Weekend Adventure-Montreal

I use the word "adventure"  in my title because that is literally the experience we had traveling to Montreal. Being a nomad, I am always up for an adventure. I have the longing to travel constantly ingrained within my soul. One weekend, my best friend Chris and I were discussing places we wanted to visit when Montreal came into the conversation.  We had both heard that Montreal was "the Paris of North America" and that it was a hub for young artists and trend setters (or hipsters if you really want to go there). It was right up our alley and was so close to New York City, so why not? Plus, Chris is Canadian and had never been to Montreal so it was about time, and I was up for the adventure. The following weekend, after little research and a few drinks we found ourselves on an overnight bus to Montreal. Before I go into the best parts of the trip let me start by saying whatever you do- DO NOT TAKE THE OVERNIGHT BUS. Yes it was an adventure and funny in the beginning, but by the time we got to Albany at 4am and were forced to sit in an abandon, cold bus station, we were not laughing anymore. Although we were travelers on a budget, next time I would 100% splurge on the airline tickets to avoid a repeat of that 10 hour bus ride. 

We arrived in Montreal around 8am, dropped our backpacks off and began to explore. First thing first, coffee- lots and lots of coffee. We were so exhausted and so cold, I will never forget that morning, but after the coffee we were ready to explore. As I mentioned in blog about my London trip, I love to bike, so of course we had to rent Bixi bikes. I highly suggest Bixi bikes in Montreal, they were a great mode of transportation and great way to see the city. The best part-they only cost 7 Canadian dollars for 24 hours and have check-in points on pretty much every corner. We cruised through the famous Old Town Montreal, stopping at all the historical sights. Old Town Montreal is actually very similar to Paris with some of the same street names, old squares with cobblestone roads, and their very own Notre Dame. 

After exploring Old Town we decided to bike up to where we had read was more of the artsy/young area of Montreal. What I loved about Montreal is that around every corner we found street art, an installation or just something unusual. Even the apartment buildings had spiral staircases leading up to their doorway that were painted all different colors. I actually saw some of the coolest apartment buildings in Montreal, especially the brownstone with the castle roof (I SO want to live in that building someday!) After much biking we headed to the famous Schwartz's deli for their world renown smoked meat sandwich. Let me tell you, it is worth all of its glory- so delicious!

That night we met up with some of Chris's friends from Toronto who went to McGill. They took us out and showed the Montreal nightlife scene which reminded us so much of our days at underground Brooklyn parties back in high school. After a late night, the next morning we slept in then headed up to the Olympic Stadium and Montreal Botanical Gardens all located up on the hill across the St. Lawerence river. It was gorgeous day to be outside so we enjoyed strolling through the gardens even though we weren't huge fans of the exhibit which consisted of giant animals, people, and objects made out of plants.

For dinner that evening Chris's friends took us to the most amazing taco bar called Ice House. If you are ever in Montreal I highly recommend it. We sat on the patio and enjoyed a tray of fish tacos, portabello tacos, and chicken tacos with Bourbon lemonade! After dinner we decided to explore Montreal at night a bit more, but both being exhausted had to call it an early night.

One thing I love as much as Bulmers and biking is brunch! So the next morning we got an early start to make it to the legendary Beauty's for brunch. Beauty's one of Montreal's gems and there is always a line out the door. The owner of Beauty's opened the diner in 1942 and still works their with multiple generations of his family! It was one of the most memorable brunches of my life, starting with the make your own bloody mary tray. Everyone likes their bloody mary made differently so Beauty's serves your bloody mary as a tray of every and all ingredients you might want in your drink so you can make it just the way you like it. Such a great concept! For brunch we had to share Beauty's most famous dishes, The Beauty's Special and the Super Beauty. The Beauty's Special was a sandwich of veggies, cream cheese and smoked salmon all served on a famous Montreal bagel. We then split the Super Beauty which was your basic breakfast plate, pancakes, eggs, bacon, potatoes....but it definitely was one of the best brunches I have had with that home-cooked feel to it!

Post amazing brunch we decided to head over to Parc Royal for Tam Tams which is a Sunday tradition in Montreal. I love the idea that every Sunday, strangers gather the in the park for a drum circle and anyone can join in or dance on the sidelines. With little time left (I had to take the bus back that night) we wanted to make sure we had enough time to make the hike up to Mont Royal- the highest point in Montreal. The top was a great place for photo ops and spectacular views.....

Tam Tams

After the hike we had two more things on our to-do list before saying goodbye to Montreal....poutine and Kronenberg Blanche. Poutine is a Canadian dish consisting of french fries, cheese curds and gravy that we had yet to have that weekend. Kronenberg Blanche is one of my favorite beers which they only sell in Europe, but I had been able to find it a few places in Montreal. Multiple times on our trip we had heard about and read about the famous Brutopia in Montreal, but no matter what we did we could not find this hidden gem!  However, just as we were about to head to the bus station we found Brutopia!!! Yet, being so excited to have finally found Brutopia, I decided to spontaneously miss my bus home....but it was okay, it gave us time to hangout in Brutopia and get poutine-a great end to our adventure!

If you are ever missing Europe, like I do every day, I suggest a weekend in Montreal. It is a charming city, rich in culture, with a truly European feel to it. Oh and I forgot to mention, everyone speaks French! I knew people who lived in Montreal were French Canadian, but I never expected to encounter such little English. Even those who clearly spoke English would speak to us in French! The language barrier adds to the unique culture of Montreal and made us feel even more like we were back in Paris!