I just noticed my notebook that I used for the Montreal trip has a recipe for Granny Pea salad in it. The origin of the recipe is not Montreal in case that wasn’t clear. This is the last place I would look for a recipe for Granny Pea salad but I’m not going to transfer it to a better spot right now.
I haven’t done a photostream yet. That’s on the wishlist too, along with the pants of shame, dealing with train tickets for the trip next week and making a birthday pie.
If nothing else your takeaway should be that Montreal is a terrific place to visit. Easy to get around, tons of stuff to see and do lots of great food. Highly recommended.
We took a late flight to Seattle and then a red eye to Chicago and then another hop to Montreal. Not my favorite way to travel but we had trouble coming up with an itinerary so we made do. We stayed in a terrific basement apartment in Notre Dame De Grace neighborhood which one of our travel resources made sound like it was at the ends of the earth but it was easy to get around the Metro so we didn’t mind at all. We had a quiet place after long days of running around.
Needless to say as soon as we arrived I needed a nap and then we had food and I thought I would rally but as soon as I was done eating I needed another nap. I slept so hard I was confused when I woke up and I went to find Bob and asked him: is it still today?
We went into downtown and walked around. There was at least one and possible more festivals going on and there were people everywhere, live music, food booths.
We started the next day at the Atwater Market and were completely overwhelmed because we wanted to eat everything. From there we walked along the canal which was gorgeous.
My notes are skimpy so I’m winging it here. I wrote about the fire alarm going off in the middle of then night but not what we did during the day.
The next day we were going to a museum (what am I saying, I was with Bob, we were going to 1000 museums) and I saw a guy on the Metro who was wearing what I thought was a museum guard uniform so rather than wander around with our map completely lost, I insisted we just follow him.
Unfortunately, he was not a museum guard and my plan backfired in a big way. A strike against creative problem solving.
(Before you wonder why we didn’t just use our “smart” phone to find things: [long rant about technology is hard for the olds omitted.] We did use our phones with uneven success. And those are sarcastic quotes.)
We eventually found the McCord museum and there was a great exhibit about music. Bob was in heaven. Later we went to Parc Jean Drapeau, site of the 1967 World’s Fair that 10 year old Bob yearned to go to so badly. Old Bob was thrilled to finally fulfill his wish. We wandered around there and went to a climate change show. We were rushing the whole time, so many things to see.
We ran over to the Musee Stewart and had one of our favorite museum experiences of the trip. It’s a history museum and we had a young man take us on a guided tour and he was terrific. Really knew his stuff and since we were so interested he told us all kinds of stories.
On Saturday we were going to get up at 7am and I heard the alarm going forever so I finally got up to get it and I wandered out into the main room and came back and said to Bob: that says 6. So then we slept until 7:45a.
We were too early for the Museum of Fine Art so we stopped in at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul and again we found a really nice enthusiastic person to walk around with us and show us the church. Beautiful contemporary stained glass windows. It’s also a church of the Black Watch which sounds like something from Game of Thrones.
Then a bunch of museums: Fine Arts, City History, Archeology and then 5pm mass at the Basilica of Notre Dame with an organ that will make your hair stand on end.
Sunday was Timbers match day. Stay tuned, or at least hopeful that my coverage continues.
