As I write this we are sitting in the Admiral’s club at La Guardia, NY airport. We started with over a 3 hour layover and just discovered that our 7:25 pm flight back to Dallas has been delayed to 8:05 pm. So with my laptop at hand and a perfectly good Wifi connection I decided to post about our almost completed trip to Montreal. I will admit that we originally decided to go to Montreal to indulge my 18 year old son who wanted to visit somewhere he could legally drink and gamble. Montreal certainly fits the bill with one of the highest per capita number of restaurants as well as the largest casino in Canada.
I was excited about going because it supposed to be the closest thing to Paris, France this side of the Atlantic. I was hoping for a European feel, fabulous French pastries and wonderful French food as well as some wonderful historic museums. I wasn’t disappointed on any count.
We stayed at the Hilton Bonaventure and as a gold member we received a complimentary pass to their “cold” breakfast buffet each morning. For an extra $5 we could have indulged at the “hot” line as well but frankly who needed to. Our complimentary buffet pass gave us awesome french pastries, a wide selection of incredible breads with equally incredible jams, delicious fresh fruits and berries, smoked salmon and cold meats, a selection of cheeses, yogurt, cold cereal, hard boiled eggs, and either french toast or pancakes. Coffee, tea and juice were also included and to top it all off you could sit out on their outdoor patio with a little waterfall and stream running right past your table. Jerry and I both absolutely loved our breakfast each morning.
We spent 6 nights in Montreal and during the days we went to the casino (duh), visited the oldest building in Montreal which is located in Old Montreal as well as several other historic museums and buildings there including the Basilica of Notre Dame. We went out to Lachine and visited the Fur Traders Museum and saw boats going through the still operable locks that had enabled Montreal to become a recognizd center of commerce by allowing boats to bypass the rapids on the St. Lawrence river. We visited the Jean-Talon market that lays claim to being the largest in North America. It was pretty awesome. I bought some maple syrup that was actually produced by the woman who was selling it. We ate french food, portuguese food, pontine (canadian french fries with gravy), fast food and the buffet at the casino. We went, went, went but also found some time to relax by the Bonaventure’s pool which was heated and wonderfully landscaped. (The Hilton Bonaventure is at the top of the Bonaventure Place building so you are at a rooftop pool but it doesn’t feel that way because you don’t overlook the city. It was very nice.) The weather was wonderful the whole time, sunny with highs in the upper 70’s and low 80’s.
All in all it was great trip and I would love to visit Montreal again. See my photo gallery below for a trip pictorial: