(Day 8) Tree Porcupines are Dangerous.

Another morning, another breakfast. Tony’s food is really good though, and he always has a bunch of stories to tell us and advice to give us about what we should be doing in Montreal. He even liked to tell us about events that were happening in about a month, just in case we decided to fly back or something. I’m not quite sure, but it was nice he was so enthusiastic.



Our stops for today were the highly-recommended Biodome and not-so-highly recommended Olympic Stadium, but since they were so close, we decided to check out both. We hopped on the metro and prepared ourselves for a non-stop crazy time. The Biodome was up first.






A Capybara.




These little guys were, as low-germans would say, “Vindt treasel”.




As bad as this might sound, I think this fish reminds me of my Dad. He looks like a Harder for sure.


The batcave. This looks nothing like Wayne Manor.




Pretty bird. Can you say, “Pretty bird”? Pretty bird.


Is this a porcupine in a tree?!? I’m so confused. I don’t remember this, but that seems highly dangerous, doesn’t it? What is that thing? I could find out, but I’m lazy. I’ll just assume it’s a porcupine.




I especially the South Park shirt in the reflection of this picture. I’m not the one wearing it, just so you know, but I wish I was.



So that was the Biodome. I just kept thinking about the movie with Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin from back in, like, 1993. The place would have been better if it wasn’t filled with little children screeching for their parents in French and pointing to the animals, as if their parents can’t see it without the children pointing.

Next, we had bought tickets to ride the Olympic Tower at the stadium so up we went!











It was cool to see the whole city and the St. Lawrence river from that vantage, but I always feel these lift-type attractions are overpriced. Man, I deserve a big poop-sandwich for being so critical of poor Montreal! I can’t help it. I really did enjoy myself.

Next up, we rode the metro back to the downtown area and thought we’d check out the Atwater marche. Getting off at the Atwater stop which was still crazy-far from the market, we set out on foot. Funnily enough, we were heading down the street when these guys drove up beside us in a white Chrysler 300 and asked us where we were headed. I lied, “We don’t know yet.” They asked us to join them for lunch to which I responded that we already ate (lie). They then invited us out to tea with them and I said no thanks. They then realized that they were holding up traffic and pulled ahead and over to the curb in the next block. Janelle and I were creeped as they stood on the sidewalk waiting for us talking to each other and finally went inside a restaurant there before we got to them. We bolted right by and never heard from them again. Phew! I just can’t handle those types of situations, flattering as they are, I guess. I’m sure they were after Janelle though, which is perfectly fine with me. We finally made it to the market.







Frankly, there was a whole lot of nothing to see here as well, unless we wanted to buy antipasto, plants, or meat. Getting hungry, we decided to wander the streets near the market for a legit restaurant. We found a real gem about a block away.


Oh yeah, a “Welcome” placemat and a 1998 Nagano Olympics glass.

The place was called “Green Spot” and it was stuck in a time warp straight from the ‘70’s. Our waitress was some middle-aged lady in a white, see-through shirt and apron-y thing who seemed irritated yet friendly that she was serving us.




Oh, here we see it’s been in service over 70 years. Yes, this makes sense.

Everyone also told me I had to try real Montreal poutine, so I figured this was as good of a time as any.




Hot dogs here come heaped with that sour coleslaw again.

The restaurant also had a crew of guys come in, one of which was a black guy with a pick in his hair!! They really do that in real life, not just the movies!



The place also had some cutting-edge tunes on the jukeboxes.


Hmmm. ‘Angel’ by Shaggy, or ‘MmmBop’ by Hanson?

Since we are an eating bunch, after leaving, we started our long journey towards our home and our last stop for day, a proper dessert place. We found these weird puffy things in a tree in a park on the way…does anyone know what purpose they serve, other than looking strange?




A place called ‘Calories’ – it couldn’t be more perfect.


These were perfect and exquisitely delicious. And with those, Quebec has redeemed itself completely.

We headed home earlier that night to pack and relax for our early morning over to the airport and long flight home. Oui, merci, fun vacation! Au revoir!

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(Day 7) It's All About The Egg

I slept like a baby on my bunk. Janelle got a two-foot space between my bunk and her bed. The poor dear. Breakfast was served when we got up and Tony donned a special chef coat for the event.


So delicious and fresh!

Eventually we got our act together and headed out. We made our way to the old port via metro as we needed to be there for there for the afternoon showing of Cirque du Soleil’s OVO.





We kind of just started walking and happened up on the Notre Dame Basilica…it was beauteous.



Janelle was hesitant to go inside, wondering if it was worth it since it cost $5.00. If I’ve learned anything in my European travels, its that if it costs money, it is usually worth it. And boy, was it ever!


This is where Pavarotti stood when he sang inside the Basilica.


The amazingly elaborate alterpiece. Even better in person, trust me.


