We arrived in Montreal at 6:30 PM after an 11 hour trip from D.C., it was a long day, bu
t a great way to travel. Our hotel the Saint-Sulpice in Old Town Montreal is magnificent. All the rooms are suites the staff are super friendly and helpful and we are in the center of Old Town which means that we can walk to everything that we want to see and do. I booked it over Travelocity.com and was able to get our rooms for $198 per night far below the market rate.
We had dinner at Chez Suzette a warm French café that specializes in crepes, quiche, and fondue. Nita and I had the cheese fondue and a chicken/avocado salad, which is something different for us, accompanied by a California Sauvignon Blanc. It turned out to be just what we needed after a long day of traveling. I slept well.
Monday morning was a sleep-in opportunity, Nita and I skipped breakfast, Ron and Avie got out and experienced some to the first class pastry. The highlight of my day was a bike trip around Montreal. Ron and I found Ca Roule Montreal on Wheels where we rented bikes and were given a detailed map and instructions on the many bike trails around the city. Montreal is an island connected to the mainland by 17 bridges. Most of our bike trip was on Montreal’s secondary islands holding their new Casino, their Grand Prix track (Curert Gille-Villeneuve) and miles of bike trails. Part of our ride included a turn around the 4.361 km Grand Prix track; a trip over the harbor on a 1 mile bike bridge and winding through the city following the canals.
In all it was a 2 hour 16 minute tour seeing the many sides of Montreal. We had a great lunch in Atwater, a farmers market, at a beautiful European Bakery, (had a Copenhagen moment, beautiful woman giving directions) we both commented that it would be nice to have this kind of bakery in Birmingham; heck it would be great to have the many miles of bike trails in Birmingham. While in the bike shop we met a guy from Birmingham, Jack Tucker. The world is getting smaller, or someone is following us and we stumble over them... naaa.
While the boys went biking Nita and Avie walked and had a nice French lunch of crepes and an Italian gelato. The old city had some wonderful old buildings but as we walked up the hill new Montreal came into view. Glass buildings, lots of construction and packed side walks.
We did discover that there were not as many restaurants as in old town nor tourist shops. The shopping was on St. Catherine’s Street where the all ready mentioned packed side walks resided. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a Gray Line tour thru all of Montreal. The trees are lovely and the temperature is excellent, good-bye 90 degree weather.
We had dinner at Restaurant Le Bourlingueur, a small french restaurant that served full meals including soup or salad, entree, coffee and desert for a set price. I had grilled salmon accompanied by a Italian Chardonnay for $18.95. The salmon came with rice and grilled cantaloupe melon. The melon gave the salmon a fruity added flavor, it was quite nice. 
t a great way to travel. Our hotel the Saint-Sulpice in Old Town Montreal is magnificent. All the rooms are suites the staff are super friendly and helpful and we are in the center of Old Town which means that we can walk to everything that we want to see and do. I booked it over Travelocity.com and was able to get our rooms for $198 per night far below the market rate.We had dinner at Chez Suzette a warm French café that specializes in crepes, quiche, and fondue. Nita and I had the cheese fondue and a chicken/avocado salad, which is something different for us, accompanied by a California Sauvignon Blanc. It turned out to be just what we needed after a long day of traveling. I slept well.
Monday morning was a sleep-in opportunity, Nita and I skipped breakfast, Ron and Avie got out and experienced some to the first class pastry. The highlight of my day was a bike trip around Montreal. Ron and I found Ca Roule Montreal on Wheels where we rented bikes and were given a detailed map and instructions on the many bike trails around the city. Montreal is an island connected to the mainland by 17 bridges. Most of our bike trip was on Montreal’s secondary islands holding their new Casino, their Grand Prix track (Curert Gille-Villeneuve) and miles of bike trails. Part of our ride included a turn around the 4.361 km Grand Prix track; a trip over the harbor on a 1 mile bike bridge and winding through the city following the canals.
In all it was a 2 hour 16 minute tour seeing the many sides of Montreal. We had a great lunch in Atwater, a farmers market, at a beautiful European Bakery, (had a Copenhagen moment, beautiful woman giving directions) we both commented that it would be nice to have this kind of bakery in Birmingham; heck it would be great to have the many miles of bike trails in Birmingham. While in the bike shop we met a guy from Birmingham, Jack Tucker. The world is getting smaller, or someone is following us and we stumble over them... naaa.While the boys went biking Nita and Avie walked and had a nice French lunch of crepes and an Italian gelato. The old city had some wonderful old buildings but as we walked up the hill new Montreal came into view. Glass buildings, lots of construction and packed side walks.
We did discover that there were not as many restaurants as in old town nor tourist shops. The shopping was on St. Catherine’s Street where the all ready mentioned packed side walks resided. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a Gray Line tour thru all of Montreal. The trees are lovely and the temperature is excellent, good-bye 90 degree weather. It started raining at 5:00 PM and is forecast to continue through the day tomorrow, thus we have scheduled a bus tour of the city.
Nice Post .. I think U enjoy Very much..If your interested in experiencing a bit of European culture but don't want to fly across the ocean then Montreal is the place for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks For Sharing..
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