Does the Sun Shine in Montreal?

After the Friday night we had in Montreal, we all slept in a bit on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we woke up to pretty overcast weather. Our hotel had a nice breakfast (included in the cost of the room, nice!) so we stumbled downstairs to get something to eat before showering and getting ready for the day.

We hit the streets of Old Montreal, with umbrellas in hand.

(Don't mind me; jackets don't really fit properly anymore. They're too short in front!)

Old Montreal is pretty cool. Love the "old" feel on the streets.

Since we're all into visiting old churches, we went in search of Montreal's famous Notre Dame. Because we can't read French, we saw a sign outside of this church that said something about Notre Dame, so we mistakenly thought we were there.

It was really pretty inside...

...but it was also really... small. We lit candles and said novenas, but I think we were all kind of wondering what the big deal was. It wasn't that fantastic a church.

We continued our exploring. The rain let up a little bit so we walked down to the waterfront.

The old Molson plant... yessss. :) I have to say, it was very disappointing not to be able to enjoy any Canadian beer during our trip. I mean, isn't Canadian beer half of the reason anyone wants to go to Canada? ;)

As it began raining again, we went back up and explored a bunch of the shops. My mom shopped around the different artists/street vendors to find a photograph or painting, since she likes to get stuff like that from the cities she visits. She was pretty sure she found the one she wanted, but we decided to walk around a bit more before going back to get it.

It was during our quest to find the liquor store (not for me, obviously!) that we stumbled upon Notre Dame. The REAL Notre Dame.

Alright, yeah. This was much more impressive. We wanted to go inside to check it out, but we found that they charge an admission fee. While it's only $5, I feel pretty strongly that churches should not be charging people to walk through their doors. I understand the donations requested for lighting candles, but in my opinion, if a homeless person needs a place to stay warm or dry, they should be able to go into churches. Like St. Patrick's in New York... it's huge and beautiful and a tourist destination, but they don't charge you to get inside. Out of principle, we decided to forego Notre Dame. Sorry, Montreal.

By this time, it was late afternoon and we were ready to go back to the hotel for a little bit before getting some dinner. Before that, though, we stopped in a convenience store so Michael could get a 6-pack of Canadian beer to enjoy. We also picked up some Canadian delicacies. :)

Ketchup flavored chips! I love Canadians. :) None of us had ever tried them before so we decided to give them a go. We also saw a Dill Pickle flavor and wanted to try that, too. It's my understanding the Dill Pickle ones are actually available in the States, too, but we've looked for them since we've been home and haven't seen them anywhere. So apparently they aren't available in our area!

The ketchup chips were... interesting. I didn't think they were half bad, but my mom and Michael weren't really fans of them. The Dill Pickle ones, though... YUM. They didn't really taste like "pickle," per se, but they had a nice dill flavor, like dill dip. We liked these so much that we went back and got a full-size bag the next day. :)

Anyway, before we went back to the hotel to enjoy our chips and drinks (I got an Orange Julius! Do people still have Orange Juliuses in the States? The ones around here closed YEARS ago...), we walked back down to the little alley where my mom had seen the photograph she wanted. She purchased it, and the artist spent some time telling us all about the photo and Montreal.

On our way back down the alley, another artist my mom had been talking with earlier (when she was shopping around) completely harassed her. As we walked by, he said, "It's really frustrating to me that you would listen to that guy's bullshit." (Referring to the artist she purchased from.) My mom started apologizing to him--even though she totally did not owe him an apology--and he continued to lay into her, telling her that his photos are way better than the other guys, and "I deserve to have a good day!" (Referring to his sales.) What a freaking asshole. I finally told my mom to keep walking and we continued on our way as he continued to yell after her, in front of a whole bunch of people. Nice way to win customers, you douche.

After unwinding in the hotel room for a little bit, we walked back down and had dinner at a place called Trois Brasseurs. It was casual and nice, and exactly what we were looking for. We ended up ordering a couple of their "flamms," which are essentially really thin-crust pizzas. We got The Provencale, which had pesto, tomatoes, romano and parmesan, and The Louisiana, which had BBQ chicken, peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese. YUM! My mom and Michael also shared one of their beer samplers.

After dinner, we walked around Old Montreal a bit more, then retired to the room fairly early since my mom and Michael had to be up early on Sunday for the bike ride.

