When the winter blues start to set in, I try to recall what we have done in summers past just to bring some sunshine back in my mind. Here's an account of our first trip to Montréal 5 summers ago. I started writing this soon after the trip but I just never got around to finishing it. I have now finished polishing up that account. It will seem that this happened just recently, but I will not fool you into thinking my memory was not at all affected by 2 C-sections.
Montréal Trip
Day 1:
The day started off just like any other but it wasn’t, because it was my birthday. We were up and about at around 6:30 a.m., done with breakfast at around 7 and ready for the road by 7:30. Hubby had packed most of the stuff the night before, three-fourths of which belonged to Darling Daughter (DD-1) who was 15 months at the time. We had her play yard, 2 pillows, Elmo and Winnie the Pooh, diaper bag with diapers and wipes (of course!), formula, bottles, stroller… we had a full car! But as things would normally go, DD-1 had the final say as to when it was time to leave – and that was 8:30.
Montréal was a good 550 km away and was, by far, our longest road trip back then. Hubby was the designated driver and I, the navigatress. We did not have a GPS then and had to rely on good-old Map Quest. So yes, that made me a good navigatress. Once in a while DD-1 would get antsy so I would hand her a “new” toy from the bag to keep her occupied. See, I needed to bring all that stuff! Some two hundred km from our destination, we stopped over for lunch at KFC (or PFK in French), refueled the car and stretched our cramped legs. We were in Montréal by 2:30, but thanks to the traffic (which was reminiscent of Manila’s) and the French-language-only road signs, we didn’t make it to our hotel until 3:30.
Montréal was packed. Hubby swears that half of Toronto must’ve gone there too, which would explain the traffic. And although it was not nearly as ethnically diverse as Toronto (there were few visible minorities, so we felt we really stood out), the locals weren’t as snooty as we thought they would be.
We had a good walk-about. We went to the Tourist Information Centre to get some maps. Then, we went to the subway station to get ride-all-you-can tickets for the next few days. We capped off the evening with a poutine dinner at La Belle Province, one of the favorite hangout spots of McGill University students, or so I was told. Did I mention that we also packed about a dozen jars of baby food?
Day 2:
After giving DD-1 her morning milk, we promptly went to the subway station, which was two blocks from our hotel, to go to our first destination, the Latin Quarter. Getting around was tough, not because of the subway system, which was pretty good, but because of the child and handicapped un-friendly access. There were no elevators or ramps for wheelchairs and strollers! Or at least we did not see them. Most of the trains were three flights of stairs from street level!!! DD-1 decided to nap in the stroller so we had to carry the stroller down to get to the trains. It was a workout, indeed!
We had brunch at Brioche Lyonnaise. We went French, of course. Hubby had the salmon crepe and I had the chicken crepe. This spot is not only known for their crepes but also their ”bowls” of café au lait.
Later on, we went around Old Montréal, Vieux Port and Bonsecours Market. It was very charming with cobbled steps and horse-drawn carriages. We had a nice time just walking and DD-1 was perfectly happy in her stroller.
Dinner was at La Belle Province (again!) for more poutine--we were in Quebec, after all!
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