Montreal, Quebec - Canada

I'm playing catchup with a few posts so if you're confused about a few of the dates that's why! This was the last post that I needed to catchup on.

What a busy summer 2017 has been! Three days after moving to NJ Jon and I went on a mini three day trip to Montreal. We're finding it a little harder to go away for longer periods of time now that we have two kids. Maybe once the baby isn't a baby anymore...

We desperately needed a weekend away, but also wanted to continue our tradition of getting out of the country at least once a year. Enter the idea of Montreal, which is only a five hour drive from our new home.

After stopping in Albany for a few hours to see our friends, we finished our drive to Montreal and arrived in the early evening. That night we simply went out to dinner near our hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening. Seriously, all we wanted to do was relax and not be bothered!

We were staying fairly close to Mount Royal so the next morning we put on our running gear and headed up the large hill. It is much steeper and higher than it looks! After climbing a long and winding path we made it to the summit where we had gorgeous panoramic views of the city and beyond!

There are so many little trails all throughout this park and many places where one can just bring a picnic blanket and relax. We followed some trails around bends and through the park. There was much signage on these smaller trails, but we figured we could make it back no matter where we ended up. On our walk we came across a large steel cross. After more research we found out that a wooden cross was erected in 1643 to thank God for sparing the colony from a flood. In 1924 the current steel one was built.

That night we went into the old city of Montreal. It was a wonderful place to walk around on the cobblestone streets while viewing the historic architecture. There are many little boutiques, cafes, and restaurants.

After some strolling we grabbed a drink at a cute wine bar restaurant. We ended up staying for dinner since we were having a good time. Yummy food and wine makes us very happy! Speaking of food... we tried all kinds of poutine throughout our trip, which is a dish that originates from the area and consists of french fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. There are so many variations of poutine in Montreal that we felt the need to try a lot of them! I'll be honest, I wasn't too impressed with poutine. I didn't dislike it, but I definitely wasn't over the moon about it. Jon on the other hand...

The next day we asked the front desk about suggestions on where to go in the area. They suggested going to the Jean Talon Farmer's Market and then walk around an art district that I'm drawing a blank on the name of. We took the metro to the Jean-Talon stop and headed over. This market had everything! Fresh produce, fish, meat, cheese, cheese curds, plants, flowers, juices, crepes, and on and on. We tried some squeaky cheese curds at one stand and bought zucchini flowers at another. We were so happy to be able to buy zucchini flowers... they don't sell them regularly in the U.S. and we love frying them in some dough. We stopped to eat some crepes and drink fresh orange juice to fill our bellies before moving on.

We took the metro to what was supposed to be an art district, but we either weren't in the right place or we have a different definition of art district from the person at reception. It was a very nice residential area, but not much more. We walked around for a while trying to figure out which way we were supposed to go, but after about 45 minutes we called it quits and decided to relax at the hotel, which is what we had really wanted to do anyway.

We basically spent the rest of our time relaxing and resting since we knew we'd be coming back to our two youngins and a house full of boxes and suitcases. Overall, we had a nice time in Montreal!