Thirty years ago in Vidalia, Georgia, while I was celebrating my graduation from high school and the arrival of the first week of summer, way over in China, the nightmarish Tiananmen Square Massacre was taking place.
Thirty years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, Russ’s family was actually re-routing their vacation plans, wisely deciding to go to Canada instead of China, which was their original destination. Even though one those countries is a little less exotic than the other, they both do start with a “C,” so the replacement made sense, I guess.
Visiting Canada with his family is a memory Russ always talks about; they had a fantastic time and fell in love with the quaintness of Quebec. Since then, Russ has frequently mentioned taking us to French Canada.
He had a surplus of frequent flyer points, so we finally bit the bullet and planned a trip up to Montreal and Quebec for the week after Memorial Day. (Once the tickets were booked, I remembered why I’d dragged my feet so long on agreeing to visit Canada: Delta only flies their little regional jets there. Eek. Not a fan; talking to you, winglets.)
Thankfully, the ride up there was fairly smooth–and short: Atlanta to Montreal only requires about 2.5 hours in the air. We landed and made it through Customs in no-time flat; traveling just with carry-ons is our new way to go and though it involves some strategic packing, not having to wait at baggage claim is a game-changer.
We were headed to a VRBO in a little neighborhood 5 minutes north of downtown Montreal. On the VRBO website, the borough of Outremont had been listed as a conservative, family-friendly, quiet neighborhood, and the apartment, in an older building, appeared large and well-kept. We were told there was an 11 p.m. quiet curfew which I thought was a little interesting but manageable.
Once we arrived, I realized I’d booked us a place smack dab in the Hasidic Jewish center of Montreal. To say we stuck out as tourists is a bit of an understatement.
We dropped our bags and walked around the corner to grab dinner at La Piazzetta, which was clean, fast, and tasty. After dinner, we strolled around the neighborhood and looked for a grocery store in order to grab some breakfast items.
It felt like a night in late October in Atlanta; we were thrilled to have escaped the 95+ degree temperatures.
We found a market and headed in.
We woke up Thursday morning and headed out on foot towards Mile End. I’d read there were lots of cute boutiques and shops in this Bohemian area of Montreal. We must have been several streets off because we couldn’t really find a single one of them–with the exception of the UbiSoft office building.
Next up was a local food tour. We’ve done these in Rome and Chicago, and somehow they’ve always been big hits, even with our crew of picky eaters. We opted for the Mile End Montreal Food Tour and our guide, Andreanne, was adorable. After a taste of organic falafel at the popular vegan cafe The Green Panther, we began our guided walk around Mile End (which was much more informative than the unguided one we’d endured that morning).
We also had gnocchi from Drogheria Fine, a charcuterie at Boucherie Lawrence, and topped it off with an ice cream/sorbet mix at KemCoba.
After that gorge-fest, we headed back to the apartment for a much needed rest. I’d not thought it out very well when booking the food tour because we also had big dinner reservations that night at Les Enfants Terribles on the top of the Ville Marie–a 47 story building in downtown Montreal.
While the food was mediocre (and rather expensive), the views were incredible.
We were hurting for some exercise at this point, so we walked around downtown Montreal for a bit and stumbled across the Olympic Experience. I am a huge Olympics nerd, so this find made my day. The museum is chock-full of interactive exhibits, and I couldn’t wait for us to visit it later in the week.
The temperature dropped and the winds picked up, so we opted to call it a night. Ubers are few and far between in Canada, a fact we were just beginning to learn. Rather than wait in the drizzle, we tackled the Metro.
Forty-five minutes or so later, we were walking (quietly) back to our apartment.
We hopped up on Friday, ate breakfast at the apartment, and then went back downtown.
We strolled through the Bonsecours Market, but the boys were much more interested with the happenings on the other side of the building.
It’s no secret we are escape room maniacs, and when the boys saw this place, the begging began…
I’d read mixed reviews about SOS Labyrinthe, but we all were entertained. It’s definitely not your typical escape room; instead, you have to find 4 different boxes and get a card stamped at each one–all while maneuvering a crazy maze. There are lots of switchbacks and dead-ends and turn-arounds and not very much intelligence is actually needed, but we made it out in less than an hour.
We spent the next few hours roaming around the Old Port of Montreal.
We stumbled across this magnificent ropes course…and the boys were set for 2 hours. Russ and I roamed a little on our own (always within view of the ropes course situation), and then headed up the street a bit for a snack once they were finished.
The boys were tired, so we Uber-ed it back to the apartment to rest and pack up for our early train the next morning. We planned on walking around the neighborhood again to find a dinner spot but had a hard time agreeing–a fate that typically happens to us when we get overtired and over hungry–which means we found ourselves back at the same restaurant we’d already visited, La Piazzetta.
We did manage to track down an adorable ice cream shop before we called it a night.
Our time in the Outremont borough was coming to an end. Next stop: Quebec!
J, T, and Theo B. 