Okay I wrote this whole lengthy post last week and after two hours in I accidentally deleted it, then the blank page got back up, then I closed it and voila...post vanished. I was soo freaking annoyed. Ten minutes prior Angel accidentally tripped over my power chord and he thought it was his fault that it got erased. So I let him think that the rest of the night and he was just trying his hardest to make it up to me! Let me now try my 2nd attempt at this post.
Angel, Michelle and I left NYC early morning on a Saturday in March. We had to meet up Alex, Sam and his cousin Kenzie in Jersey so we could all fit into one vehicle. My brother Kris originally planned to come as well but work obligations kept him in NJ. It was a good thing he didn't go however because we were packed to the brim with bags and snacks. The 6 hour drive there would have been uncomfortable with another person. The drive itself wasn't bad at all. We had lots of snacks to hold us over along with lengthy Game of Thrones conversations. Alex wanted to be the only one to drive, which I was fine with. I figured because we were borrowing his mom's SUV he didn't want anyone to be liable. I'm sure Angel agrees that the drive was smooth because he slept the whole 6 hours. That boy can sleep through anything!
We crossed the border and got to Montreal without a hitch. Once we were there I was glad I wasn't driving because most of the signs were in French. I do dabble with the language but I'm not that fluent to translate and drive at the same time. We rented an apartment through AirBnB. The place was nice, in a great location and our host was really cool. We dropped off our bags, claimed our sleeping areas and went to walk around the town. We walked around the popular Rue Sainte Catherine for a little bit. We to a liquor store to stock up for the weekend. If you know me I'm not much of a drinker but I was going to try and hang. Angel and I walked into a deli and I found a bag of ketchup flavored Doritos. I know, I know it sounds so totally weird. But when I was doing my research for the trip I read that Canadians loved ketchup flavored chips. Forever A Tourist right? As for the taste itself it really tasted like a mouthful of ketchup. Everyone had about 1 chip and it took me about the rest of the weekend to finish the bag. As we walked around the town I noticed there were strip clubs everywhere. I know Montreal is world renowned for their strippers but it wasn't that kind of a trip. It was a family trip guys!
Alex and Sam's brother Jon met us up and brought us to Boustan for lunch. It's this tiny small and crowded Lebanese joint on Rue Cresent. Oh man it was sooo freaking good. I think it was the best falafel sandwich I have ever had. Everyone was in foodie heaven. What was even better was that the food was only a couple of bucks. When you add in the currency exchange rate it was almost nothing! It definitely fit into our budget friendly weekend.
Once we got back to the apartment we took a nap and then it was time to pregame! I thought I was really holding my own with my glasses of my moscato and shots of fireball. HA! I was totally fine with calling it an early night but of course no one else shared my point of view. We met up Jon at this bar called Korova. The drinks were pretty cheap there so we kept them flowing. Since we were all pretty lush at this point we all got on the empty dance floor. No one else was dancing but we didn't care. Each one of us was dancing to the beat of our own drums. Everyone at the bar was just staring at us. They probably thought we were all weirdos but we didn't care. We were having the time of our lives. We were so uninhibited that people slowly started joining us on the dance floor and joining our dance party. Next thing you know the dance floor was packed with people just waving their hands wildly in the air. We were totally a hit. 
By the time we left we were craving for some late night snacks. Down the block we found Patati Patata which happened to be on my foodie list of places to try. We all ordered poutine to go and ate it ravenously back at the apartment. Angel was so drunk that he had no idea he ordered vegan poutine so he didn't actually have any cheese or gravy. The next morning he just told us he didn't really enjoy that place so we had to break the news to him.
The next morning was my touristy planned day! We started off with brunch at Beautys Luncheonette. I found out about this place on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. I had a bagel with cream cheese and lox since that's what he ate on the show. Being from New York I love bagels. Bagels in Canada it turns out is a very different event. They are much thinner and the whole is huge. Would I say they are better or worse then our own bagels? Hmm I would say it's like comparing apples and oranges. Both are fruit but don't taste anything alike. I did enjoy my brunch very much. After that we headed to Old Montreal for the rest of the afternoon. 
