc Jean Drapeau, up to a historic tower and by the biosphere which was built by the US for the fair.
The next day, our first stop was Schwartz Deli for their famous Pastrami sandwiches. They have been serving the same meal for nearly 100 years! It is a tiny place with a line to wait for a table. We got stools at the counter and thought the smoked meat sandwiches were pretty good. The neighborhood was interesting with many murals on the side of buildings.
From there, we climbed up nearby Mont Royal, the hill that gives Montreal its name. This was quite a trek up that included steep trails as well as nearly 400 stairs. The view from the top was worth it though!
We walked back down Mont Royal then took a subway to the Olympic Village area where they also have botanical gardens. Montreal hosted the summer Olympics in 1976. Some of the arenas and towers are still there. The botanical gardens featured a beautiful Chinese garden, gifted by China to the city of Montreal. The whole thing was built in China, then disassembled and shipped to Montreal where it was rebuilt. It was quite an experience to walk through these formal gardens filled with bamboos, pines, bonsai and lotus flowers in the lake.
After Sophie got her gardening fix satisfied, we took the bus to a food market that had a restaurant that won the prize for the best poutine last year. Poutine is a Canadian specialty that consists of french fries and fresh cheese curds topped with gravy. There are many variations, but we opted for the original recipe. It was really not very good. Sophie said “why would they ruin French fries”? The gravy made the fries soggy and the cheese curds were not “squeaky” like they should be. Maybe we got a bad batch, but we had to switch to some pizza to finish our meal.
We finished the night by walking to Saint Viateur bagels to pick up a dozen bagels for future meals. Since 1957, they have been famous for their hand-made bagels that are fired in a wood burning oven. The bakery was very rustic, but our bagels were fresh and chewy.
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