Montreal, Quebec
Friday June 12, 2026
Our layover was in Chicago. Seeing the skyline on arrival will never get old. Taxi-ing through the endless maze of O’hare does though. Since we upgraded, our tickets gave us access to the American Lounge. It’s worth it to get away from the terminal crowd and enjoy decent food and drink while waiting for your connection. Once in Montreal, we breezed through customs, then walked about a mile to a bus which took us to the Lyft pick-up zone. Our driver dodged and weaved through traffic, while trying to find a quicker route downtown. All of Montreal is under construction. After check in at The Warwick we walked to Bar George for drinks and burgers. It was a long day of travel.
Saturday June 13, 2026
I explored the city solo while Christine was in her quarterly meeting. My first stop was Schwartz’s Deli for a smoked meat sandwich. Not bad, but it didn’t touch Manny’s in Chicago. The hotel coffee wasn’t bad, but I needed a Cortado so I stopped in Dispatch Coffee. A lot of places can’t pull a good shot, but they did. Afterwards I continued down Duluth to the De Stiil bookstore. I immediately spotted Trash! by Simon Pare-Poupart, the memoir of a local garbageman. On the flight I had read an excerpt of his memoir in Harpers, so I knew I had to grab a copy. De Stiil is a great neighborhood shop that is well curated. I was looking for a park and the owner told me to head to La Fontaine Park. Once there I found a bench and cracked Trash!. It was a beautiful day so there were lots of people out and about. Eventually I got thirsty and walked to Dieu du Ciel! The beers were great. Especially the Solst Cerise (Cherry Sour). After refueling I headed toward the hotel to rest before dinner. I skirted Mt. Royal Park, then continued through the McGill University campus. I thought I was flying solo, but Christine’s group invited me to join them at Gaspar Brasserie in Old Montreal on the St. Lawerence River. Dinner was good. The dessert was the most memorable. It was Paris Brest. The pastry was moist and fluffy, filled with praline cream. By the end of the night I had logged 10 miles.
Sunday June 14, 2026
Rain! It’s not going to stop us from exploring. We checked out and walked to The Bresoles Hotel in Old Montreal. After dropping off our luggage, we back tracked to Café Paquebot Vieux-Montréal for a Cortado. Another good one. This place makes a good coffee. Montreal bagels were next on the agenda. They are wood-fired and sweeter than NY style. Most everything on Christine’s list was in or around the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood which meant I would be going back to where I was yesterday. No complaints from me. The line for St-Viateur Bagel & Café Mont-Royal was deep and I had sworn never to wait for food again, but I’m glad I broke my unwritten rule. Everything we tried was very good-lox on sesame, everything with chive cream cheese. The rain briefly stopped while we walked Ave Mont-Royal. It’s pedestrian only for about a mile. Once again we ended up at Dieu du Ciel! because Christine needed to try that Cherry Sour. Our M-O is to rest prior to dinner. I read while Christine napped. Dinner wasn’t within walking distance so our daily total was 9.1 miles. The driver dropped us at Hélicoptère, a small seasonal restuarant in northern Montreal. This joint is outstanding. We started with the Oyster Mushroom-Feta, onion, breadcrumbs, Fiddlehead-Smoked egg, sesame, green onion, and Duck Tartar-Sunflower, dandelion, parmesan, lemon, arugula. The Oyster Mushroom dish was one of the best I have ever had. Our waitress said she knows the regulars when they come in and the entire party orders their own. Our mains were Mafalda (pasta)-Morel, shiitake, lemon, ginger, soy and Pork-Chanterelle, liquorice root, little gem lettuce. Both were delicious. But our dessert, Rhubarb-Magnolia, Opalys white chocolate, olive oil was out of this world. We wrapped the day from our balcony overlooking the St. Lawerence River.
Monday June 15, 2026
Old Montreal is quiet at 7a. Trash bags line the sidewalks. Collectors make their rounds. I wandered the cobblestone streets shooting photos waiting for Café Paquebot Vieux-Montréal to open. I return to the hotel and read while Christine sleeps. We return to the Café Paquebot before touring Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. The Basilica is beautiful and very ornate. The sun is out as we head back to Plateau Mont-Royal for poutine at Patati Patata Friterie de Luxe. Ya can’t beat poutine for breakfast - fresh fries, squeaky cheese, smothered with gravy and topped with two sunny-side up eggs. With bellies full, we decide to walk 3.5 miles to the Jardin botanique de Montréal. It’s a straight shot north on Rue Rachel. As we get closer, the Montreal Tower and Olympic Park come into view. It looks like a ski jump slope crossed with an air traffic control tower. The gardens are enormous. After exploring for a couple of hours we ventured over to Olympic Park then hopped in a car back to the hotel. Dinner was at Damas, a Syrian restaurant in Outremont. Once again, Christine nailed it. The food was out of this world. We started with the Fattouch salad, Chef’s mezzes plattter-Hummus, mouhammara, beet mutabbal, eggplant mutabbal and Shish barak dumplings-mint yogurt, coriander butter. All were great, but the Fattouch was so fresh and drizzled with pomegranate molasses and seeds. Our entree was the Lamb shank fattet mozat-tahini yogurt, herbs, ghee. It was enormous, sliding off the bone and shredding easily mixing with the yogurt. Unfortunatley, we didn’t have room for dessert. Damas was a ton of food. Our final day in Montreal did not disappoint and we logged 12.6 miles.
Tuesday June 16, 2026
We couldn’t leave Montreal without having a croissant. I got up early and walked to La Cave à Manger for chocolate croissants. Nothing beats a fresh croissant and hot coffee in the morning. They fueled us for our long day of travel ahead. We landed at O’hare early. Without upgrades we were stuck in the terminal bouncing between gates as our outbound flight home was late arriving. Eventually we boarded, but the taxi from hell awaited us. By the time we arrived home, the sun was setting. Our whirlwind trip to Montreal was a success. There is so much to see and do that we have vowed to go back. Maybe even the next time we visit Burlington, VT. It’s only 90 minutes North.