We went into Maple Delights. I read that they have free maple tastings and a maple museum. Before we could do any tastings we had to check out the museum first which we were totally okay with. It could've been a glass case in an exhibit in a museum. But I wouldn't call that a museum. Everyone just gave me a look of "Is this really what you planned?!" It was free so we couldn't really complain. It took me about 5 seconds to read through their museum then I pushed everyone went upstairs in hope that the sampling made up for the lack of museum. The free samples definitely made up for it by far. It was pretty intense. I had no idea there were so many different flavors and uses for maple syrup. It was so much we were bursting to the seams. We couldn't even get through all the samples! 
In the front of the store they were selling so many different maple flavored pastries and ice creams. Even though I was stuffed I wanted to leave with more food. The fat kid inside me never stops. I was trying hard to figure out what to get when Angel pointed out something near the register. It was called tire d'érable. It looked like a spread of crushed iced laid out on a table, and the workers would spread out maple syrup letting it harden up, then you were given a stick and supposed to roll it up into what resembled a lollipop and placed into a cup of ice. Yup I was definitely the fat kid in the candy store and I was definitely going to go with that. My inner tourist was doing the truffle shuffle. Since it was the middle of winter and we were going to walk around with a cup of ice we made sure to buy a cup of maple coffee for the walk outside.
Our next destination was the Notre Dame Basilica. From all the research I did before hand I knew this was the place to see in Montreal for any tourist. We walked through Old Montreal to find it and it was so beautiful. Everyone took loads of pics outside. When it was time to go in however no one wanted to go inside. No one wanted to pay the $5 entrance fee. I was soo taken aback. This is the crown jewel of Montreal and everyone was letting a few dollars stop them. I mean I'm all about budget but this was tourist blasphemy! No one wanted to pay to get into a church. They knew Angel and I really wanted to go in so they didn't mind hanging outside while we took our time to explore inside. I was really glad that we ended up inside. The far wall was simply stunning with all all it's shades of blue. No one wonder so many people make it a point to stop in there.
Later on Michelle had told me she would've went but she didn't have any cash on her. I wish she would've said something. We would've had no problem paying for her! She doesn't like to travel too often and so I really wanted her to experience some new things with me. At this point everyone was cold and tired so we decided to recover back at the apartment until it was time to meet up Jon again at night.
We met him at his school Concordia. He writes for the school paper The Link. It was cool checking out where he spends most of his time. From there we went for something quick to eat. We walked around and came across a bar that was hosting a trivia night. If you know me then you know how much I love my trivia. But this place asked questions that were so ridiculously hard it was not even fun to play. We tried to stay as long as week could but at one point we just got up in the middle of the round and had to walk out. I didn't want to end the night on a boring note so I got some Boustans to cheer me up real quick.
 |
| Top: La Banquise Bottom: Patati Patata |
We got into the car and headed straight to Jean Talon Market. It was another place I saw in No Reservations. It was a cool fresh food market that offered very generous samples. Other than that we got over it real quick. From there headed to the St Joseph's Oratory. I had a feeling everyone else was fine with skipping it but I reassured them that it was free and would be worth our time. I'm glad to say everyone enjoyed the oratory. It wasn't crowded at all since it was cold and the oratory was covered with snow. We had fun climbing and slipping on all the steps to the top. The oratory is pretty huge so there is a lot to discover. I would definitely recommending stopping by if you are ever in Montreal.
We still had enough time to check out one more site. Jon brought us to Park Du Mont-Royal. We ended up at a scenic overview of the city and just talked. Jon wanted to show us a place that had an even better view. There was a staircase near but it had a huge DO NOT ENTER sign right in front due to snow. We looked around and saw no other way so we blew through the sign and started climbing the stairs. Uh yea it was pretty dangerous. The was snow and ice everywhere and we kept ending up on our asses every few steps. For some reason that didn't stop us and we had to use massive upper body strength to get up those stairs. From there we were in the heart of the park. Even though I knew we were in the middle of a big city it felt like I was hiking in the middle of Vermont. I feel like at home we don't normally go to the park after it snows a couple of feet. But it doesn't stop them in Canada. For them they just break out the cross country skis! I thought that was so hardcore. I just can't picture people doing that at my corner park. We finally reached the point Jon wanted to show us. It was so picturesque. It was like we hiked to a whole new city. The skyline was so close and so huge. It reminded me of the surrealness of NYC when you stand in the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. We just sat there for a while soaking up the views.
Finally it was time to call it a wrap on our trip. We all decided the best way to close it out was to get Boustans. Of course I got one for the road was well. =P I'm so glad our first sibling trip was a success. I love traveling and I hope to share doing the thing I love with the people I love more often. I am looking forward to many more in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment