I flew into Montreal on my way to Nova Scotia via Via Rail, but I figured I had to spend at least 2 days in Montreal before I hopped on the train. And yet again, I realized too late that I had scheduled too little time for a great destination.
Get the bad stuff out of the way first. Who ever worked up the Uber pickup plan for the airport needs to work out their sadism on their own time. LOL! Horrible layout that means that the Uber drivers can only stage 3 or 4 cars at most, which means that the drivers wait over an hour and a half to pick up passengers and the passengers wait in two lines for 45 minutes to an hour.
But I eventually got to the Omni Mont Royal and immediately set off in 85 degree heat to find the nearest food of any sort. Ended up in a fast food/Lebanese place called Boustan where I ordered a mixed bowl of beef/chicken and hummus. Not great but quick.
The next morning I walked up to Beauty’s and had the Beauty’s Special, Lox, cream cheese, tomatoes and onion on a Montreal bagel. Very tasty. Tough to keep it in one piece to eat, but delicious. Waitress was very cool.
Walked up Mont Royal to see the vista of Montreal. Great walking paths even though they were crowded.
Fell out hard after all the walking but slept well. Next day I descended into a business building to find an open cafe (Dejeunette) near the Omni. Definitely just a diner type place but the cashier was very nice and whipped up a delicious cappuccino while his colleague prepared home fried potatoes, two nicely jammy eggs, toast and two types of rather poor meats. So close. The bacon was ok, so there is that.
Then I sat and soaked in the ambiance of Notre Dame Cathedral for a time. Love that place!
Walked about on Saint Paul for a time.
Did not see anything that spoke to me so I walked almost 2 miles over St. Paul and up Saint Laurent to Schwartz’s, despite warnings that it was a bit of a touristy place. Which it was, but the smoked meat was rather good, the half sour pickle was ok and the cold Coke in the mini bottle was the perfect companion. Older Jewish gent sat next to me for a minute and asked me what I thought of the smoked meat, but did not allow me to answer until AFTER he told me how average it was compared to what it was when he used to eat there as a young man. Somehow I thought it might be the owner so I defended the meal, mildly. LOL!
Street mural south of Schwartz’s i like.
Fell out hard again, Montreal, hot humid weather and a lot of walking make me a tired man. Next morning it was hot again, so I decided to hide in the Beaux Arts Museum instead of going to the market. Rather good collection, took the tour about Berthe Weill, the first female art dealer in Paris and champion of many of the early Impressionists. Good time, great art.
I also toured the Glass Exhibit. He is an interesting guy, and his artwork is quirky, but it brings me back to the question of what is art? Because despite the raw intensity of his early ink on paper work, his later work seems more forced and less artistic. Or maybe I am just missing the point, which is very real possibility.
I found a pub halfway to the Central Train Station, Winny’s, and had a pretty good salad and a fair house lasagna. Not memorable but the waitress and host were both great and the atmosphere was comfortable.
I wish i had scheduled more time here. I did not even begin to scrape the surface.
Which brings me to my most unsurprising thing I re-discovered about visiting Canada. The place may be beautiful but the people are the best part. To a person, except for the owner of Schwartz’s (maybe?) everyone has been very kind and fairly outgoing. Easy traveling indeed!
Then I boarded the Via Rail train for Halifax and stowed my bag in my little night train compartment. Having my own room on wheels with a window on the world is my favorite way to travel.
