katiesfootprints: Montreal...

I’m, unfortunately, slightly uninspired to write this bit of the blog. Montreal was beautiful but we couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed at what there was to do. Fortunately for us it was sunny the whole time so we spent our days hiking, picnicking and lazing.

We arrived late in the evening and after refusing to purchase train food we quickly found our beds and headed to the closest place for some poutine! If I haven’t mentioned it before now, poutine is basically fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy and tastes a lot more amazing than it sounds.

The next morning our hostel dude pointed us in the direction of a big walk for the day so we set off to see the sights – except that we found that there weren’t too many. After a few hours we came across Lafontaine Square and decided that a picnic was in order. We let that settle while we lounged next to the lake (that turns into an ice skating rink in the winter) and then headed for Vieux Montreal to wander the piers. Again once we got here there wasn’t actually a lot to see, we checked out a memorial site and then set up camp beside the river under a tree for a few hours to people watch. We discovered the two favourite pastimes of Montrealian’s (?) -running and tanning in the local parks so there were near naked bodies running and lying about everywhere! That night we headed to a bar called St Sulpice that had a beer garden for about 400 people, and also a rude bartender demanding tips.

Day 2 was much the same except we hiked up Mont Royal and had our picnic next to the chalet. We lazed here for a few hours and checked out the views, had fun feeding the squirrel’s chocolate and then hiking around the rest of the mountain before heading back home for some more R&R. I headed back to St Sulpice for a few bevvy’s with a couple of others later on but all in all a quietish day.

As our trip is seemingly revolving around food we made sure our last day was no exception and hiked it to the Kiwi and Aussie Café on Mont Royal – via a few cathedrals (have to do something touristy). We got our fill of pies and tim tams and then headed back to the supermarche where we had previously discovered massive pork roasts for $5. That was dinner and it was delish – we miss home cooking!

So now I am all inspired to learn French again, and am actually going to do it this time. Does anyone speak that wants to help me learn?? J Mon Francais est terrible.

A big shout out to all of you and your other halves that are popping or about to pop – can’t wait to meet all these new bubs next time I’m home! Boston now for 5 days then NYC for 6 and then we have finished in the US L Iceland for 2 days and then reality strikes as we hit the UK and the real world for a little while!

Inside Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde