Montreal 12/27/2016 to 1/2/2017
Montreal 12/29/16
Wednesday 12/28/16
-UA3817 6:32-9:41 to Montreal
–Arrived a little late
–Luggage took a long time
–Mike, Liz, Cathie and Jack. Liane joins us on Friday
-Intercontinental Hotel
–Long, slow checkin
–3 rooms near eachother on the 11th floor. 1104, 1106, 1111
–drinks at the bar, closed it at 12:00 midnight
Thursday 12/29/16
-Weather: high 20s all day. Snow started at 10am and stopped dinner time, about 8pm
-Slept till 8, out the door by 9am
-Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal
–Really good tour guide
–Reminded us of St Chappelle and Trinity
–Came out side, the snow had started
-Went walking through old city, snow getting heavier
-Had breakfast at Le Fripon at the Place Jacques Cartier
lefripon.com
-Walked over to Marche Bonsecour
–Bought me some nice gloves and Mike a flannel shirt at Boutique Red Canoe AC Montreal
https://fr-ca.facebook.com/BoutiqueRedCanoe
–Bought an Inuit stone carved bear from Serge RIcchi Gallery
http://ricchi.ca/
–Walked through the Musse du costume et du textile
http://museedelamode.ca/fr/category/babillard/
-Walked up the hill to Chateau Ramezay, toured the historic home
http://www.chateauramezay.qc.ca/en/
-Had snacks and sandwiches at Xavier Artisan on the Place d’Armes
http://www.xavierartisan.com/
-Toured the Montreal History Museum. Snow getting really slipery
http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=8757,97305573&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
-Went back to the hotel, made dinner reservations and took a nap
-Had dinner at Joverse. It was fun!
http://joverse.com/
-Snow stopped, but even more slippery
-Walked back thte hotel; and bed time.
Friday 12/30/16
-Weather: 27 when we got up. No additional snow
-Liane’s plane is on time.
-We walked over to the underground shopping on rue Catherine
–We had breakfast at Olly Fresco’s – Promenades Cathedrale
http://ollyfrescos.ca/
-We went to Roots. Found some really nice stuff, but they didn’t have my shoe size
-Across the street we bought some Nordic Grip Crampons for my shoes at Sports Experts. They had some really good shoes, too, but not in my size
https://www.sportsexperts.ca/fr-CA/rechercher?keywords=*&sortBy=CurrentPrice&sortDirection=desc&fn1=OnSale&fv1=En+Solde
-We met Liane at the hotel lobby. She took the 747 bus. Yeah!
-We walked over to the Place-d’Armes metro station and went to the Mile End neighborhood. Rosement stop.
-In Miles End
–We stopped at one of Liz’s alternative comics places
–We had a great light lunch at the Brasserie Dieu du Ciel
http://dieuduciel.com/
–I bought some greeting cards from BOutique Boucle & Papier on Boulevard St-Laurent
http://boucleetpapier.com/
–Liz and Mike got really nice things at the Lowell Montreal shop (shoes and backpack), also on St-Laurent
http://www.boutiquelowell.ca/
–Mike got some shirts at the place near Ubisoft. Also a cafe and a barber shop
–Liz got a bunch of books from Librarie Drawn and Quarterly on Bernard St
http://211blog.drawnandquarterly.com/
–We then hailed a taxi and rode back to Rosement Station, heading back to the hotel
-Dinner La Chat Noir
–It was a good thing we got a reservation. They were otherwise full
–We had a fun server who was also the back up bar tender — therefore a little slow
–We were also competing with a table of 20. We had to wait a long time for our desert
-We were luck to get a New Years dinner reservation.
–The 2nd seatings were all booked, but Gargote (nearby on St Pierre) still had openings
–Thanks to Chantal, the consierge for booking this for us.
Saturday 12/31/16
-Weather: cold, 8 degrees. Warmed up to 15, with snow. About 3″. It supposed to get to 30 by midnight
-Got up at 9:30. Walked over to Xavier Artisan for croisant and OJ at Place d-armes
-Then we toured the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal. More crowded the 2nd time
-Then we walked in the snow down to the Pointe-a-Calliere and toured the Montreal archiology museum
https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/
–That was surprisingly good and took a long time
-Then we walked down the street and had lunch at the very popular Marche de la Villette on St Paul
–The place was packed but Christophe waved us in.
