Friday, July 03, 2026

Published Friday, July 03, 2026 by with 0 comment

Montreal - Wednesday July 1st 2026

On Monday morning we got the tube to the airport. It was quite sad to see a few guys crashed out on the pavement on the way there. The result of spice M thought. Grabbed breakfast at the station. Very similar train to the one from Toronto but this time only 2 hours as opposed to 4. Got a cab to the Manoir Sherbrooke Hotel. Great place, quite old and the staff were very friendly and helpful. It even has a wine vending machine. We were told there was s jazz festival going on nearby do walked down there to check it out and get some lunch. Then found the Mary Queen Of The World Cathedral.There were some large paintings of scenes from early post european arrival Canadian history including this example of Nicolas Viel, a missionary drowned in 1625. We then wandered back to the hotel to chill and  freshen up. M had booked a table at a French restaurant called Modavie in the old town. It was very busy and very good. We shared a plate of excellent charcuterie to start with followed by mussels with far too many fries. Afterwards we walked to the river frontage which is the St Lawrence.
We then headed for the main Notre Dame Cathedral. It was getting a but dark so we sat in the square and watched some buskers. To get there we'd gone past the jazz festival, Chinatown and a mission for down and outs so we retraced our steps and stopped off to find some jazz. First we found some reggae buskers. Then Elena Pinderhughes, a flautist with her band. Tried the vendinf macine when we got back. On Tuesday we walked to Mount Royal Park and I climbed up to the look out point.We met up again and headed to the museum of fine art. Two buildings on either side of the road joined by an underpass that is just part of the museum so you don't notice. Some great stuff again, mainly paintings and my pictures won't do justice. There was a photography exhibition showing aging taken by Richard Avedon. The one of Ronnie and a farmer reminded me of the song Oval Room then there's Patti Smith and Chet Baker.This one freaked me out a bit as it was odd for me to look at because the blue looked blue with my left eye but dark grey with my right.Just liked this.
This looked over simplistic close up but great from a distance.This is how the view from Mont Real once looked.
Went back to chill but I popped to the nearby micro brewery for a swifty and to check if they were showing football. In the evening we went for an Italian near the jazz festival site. After the meal we watched Coco Rosa on the Cabaret Stage.
Then went to see the sound and lightship in Notre Dame Cathedral.Then back to the delights if the wine vending machine. 
On Wednesday we bought one day transit tickets so we could go a bit further out. Went on the tube to the Jean Malon Market first. Then back to the micro brewery to watch England v DR Congo only it wasn't open. Noticed they had it on in a bagel cafe nearby so watched it there. The only problem was the telly kept freezing. They scored first early on and we struggled. Harry then equalised but we didn't see his header go in as the telly froze. He then scored a second which we just about saw but it froze again for quite a while after and I knocked my beer over, broke the glass and spilt beer on my phone. All OK though and we won 2 1. We then went down to the river front again to pick up canal but it was getting a bit hot so we got a tube back to chill out and cool down.Saw a few instances iof this sign (sorry uts so blurred) but niot sure what it means. 
Got the bus to a pizza restaurant in the old town in the evening. It was incredibly busy. We had half an hour to kill so popped into a micro brewery for a swifty but 25 minutes later we still hadn't got our drinks so left. The restaurant was very good though. We shared an arancini as a starter and it was just one very big one but excellent. My pizza was pretty good too as was M's seafood risotto. Got the tube back and had more drinks from the wine vending machine. Montreal felt like a european city as opposed to a Canadian one. Probably because of the French influence and the heat.
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