Canada 2024: Montreal

I started writing this post on holiday but ran out of time and energy. It's taken over a month but I've finally got around to finishing it.

It was a bit of a culture shock coming to Montreal. It was so big and so different to what I'm familiar with. The view from our hotel window on the 28th floor shows just a small part of the downtown area of the city by day and night:

Our first port of call was a quick dinner of shwarma and rice then we somehow found our way to Oasis Immersion. It was an immersive art exhibition/light show called Dreaming Asia, based on Chinese and Japanese art. I honestly don't know how to describe it, but it was very beautiful, inspiring and something I keep returning to in imagination.

We got 3 day tickets for the metro system and used it to get to Mount Royal where we climbed up to the view point and chalet. The view was really excellent and I love that there's such a big park in the middle of the city.

The chalet was great too, I grand space to warm up and get a hot drink.

I liked the detail of squirrels perched on the ceiling joists.

We then went to Jean Talon Market, which is the most amazing fresh food market I've ever visited. They had stalls selling things like only different types of mushroom, or ten varieties of apple or more styles of pasta than I knew existed. It was all fresh and locally grown or made, and the smell was a mixture of fresh flowers, green grocers, coffee and cooked food. We had lunch at The Market Creperie where all the food is gluten free, with an excellent local cider.

It's an interesting part if town and we enjoyed walking around looking at the shop windows selling everything from music to prom dresses (most of one street was devoted to these, they were fascinatingly garish).

On another day we walked to a 100% gluten free bakery in the old part of town called Le Marquis Signature Sante where Mr Crafty Blueberry was able to have his first fresh éclair in many years. After that we walked to the Notre Dame Basilica. It's the most ornate church or cathedral I've been in and I sat on a pew for a long time trying to take in so much detail. It was incredibly elaborate  from the starry ceiling to the 14 confessional booths.

More photos from the hotel as that view was fascinating:

We travelled all that way but one of the most memorable moments was when we ate our lunch in a park and got climbed on by cheeky squirrels who we ended up sharing our pasties with, and one of them did it's best to drag my backpack away with it when it smelled the food wrappers inside it.

There are some impressive modern buildings in the city centre which I totally forgot to take photos of, except for this fascinating sculpture:

And we did lots more...so much so that some of it has slipped my mind until weeks after getting back. We tried great food, explored the underground city, travelled on the metro, went to an immersive exhibition, walked a lot and rested our weary bodies in the hotel spa every evening.