Day 2 in Montreal

Today's weather was again nicer than anticipated so we got to eat breakfast in the garden again. We got a lovely fruit and yogurt salad today and a frittata with veggies and bacon. Perfect start to the day!

We took the metro to the Marche Atwater, one of Montreal's major farmers markets. (Random aside: When we got off the metro we looked at some street signs and looked at a map to make sure we headed down the street in the right direction. then we simultaneously made references to Dora the Explorer. What can I say? we have a two year old.) Anyway, part of the market is outdoor stalls, part is indoors. We were searching for picnic components to take with us. We bought a tray of locally-grown strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries (which turned out to be some of the best berries I've ever had), a loaf of artisan bread, and two cheeses from a fromagerie: Conte 3 ans and Epoisses Perriere. The first was an aged hard cheese that had a texture like Parmesan but a flavor somewhat milder; reminded me a bit of Gouda. Quite a complex flavor. The second was a soft runny cheese that we spread on slices of bread. I thought I didn't care for soft cheeses very much but this one was great.

We got the pain grains anciens on the left.

The fruit stall. Everything looked so delicious!

We hopped back on the metro to head toward Mont Royal, a big hill (which you hear referred to as a mountain) right in the middle of the city. You can drive to the top but we opted to hike. There is a trail that zigzags up the side of the hill or you can take some stairs as a shortcut. We mostly walked so add another mile or two to our walking total for this trip. We were more than ready to enjoy our bread, cheese, and berries when we found a bench near the top.

There are nicer paths but we took a few shortcuts on steeper, rougher trails like this one.

The view from the summit is worth all exertion to get there.

We were tired when we reached the bottom again. I'm not in bad shape these days and my legs felt a little shaky! So after a brief stop at a coffee shop we headed back to our B&B for a late afternoon rest. So nice. Just stopping to relax in the middle of the day almost never happens at home.

We jumped on the metro once again in the late afternoon (getting our money's worth for our 3 day pass!) and headed downtown to get some street food and see a movie. We found a stall selling poutine, which is the quintessential Montreal food. French fries topped with cheese curds topped with brown gravy. Pretty tasty. Salty, as you might expect. Good for a quick bite when you have further plans. Then we found a theater (took some looking, it was inside a sort of mall that didn't look anything like a theater from the outside) and saw The Great Gatsby. Good movie. Makes me want to read the book again cause it's been, oh, seventeen years or so. Pretty sure I remembered about 1% of the storyline.

You'll be shocked to hear that we ate dessert after the movie. Wonderful pieces of chocolate cake from a patisserie IN THE MALL. American malls have Mrs. Field's chain store cookies, Québécois malls have real pastry shops. Sweet!

And that was day 2. :-)

 

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