Tuesday Sept 8
Continuing from the New York week - we arrived at our hotel, the Embassy Suites, in Old Montreal about 3:15pm - we settled in then walked around Old Montreal checking out possible restaurants - we chose the one recommended by the hotel, Les Pyrenees, and made a booking for later in the evening.
Back at our hotel, we had fives'es in the hotel bar using our 2 free drinks per person per day - a great deal. Then it was off to dinner - which was about a 7 out of 10.
Wednesday Sept 9
I got up very early (6:30am) to do some laundry - one of the great features of our hotel is the self-service laundry. While waiting for the washers/dryer to complete their respective cycles - I showered, drank coffee, cruised the web and dried my hair. We finally had our complimentary breakfast at 8:30am - all things considered (particularly the price) it was pretty good.
We set off on a nostalgic walking tour of Montreal - checking out all our old “spots” - not much seemed familiar but we did see my old apartment buildings on St Mathieu and Lincoln and Dieter’s old apartment on St Familie. We stopped for lunch on Cresent St at a new bistro, Thursday’s - not many of the old pubs still exist - so many places are now Starbucks and similar cafes.
We caught up with Ernst and Hilde who had driven from Toronto, around 6pm and went to a pub on St Deni for a drink before heading to dinner at l’Express - a real French bistro - we all had a most enjoyable meal.
Thursday Sept 10
I got early again - to wash my hair, drink coffee, update my blog and check out our photos so far.
E&H picked us up at 10:30am for a tour of Nuns’ Island - it had changed and expanded so much - but we all got photos of our old apartment buildings. From here we had a stop at the Atwater Market - amazing - too bad we don’t have something similar in Sydney.
We had lunch at the Dominion, a pub on Peel Street - excellent.
Later we headed off to Ulla’s house for pre-dinner drinks with the old “gang’ - E&H, Suzie & Jack, “big” Dieter & Denise, Peter & Evelyn and Eberhart. From here we went to Thursday’s on Peel for dinner - had a great time - only got back to our hotel after 11pm.
Friday Sept 11
It was a bit of a short night so we slept in until 8:30am. We spent some time walking around Old Montreal before meeting up with Jack and Susie for lunch at Notkins nearby on Bleury. We had a nice lunch sitting outside - the only downside was that a 100ml glass of Chablis cost $13++ (quite different from other Montreal bars and restaurants).
Bill and Deb arrived later in the afternoon and we met in the bar at 5pm for our free drinks. We had dinner at Cafe Cherrier on St Denis.
Saturday Sept 12
We met Bill and Deb for breakfast then set-out on our day trip - a drive by our old house at 319 Duke of Kent in Pointe-Claire then up to St Saveur. Unfortunately it was a cool and drizzly day.
When we stopped at our old house (the one I grew up in from 1954-1969) I got out of the car (Bill’s truck actually) to take a couple of photos - the old house had been renovated. The current owner saw me and came out to talk - upon learning that it was the house I grew up in he invited us all in to have a look around - he was so nice, I was embarrassed. He had done the renovations himself and was very proud of his handiwork Both my and Deb’s impression was how incredibly small the house seemed - amazing - how lucky we were to be invited in - a drive-by turned into a real trip down memory lane.
We continued onto St Saveur - stopping in the center of town (right at the church where we used to go to 5pm Mass after skiing on a Sunday) - we had lunch at a nearby cafe then headed home.
After showers - we all met again in the bar for our free drinks then went for dinner at steak house in Old Montreal - Le Vieux Port - it was really very good considering it’s very touristy location.
Sunday Sept 13
It was up early for Dieter and I - Deb and Bill opted to sleep in. We packed up, had a quick breakfast and set off to drive to Boston at 8:45am - 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
Continue reading on the Boston & Cape Cod page.