Closer.


Close-up of the Eucharist.

Can you believe Celine Dion got married here? I thought about pounding my chest a la ‘My Heart Will Go On’ in honour of her, but I refrained. Too bad, right?


The far-less elaborate altarpiece in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament at the back of the Basilica.


The rosettas in the ceiling…hopefully they withstand hail storms.

We sat in a bit on one of the tours and people were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the place…it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen, for sure. One last look before heading back out…



Just a little OD’ing on that place…I couldn’t help but take a bunch of pictures, hoping that the next would capture the feeling better than the last. Amazing.

We just wandered the streets after that, pondering our lunch destination as dinner would be late – wherever we would find ourselves after our 4:00 showing of OVO.









We found a little place called Restaurant Papillon and I enjoyed a club sandwich.




It was quite decent!

We continued to stroll around the port area, Janelle got some Ben & Jerry’s, we did a quickie walk through the Bonsecours Marche and watched a couple dance on a small cement area near the water.




We made up all kinds of stores about these two…what? We had nothing else to do.





We ran into a bunch of dummies walking the cobbled streets…I think there were a bunch of field trips so the streets were swarming with the ‘tween crowd who liked to shriek when they saw some of those “Kanye West glasses” and they all wanted a pair as well as a boy who kept going “A-rett, a-rett all you people. A-rett!” No wonder French people hate us.

Eventually the time came to head into the Cirque tents…



We even purchased some Cirque goods from the shopping tent as the stuff was really rad this time! I bought a sweater that was on sale and Janelle got an eco bag. Thankfully the temps weren’t as hot this time as my last Cirque experience as we were all jammed like sardines in that little big top.



Of course, no pictures were allowed in the tent, so I snapped the one above in a discrete manner. I cannot resist. The show itself was really amazing. I was concerned about the language but there was no dialogue in the show, which made it easy for everyone. The costumes were unbelievable – everyone was insects and they looked so real! I was awed.

After the show, we decided we’d wander for a while so from the old port we headed north towards the Sherbrooke area in search of a restaurant people had recommended to me as the best place to try Montreal smoked meat…an apparent “must-do” when in town. But first, another “must-do” – gelato.


Tres delicious!


So near these buildings is where we encountered another interesting group of characters…some guy, seeing us coming, decided to turn and pee into the bush on a sidewalk. He wasn’t even a bum – in fact, he was well-dressed and quite decent-looking. Um…awkwardness to the max. He zipped up once we arrived and chuckled to himself and his friend and apologized in French. This, I do not understand. Janelle laughed at them but I was just too grossed-out to acknowledge him. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”

One thing I was a bit surprised at was the sheer number and placement of nudie bars in downtown Montreal – disbursed anywhere and everywhere; even in major shopping areas. And the names they came up with – oi!



After we walked and walked for quite a while, happening upon a street festival in the meantime, we finally arrived at Swartz’s Bifteck – Charcuterie Herbraique. In business for over 80 years, this restaurant is a Montreal institution; everyone I talked to knew about this place so we had to find out what the fuss was about. There was a line-up to get in, as I heard there would be when I looked it up on the internet.



Thankfully, we didn’t mind sitting at the bar and were seated within five minutes of arriving, cutting past the line. The restaurant was as no-frills as you could get – any available seat was occupied, whether the people sitting beside each other knew one another or not. The people working the counter were a bunch of burly French men, all well into their ‘40’s and beyond. We plopped down at the counter in the fluorescent-lit establishment and a guy hollers at us if we wanted a smoked meat sandwich. He then shoves some coleslaw and a pickle at us and says, “You want this too.” Okay.



As we dig into our sour coleslaw and pickle, he shoves sandwiches at us, slathered in mustard. Gosh, I hate mustard but this isn’t the type of place where you custom order or complain. So I shut up and ate. Janelle was kind of traumatized by the whole experience and sat in stunned silence as I encouraged her to eat what was given.



Poor Janelle didn’t want to finish hers so we just kind of left when we’d had enough meat in our stomachs and I said I’d pay for her…turns out they didn’t take credit card so Janelle had to pay as she’s the only one with cash. Again, poor little Janelle.



Outside was the street festival of some kind so we wandered and checked out some of the tents.



We then wandered yet further back down to St. Catherines to check out the Titanic exhibit at Eaton Centre.







The exhibit was great. The Titanic thing kind of always fascinates me to some extent and the exhibit was basically empty since it was already nine and it closed at 10. I even got to touch an iceberg and the actual Titanic! I was thrilled.

Another day gone and one day left here in Montreal before we head home. It is interesting, but Montreal is very different than I imagined…I’m not quite sure what that means. We stopped for some snacks on the way home and sat on a curb while enjoying them. I enjoy these sisterly moments.

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