Last weekend, we spent a few days in Montreal before coming to visit my in laws. I had never been to Montreal before, and I loved the city. The food was great, we enjoyed the architecture, it was like being in Europe without having to travel.
From San Francisco it was a full day of travel, and we didn’t get into our hotel until the evening. We stayed at the Hotel Nelligan in Old Montreal, which was a great home base for exploring. It also had a great rooftop terrace bar, which we took advantage of both nights. After checking in, we had dinner at a local bistro and then went to bed early.
The next morning, we got up and had breakfast at Cafe Tommy, an adorable cafe near the hotel. We then spent the day exploring- we walked to the top of Mont Royal to see a panoramic view of the city, and then explored the Plateau du Mont Royal neighborhood. Here we checked off two of our Montreal food missions - trying poutine and a smoked meat sandwich. The poutine was delicious and devoured before I had a chance to take a photo, but then we had a chance to digest while we were in line for a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s. After all of the food, we then walked back to Old Montreal to see the Norte Dame Cathedral, which is where Celene Dion was married. We also tried to see the underground city, but either Got lost or were very underwhelmed. After so much walking, we went back to the hotel to shower and nap, and then went to Le Serpent in Saint Henri for dinner.
The following morning, we went to the Crew Collective for breakfast. Crew Collective used to be a bank and is now a coffee shop and coworking space with beautiful architecture. As luck would have it, the coffee shop even had Fairmount bagels, the final Montreal food to try on our list. Montreal bagels are less fluffy than New York bagels, and very eggy. After breakfast we went back to our hotel to check out, and then took a road trip to Old Forge, New York, where we are staying with my in laws for a few days. I will definitely be back to Montreal - husband wants to come at Christmas time and experience their winter!
