Canada

Sunday, June 1, 2025

We headed to Tim Hortons to get a quick cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.  Tim Hortons is a fast food chain and they are everywhere in Canada and are a part of the Canadian culture.  I try to stop by one every time I go to Canada.  Although it is the first day of June, it was a cold, windy and wet morning.

We decided that we were going to try to navigate the Metro. The tour guides had mentioned that the same people who designed the Metro in Paris helped in the design of Montreal’s Metro.  I looked at a map and thought I could navigate my way to the Biodome.  I also learned that google maps gives step by step instructions.

The Metro was clean, safe and smooth; our previous tour guide mentioned that it uses Michelin rubber tires as opposed to the rails making it smoother and quieter.  We had no problem getting to the Biodome.

The Biodome is housed in one of the Olympic Stadiums in the Olympic Park.  Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976.  It was the year that Nadia Comaneci scored a perfect 10.  At any rate, the velodrome was converted into a Biodome that houses 5 different habitats in North America – including the habitats of the gulf of St. Lawrence habitat, a tropical rainforest, a maple forest and a sub-polar region – complete with trees and animals. Continue reading →

Montreal City Hall

Friday, May 30, 2025

We started the morning with breakfast at Universal Dejeuners et Grillades. I really enjoyed this restaurant; I had the breakfast poutine which is basically poutine with a fried egg.  Sophon had French Toast with Berries and Nutella.  Not exactly a healthy breakfast to start the day.

We had booked a small group walking tour of Old Town with MTL tours.   We met up with the tour out front of Notre Dame cathedral.  As with the previous tour, it was explained that Montreal is an Island that sits between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa Rivers. It is about 10 times the size of Manhattan.

The name means Royal Mountain.  It was named by Jaques Cartier who is credited for discovering Canada.  He climbed the hill in the middle of the Island and named it Mount Royal.  As with our previous guide, we were told not to call it a hill.  I am no expert; I don’t think you can call it a mountain. Continue reading →

Montreal

Thursday May 29, 2025

We woke up early and saw that there was a bakery not to far from the hotel.   It was in the RESO network known as the Underground City.  We stopped by the desk to get directions, they were confusing at best, go up and down stairs, follow the hallways and eventually you will get to a train station.   To be honest, I am not sure how we found it and I wondered if we were going to find our way back to the hotel.   The coffee and pastries made it all worth the adventure and along the way, we found a lot of interesting restaurants.

We had scheduled an all day tour as an introduction to Montreal.  Our tour guide/driver was there to pick us up at the hotel right on time.  The company promised it would be a small tour and there was a total of 8 people in the group.  My issue with larger groups is that you spend more time getting on and off the bus, waiting for people who didn’t get back and more bathroom breaks.

Everyone on tour was very nice but there was one woman who scheduled a 5:00 PM dinner reservation right after the tour followed by tickets to Cirque Du Soleil. I couldn’t help but think, that is one long day! Continue reading →

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

We are off to Montreal.  I grew up in upstate New York and we vistied Toronto frequently.  I recently took trips to the Canadian Rockies and really enjoyed it. have never been to Montreal.   I thought it was time to explore Montreal.

We were flying Air Canada.  Typically, I fly on United, both Air Canada and United are part of the Star Alliance.  As I sat in the Maple Leaf Lounge at LAX, I couldn’t help but notice a difference in the quality.  United has been remodeling their lounges and they feel like giant cafeterias.   The food at the Maple Leaf lounge was good and they served it on real plates.

Overall, we were impressed with Air Canada, the terminal wasn’t nearly as crowded, we didn’t spend much time waiting in lines and the staff was extremely friendly nice.

We landed about 8:00 PM and although it took longer than I expected to get an Uber, the drive to Downtown was short.  We were staying at the Renaissance hotel.  We checked in, dropped our luggage and headed out to find something to eat. Continue reading →