–To our surprise, he found us a table for 5 right away
–Charlie tood really good care of us.
–They played traditional French folk songs
http://www.marche-villette.com/
-Then we found the nearby taxi stand and rode up to the Musee de Beaux-Arts on Sherbrook
–Sorry no bird exhibit
-We then walked down rue Cresent to rue Catherine and shopped for shoes
–We got some for Liane
–Cathie got a hat at Roots
http://www.roots.com/ca/en/locations/QC/montreal/Centreville
–It was snowing, still
-We took a taxi back down to our hotel. To rest before dinner
-We rested in our rooms for an hour (Mike went out to get Champagne)
-We went to dinner at Restaurant La Gargote. It was snowing
–The waiter spoke in French to me and even taught me how to order wine for the table (a partager)
–We had Champagne first then two bottles of Brouilly, a type of Beaujolais
–The place was busy, as we were leaving the 2nd seating was arriving
http://www.restaurantlagargote.ca/
-We went back to our rooms by about 9pm.
–I rested, we watched a little bit of the Canada 150 New Years tv coverage, and some hockey
-Mike and Liane went to SAQ (grocery store) and got us some champagne
-Liz, Mike and Liane came over. They played a forehead quiz game. It was fun.
-For the new years count down
–We started walking for Place de Jacque Cartier
–Right when we got to Place-d’Armes it got crowded.
–We walked along Rue Notre Dame then turned into Place Cartier
–There was a live music group playing, we could see them from a jumbo tron
–Mike bought maple surup on a stick
–We got as close as the Poutene shop.
–The band finished with a tribute to Leonard Cohen. Alleluha
–The major wished everyone a happy new year then the count down started
–The fire works started right away and lasted for 20 minutes. Really nice.
–We walked back, yes, the snow was still falling.
–It was crowded; I saw a little kid run infront of a car and heard the mother scream. He was ok
–We took a picture in front of Notre Dame — it was nearly washed out by snow.
–We got back to the hotel by 12:30 and went to bed
–I assume the kids stayed up a little later.
–It was in the upper 20s by the end of the evening
–Bonne Annee!
Sunday 1/1/17
-Weather: 26 now and Sunny, by the end of the day it was 25 and no wind, clear sky, for once!
-We had breakfast at the hotel’s buffet. It was busy, not fancy, but much more efficient than looking for an open breakfast spot
-We went to the Biodome on the grounds of the Olympic Stadium Parc Olympique from 1976.
–Metro: Place-d’armes to Benji-UQAM to Viau.
–We got tickets for the Biodome, Jardin botanique and insectarium
–We loved watching the beaver gather sticks, hitting the ducks, while taking them under the damm
–The penguins were fun to watch.
–We got there right when they opened at 11am. By the time we took a lunch break at 2, it was packed. Project Sol.
–We took the Fniculaire to the top of the inclined tower, the tower that used to be the torch. Nice view
–We walked over to the bitanical gardens and saw all kinds of plants.
–Metro back: Pie-IX to Benji-UQAM to Place-d’armes
-We were really tired so we walked over to the Westin Gazette restaurant, right near our hotel
–That worked out really well
-Mike and Liane have a 6:30am flight towmorrow AM and they need to leave at 5am. Good luck to them.
Monday 1/2/17
-UA4441 MTL->ORD 9:15 to 11:05am
Vieux-Montréal / Old Montréal
Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal / Notre-Dame Basilica
Place Jacques-Cartier
Marché Bonsecours
Hôtels InterContinental
Musée d’archéologie et d’histoire de Montréal / Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Marché De La Villette
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal / Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Tour de Montréal Tower
Insectarium de Montréal
Jardin botanique de Montréal / Montreal Botanical Garden
Parc Maisonneuve
La forêt tropicale / The Tropical Forest is a replica of the South American rainforest.
La forêt laurentienne / The Laurentian Forest is a replica of the North American wilderness.
Le Golfe du Saint-Laurent / The Saint Lawrence Marine Eco-system is an estuary habitat modelled on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
Le Pôle Nord et le Pôle Sud / polar area that is divided into Arctic and Antarctic.
La forêt tropicale humide (2 600 m²);
La forêt laurentienne, c’est-à-dire la forêt mixte québécoise (1 518 m²);
Le Golfe du Saint-Laurent (1 620 m²);
Le Pôle Nord et le Pôle Sud (617 m²).