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and I barely remember hearing them leave. I slept in, waking up around 9:00 a.m. to find that it was basically pouring rain outside. Yuck. I figured that while they were doing the bike ride, I would maybe go out and explore more on my own, but with weather like that, I was not motivated to go anywhere. I went downstairs and got some breakfast on my own, then putzed around the hotel room, surfing the internet, watching TV, reading, taking a long, hot shower, etc.

Meanwhile, Michael and my mom were braving the elements. The temperature was only in the 50s, and it rained for the ENTIRE RIDE.

At the starting line. They still look relatively dry.

Looks fun, doesn't it? (With this weather, I was sooo glad to have a good excuse to not be riding. I would've been miserable.)

Still, my mom and Michael toughed it out.

At the 51km marker. They did it!

At around 1:00 p.m., there was a knock at the hotel door and I answered it to find my mom and my husband standing there, looking like drowned rats. They were completely soaked, shaking (so cold!), and dirty.

Of course, I snapped a photo of them.

And one of my mom's back, since she was filthy.

I was so happy to be dry, warm, and cozy. As far as I'm concerned, these two were nuts. I'm pretty sure I would have insisted on bailing on the ride. I give them a lot of credit.

After they were all showered and dry again, we headed out to have a late lunch/early dinner since we were all hungry. It was just MISERABLE outside. Rainy, cold, and disgusting. There were hardly any people on the streets of Old Montreal, as I think everyone just wanted to stay inside.

We perused menus at some nearby restaurants, and ultimately decided on a little Italian place called L'Usine de Spaghetti Parisienne. They served fresh bread with an awesome garlic butter, had a lovely salad bar (which was included with the meal), and our food was delicious. My mom and I both had the pasta primavera, and Michael had one of the specials--a pasta dish with mushrooms and olive oil. The waitress was really friendly and delightful. We were very happy with our choice.

I wish I could say we did a lot more with our day, but it was just so disgusting outside. It was not meant to be a day for being out and enjoying the city. Plus, Michael and my mom were tired. We ended up back at the hotel for a bit, then Michael and I made a run for DQ Blizzards (something else we don't have at home--DQ!) later in the evening. Once again, we retired early.

Of course, we woke up on Monday morning to gorgeous, sunny weather. Figures, right? We took our time eating breakfast and getting ready, but we were soon on the road to go home.

I will be completely honest and say that Montreal did not live up to expectations for me. To be fair, I had a horrible experience that Friday night, which tainted the whole weekend, then the weather was absolute shit. I'll be one of the first to admit that weather can really make or break your experience with a city, and unfortunately for Montreal, the weather gods were just not with us that weekend.

Those of you who've been readers for a while know how much we usually enjoy our vacations, and how much we usually pack into our time in each new city--so you can probably tell by the lack of activity and photos that we really just did not have that great of a time! But at least my mom and Michael made the most of their bike ride.

We'll have to go back some day to give it another chance!

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Montreal Hates Me. (The Feeling is Mutual.)

Due to the events of last week, I'm way behind in posting a recap of our weekend trip to Montreal. But I still wanted to make note of it, so here we go...

Michael, my mom, and I all took half days at work on Friday, June 3. We left town around 1:30-2:00 and drove up to Montreal. The weather was pretty good and we made good time, even though we had to stop like three times to let the pregnant lady pee. :) We arrived at our hotel in Montreal between 7:00-7:30.

Michael and my mom had been hoping to do the night ride (The Tour la Nuit), but we were running short on time, as it was supposed to start around 8:30. After unloading all of our stuff, the suggestion was made that since I wasn't riding, I could drive them up to the starting line (instead of them riding their bikes). Since we hadn't eaten dinner and I was starving, the plan was for Michael and my mom to ride only part of the route, then meet me back at the hotel so we could still get dinner at a "decent" hour (like 9:30-10:00).

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We made our way to the starting area without incident, and I dropped them off around 8:00, telling them I'd see them back at the hotel. I turned around the way I had come, with the intention of following the directions (given to us by the concierge) in reverse and getting back to the hotel. It wasn't long before I found myself stuck in traffic gridlock, and had to abandon my return route because the road I had come up was--thanks to the bike ride going on--suddenly closed. I had a city map with me, and I'm perfectly capable of reading one, so I wasn't too concerned at first.

Oh, man. I had no freaking idea what I was in for.

