Montreal. September 2022
Postcard from Montreal
Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer as school starts back up and summer Fridays come to an end. While I am very excited for the fall season, I wasn’t quite ready to bid goodbye to summer travels just yet. I have been planning on a September trip for a while now but couldn’t decide on the location, and my friend and I ended up booking a short 3 day weekend trip to Montreal.
We decided on a Saturday to Monday setup instead of the Friday to Sunday and honestly I was very happy with this arrangement. I still got my half day flex Friday and used the time to pack, and came back to a shorter work week. Minus the minor setback with a flight cancellation that caused us an extra layover, our trip was off to a good start. We arrived at YUL at around noon, purchased a 3 day transit card and boarded the 747 airport bus headed for downtown. Our airbnb host was kind enough to let us drop off our bags ahead of check in, and we dropped off our bags and walked over to Old Montreal through Chinatown for a late lunch.
Lunch was at Le Peitit Dep, a cafe and gift shop featuring local goods on Saint Paul Street W, the main street of Old Montreal. They’ve got multiple fridges of drinks from local breweries to pick from and I picked a yuzu kombucha to go with my salmon, quinoa and tzatziki bowl, and enjoyed our quick lunch at the small tables lined along the back side of the store.
Montreal Botanical Garden
After a quick break back at the airbnb, we decided to take the metro and headed for the Montreal Botanical Garden and Biodome. Upon arriving we realized the biodome has a last entry at 5PM so we would have to come back tomorrow. We started off with the Rose Garden where different types of roses scattered throughout the area.
In the Chinese Garden, lanterns were up to celebrate mid-Autumn festival. The Chinese style structures, the tall willow trees surrounded the Dream Lake filled with water lilies transported me back to gardens I grew up seeing when we would go on family trips to mainland China. We walked around the lake up onto a little hill, getting a closer look at the beautiful willow trees.
We headed to the Japanese Garden next, which features a collection of bonsai, some over 200 years old!
We also passed by a huge patch of hydrangeas, one of my favorite flowers. Did you know hydrangeas take water from the petals and not from the roots?
On our way back to the entrance for the greenhouses, we had to stop to admire the royal waterlilies in the Aquatic Garden. There was only 1 royal waterlily blooming in the main rectangular pond at the far end but the large royal waterlily pads were probably the more impressive sight. Royal waterlily pads can grow up to 8 feet wide!
We also stopped the greenhouses before leaving the garden grounds.
For dinner our original plan was to visit the Portuguese chicken place in Mont Royal, but upon seeing the long line waiting, we looked for another spot in the area and landed on Name’s on the Way. Their cocktails were great and it was a nice dinner to conclude our first day in Montreal! Our phone logged 23k steps for the day so it was time to call it a day.
Plateau Mont Royal
The next morning we started our day with a breakfast at St. Viateur Bagels and Cafe Mont-Royal that features wood oven bagels. Don’t ask me to pick between New York bagels to Montreal bagels, but I can recommend some bagels combos I really enjoyed at St Viateur. The traditional lox goes very well with their all dressed bagel, the highlight though was the Le “Joe Bagel”, as featured on Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. The sesame bagel goes so well with the ricotta with a fig jam and balsamic glaze.
Biodome
After breakfast it was time to hit up the biodome! Adjacent from the Montreal Olympic Park, the biodome is a science museum that features different ecosystems of the Americas, all housing different animals and plants. We started off with the Sub-Antarctic Islands with the penguins, taking a nap standing up, waddling across the rocks or swimming across the waters at high speeds. Next up was the Tropical Rainforest, the largest ecosystem in the biodome. We saw parrots, golden lion tamarins getting their little snacks, alligators, a sloth sleeping high up on one of the trees, flamingos, capybaras, and a bunch more others.
In the Laurentian Maple Forest, we saw the familiar North American animals, and my favorite was the otters stealing the show - making eye contact with me through the glass and swimming up and down the slides!
The last ecosystem was Gulf of St. Lawrence where we saw marine life in various habitats. There were the larger basins featuring skates and schools of different fish, but also shallower marshes where you can see corals, starfishes and sea urchins. From the footbridge and the mezzanine you can get an aerial view of the whole landscape.
Jean Talon Market
For lunch we checked out Jean Talon Market, one of the oldest public markets in Montreal in the heart of Little Italy. The main section features many stalls of local produce and a variety of food options on either side of the market. Vegan corn dogs from Bouffe-Moi and local oysters from La Boite Aux Huîtres were delish! Our next stop was the Mont Royal Park and we should have gotten some fruits from the market for the picnic!
Mont Royal Park
Our next stop was Mont Royal Park. It took us a while to get there from Jean Talon Market with a metro and then a bus, up a small set of stairs and we made it to Beaver Lake. We were parched from the walk and spotted a building with a cafe and decided to get something to drink. That’s when I remember I actually visited the park in 2014 and went to the exact building! We got our iced tea and iced coffee and found a seat at a bench by the lake, watching families row their way across the artificial basin. If you look closely you’ll find schools of koi swimming around!
From Beaver Lake we walked across the park to Kondiaronk Belvedere, the popular viewpoint within the park that offers a view of the city. While walking towards the terrace I realized I also have been to this scenic spot in 2014 but somehow completely forgot about it!
We took a slow walk back down out of the park, passing through McGill University, reliving our college days (ha!). We grabbed a quick bite at a crepe place since our dinner reservations at Au Pied de Cochon isn’t until 10PM. We took a break at the airbnb before heading out again for our late dinner, and we somehow managed to match again with our outfits without planning!
Au Pied de Cochon
I remember visiting this restaurant 8 years ago with my family and trying their duck in a can, and had to come back again even if it means a late dinner. This time around I got the duck temaki and their foie gras poutine, and for dessert we ordered the pouding chômeur, or poor man’s pudding, which is an extremely rich sponge cake soaked in warm syrup. Needless to say after this satisfying meal we needed to walk off all the calories (we totaled 27,000 steps for the day!).
Crew Collective & Cafe
Crew Collective is a coffee shop and co working space located inside the Royal Bank Tower. They kept the original features of the bank and you can see the teller windows behind the barista setup. We got our morning coffee and breakfast at Crew before making our way over to Old Montreal and Old Port to do some shopping.
Old Montreal + Old Port
We went back to Old Montreal on the main cobblestone street of Saint Paul, and stopped by a gift shop to get some postcards, then to a post office to get a stamp. We headed North to the Bonsecours Market looking for some locale goodies that fit the carry-on size of 100ml or less, but couldn’t find anything. As we headed back towards the main Old Montreal streets, we headed East to the Old Port of Montreal, taking in the view of the tallest ferris wheel in Canada.
Our last food stop of the day was Tommy Cafe, opting for a healthy meal as my body was craving a nice salad or some greens. I also took the time to write my postcard so I can mail it out before we head for the airport.
We made one final stop at Le Petit Dep and found souvenirs we could take home with us!
One day I’ll show off my full collection of postcards - those I’ve mailed myself and those too precious to be mailed.
