Eastern Canada Part 3: Montreal

When my aunts told me they were going to Toronto and other parts of eastern Canada , I encouraged them to spend more time in Montreal and Quebec City. I fell in love with Montreal when I went there with a friend a couple of years ago. We only had a couple of days then as we only we were only there for the long weekend, but we maximized our time such that we got to see so much of the city and it was beautiful.

My aunts tasked me to create an itinerary for us in Montreal as I had already been there and this would be my second visit. As we really didn't have many days this time around either, I picked only my favorite places in Montreal to be part of our itinerary.

We arrived in Montreal late Monday evening and decided to roam around Old Montreal for a bit and have dinner there. Unfortunately, it appears that Old Montreal is closed on Mondays, most restaurants were closed and all the shops were closed by the time we reached there. So after dinner at a Chinese restaurant, we headed back to our hotel and rested instead to prepare ourselves for a full day ahead.

The view from St. Joseph's oratory

When we woke up the following morning, it was October 5. It was my birthday and my aunts greeted me excitedly and rushed to me bearing presents. When I found out I was going to be in Montreal for my birthday, I was ecstatic. I mean, what better way to spend your birthday than to roam around Montreal and stuff your mouth silly with some of the best poutine in the world? I found a restaurant in Urbanspoon that I really wanted to try and it is located in Mont Royal so we planned our day around the fact that we were having lunch in Mont Royal and if there is one thing I know about Mont Royal, it's that it is home of the magnificent St. Joseph's oratory. So, we agreed to spend the morning as St. Joseph's, passing by McGill University along the way and then head over to the restaurant for lunch.

During my first visit to St. Joseph's Oratory, I remembered being mesmerized by the wonderful sight. St. Joseph's is a church perched on top of a hill overlooking a small patch of garden. On a beautiful day, you can really just take in the sight and feel completely at peace. St. Joseph's is founded by Brother Andre, now Saint Brother Andre as he was canonized in mid-October this year. He is known to be a miracle-worker and prayed to St. Joseph to heal the sick. Inside the church, you can see old crutches hanging by the walls, supposedly left by the people who were healed. There is also a candle room, several chapels, and Brother Andre's heart preserved and displayed in a glass case.

We spent a few hours at the Oratory. My aunts are very religious. One of them even stayed to attend the whole mass going on in one of the chapels. So that is where our whole morning went - praying inside chapels, lighting candles and scouring the gift shops (yes, that is plural) for prayer cards in English, angel pins and rosaries.

More than anything else, I was excited for the next item on our itinerary - the long awaited lunch at the La Banquise Resto. I discovered this restaurant while searching for the best poutine in Montreal in Urbanspoon and it really lived up to expectation. It was a good thing that I looked at the menu online before going because they only had a menu in French int he restaurant. We were really just after the poutine, so that's all we had from the menu and nothing else. We shared three regular poutines among the six of us and they were better than the poutine at New York Fries. The potato wasn't the sweet potato variety, but it was really sweet. Toppings were generously served and the dishes were so perfectly messy it's not a bad thing. We had the Poutine T-Rex, Poutine Rachel and Poutine Mart.

Old Montreal in the evening

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to park our car and walked towards Old Port and Old Montreal. The beauty of Old Montreal lies in its cobblestone walkways, galleries, jewelry made and designed by local artists and gift shops. If you keep walking down, you will reach the waterfront where you can see a view of the Biodome and walk through a row of vendors selling local arts and crafts in the Summer.

View of the Biodome

We also visited the Notre Dame Basilica, which reminded me a lot of the basilicas in Italy. The one disappointment in our Montreal trip was that the square where the Basilica is located was under construction. When I went there in May 2008, it was a site full of activity and life. Nevertheless, it is beautiful inside the basilica, as evident from the pictures below. Apparently, this was where Celine Dion got married. One fun fact I got from listening in on the guided tours is that it costs around 3000 dollars to get married in the main chapel and around 1500 dollars to get married in the smaller, more private chapel.

The main chapel

The smaller chapel

That is all I have of Montreal. If my relatives were able to walk more, I would have taken them to the latin quarters or the Rue St. Denis for more shopping and for food. Montreal is rich in art and culture. Boutiques, galleries and bakeries line the streets. Crepes and hot chocolate are easy to find! What is not to love?