To try to make a long story short... every route I tried to get going back in the direction of our hotel resulted in failure. I'd sit in horrible, barely moving traffic for blocks, only to get to an intersection where the road was closed and I was being diverted back in the opposite direction. This happened countless times. COUNTLESS TIMES. It was like taking one step forward, then being forced to take two steps back. After being stuck in this ridiculousness for an hour and a half and finding myself at yet another roadblock, I actually started sobbing. Here I was, alone, stuck in this foreign, French-speaking city that I've never been in before, and I could not possibly get where I needed to go.

And wouldn't you know... soon, I got a text message from my mom saying they were back at the hotel waiting for me. This was at 9:30. They wanted to know where the hell I was, as it shouldn't have taken me longer than 15-20 minutes to get back to the hotel.

The fact of the matter was that I was trapped. I couldn't get back to the hotel. I couldn't park. I could do nothing but sit in the car, in traffic, being constantly diverted back in the opposite direction from which I needed to go. Minutes turned into hours.

I was starving.

I had to pee. (And my baby was helping out by kicking me in my bladder.)

I was stuck.

I was losing my freaking mind.

I would go from being alright one minute to sobbing and screaming during another. (Pregnancy hormones, for the win!) At one point, when I was (once again!) faced with a closed street and was forced to turn up another street going in the WRONG DIRECTION, I actually ripped my map in a fit of rage. Looking back on it, it's hilarious, but at the time, I was more miserable than ever.

Crying, I tried to ask directions/advice from one of the volunteers who was stationed at a roadblock. He spoke virtually no English and we could not understand each other. Fabulous. A while later, I found myself at another closed street with a police officer stationed there. By this time, it was 10:45, I had been driving around the same area of Montreal for three hours, and I was in rough shape. I rolled down my window and was thankful to discover that she spoke English. Hysterically, I told her what I had been through and she said, "I believe it. There are like two days a year you don't want to drive in Montreal, and this is one of them." WELL, WOULDN'T THAT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW. Damn.

The police officer then told me, "Worst case scenario, the roads will all open back up at midnight so you can get back to your hotel then." Again, this was at 10:45. I had already been sitting in the car on the streets of Montreal for three hours. And she was telling me to wait it out until midnight. I started sobbing again and it was then that she noticed I'm pregnant. I was in such hysterics that she actually asked me if I needed an ambulance. (I was so tempted to say yes, just to get me the hell out of there!)

It seems kind of pathetic how upset I was, but I had been in the car since 1:30. We had driven 5 1/2 hours just to get to Montreal, and now I had been stuck, less than three miles from our hotel, for more than three hours, with seemingly no end in sight. And again, I was freaking HUNGRY. And tired. With a full freaking bladder.

MISERY, I tell you.

The police officer gave me a route to follow that would take me way up and out of my way, cut over, then take me down an open street back to our hotel. With no other choice, I began making my way through the route she mapped out. I was stuck in barely moving traffic the entire time.

I did eventually make it back to the hotel, though. At 12:15 a.m.

I gotta tell you: Montreal made a lovely first impression on me. (NOT.)

The way the roads were blocked off and the detours were set up was the most ass-backwards operation I've ever seen run by a city. The detours did not get you where you needed to go, they merely redirected you in circles within a 1-mile radius. I was never more than 3-4 miles from our hotel, yet I spent more than four hours trying to make my way back there. RIDICULOUS.

When I had finally started making progress toward the hotel, my mom and Michael ran out to get takeout food for us at one of the only still-open restaurants in the area. So, when I got back to the hotel, they were still at the restaurant waiting for the food. We finally ate dinner sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. SAD.

Exhausted, I crashed into bed.

I was determined to not let this night ruin my time in Montreal, but I knew that the city would have to pull out all of the stops to make up for the hell I had been through.

Would it? Only time would tell...

(I planned to combine all of Montreal in one blog post, but this is too long. Part 2 to come tomorrow!)

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Montreal, Eh?

We're heading up to Montreal this weekend. We've had these plans for about a year now, as it has been our intent to participate in the Montreal Bike Festival.

Unfortunately, due to my "condition," I won't be able to participate, but that doesn't mean I can't go and enjoy exploring a new city. Michael and my mom will be doing the bike riding, and I'll be doing the eating. And walking, and relaxing. I'm disappointed (thanks a lot, Baby!) to have to sit on the sidelines, but it'll still be fun.

So... has anyone ever been to Montreal? Any recommendations?

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