Day 5 in Montreal

Much like yesterday, today was a day without big plans. We ended up doing a lot of little things; another day of many metro trips! First we visited Archambault, a huge music and bookstore. Zach had heard they had lots of sheet music. And indeed they did have a selection of tuba music, but it was either high-priced or something he already owns. But (shh, don't tell), we did get some presents for our kids.

This was across the street from Archambault. I think someone was actually playing a game at the left.

Next we visited the Jean Talon market. It's a lot like Marché Atwater which we went to Friday, only bigger. We again shopped for an assortment of lunch items and ate at a picnic table in the middle of the market. We bought a baguette, some Manchego cheese (another excellent discovery, thanks to the nice guy in the cheese shop who gave us the recommendation), some strawberries, and some cashews and maple syrup candied pecans. We finished our lunch with gelato from Havre aux Glaces, yet another place I pinned way back. Although they had some rather unusual favors (strawberry and pepper?) we played it safe: espresso and milk chocolate for me, hazelnut and dark chocolate for Zach. Tiny portion for a big price but awfully tasty.

Simple but delicious.

Stop number three took us to Pikolo espresso, a coffee shop Zach found through online research. I believe he said it's the best coffee he has had in Montreal so far. The shop was rather crowded but we did manage to snag a table so we hung out and read for awhile. Relaxing and reading is something I am sure we have meant to do more of on this trip but we find ourselves going here and there. It was great to slow down for a bit this afternoon.

But then we moved on. Our next destination was a bit disappointing, to be honest. We went to Parc Jean-Drapeau, which is located on two islands in the middle of the river. (You can take the subway from Montreal to get there.) It is not a terribly large park but big enough to have lots and lots of paths going off in many directions. We wandered for quite awhile and never saw anything very interesting. There are a couple museums, one that we knew we didn't care to visit and one we never found, plus some facilities from the Olympics that are open to the public now (a pool, the rowing basin), and the track that the recent Formula One Grand Prix was run on. But nothing was going on today and there were hardly any people around. So we just took a long walk, basically.

We did get to see some wildlife up close at the park. Or maybe not so wild.

I couldn't resist climbing on this. Our kids would have liked the playground behind me.

We went back to Vieux Montreal for dinner and to do some shopping. We ate at Papillon, a restaurant whose menu we saw the other night and liked. Zach had linguine primavera which he enjoyed and I had a pork loin stuffed with cranberries and blueberries. It was not as outstanding as I hoped it would be but still good. Somewhat unbelievably, we did not eat dessert tonight. In fact, we did not have a single pastry today. Never fear, we have a return trip to olive + gourmando planned for tomorrow.

 

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