Saturday, August 19, 2006
Montreal, Day One
I left New York early in the morning for a weekend in Montreal. I heard many great things about this city, most during my college years in New England, but somehow I never was able to visit...until now.
Near the end of the 90-minute flight my plane circled one time over Quebec's largest city. One thing I noticed was the prevalence of baseball fields in the parks. If the Montreal Expos averaged only 2,000 fans each home game, I wondered how excited the city's children could be to play baseball themselves.
After landing at the airport, picking up my bag and clearing customs, I hopped on L'Aerobus, a shuttle that goes downtown. This ride costs C$13, as opposed to a C$35 taxi, and takes you to the central bus station. From there you can take another shuttle that will drop you off at your downtown hotel, for free. It's a great deal.
I was staying at the Quality Hotel Downtown. This hotel has a great location: two blocks from a Metro station, a few blocks from a major university, and a ten-minute walk from Rue St-Laurent, a major dining and nightlife spot. It's a bargain, too. I got a double room for an average of US$105 per night.
Rue Ste-Catherine: Shopper's delight
At the hotel I met up with my friend from San Francisco, Nima. He took a few days off from work to join me for this leg of my trip.
Our first foray into the city began at Rue Ste-Catherine. This street, a short walk from our hotel, is the shopping mecca of Montreal. Hundreds of fashionable Canadians took to the boutique-lined street. The fantastic weather certainly helped to draw the crowd.
Basilique Notre Dame
After walking up Ste-Catherine, we took the Metro to Place d'Armes in Old Montreal. Old Montreal has a lot of financial institutions, so it was relatively quiet this weekend afternoon. Still it was relaxing to walk down the district's narrow streets. Then we went to the Old Port and Place Jacques Cartier, the Fisherman's Wharf of Montreal. Like its San Francisco counterpart, these spots were bustling with vendors, entertainers and spectators.
Summer, a great time to get hitched in Old Montreal
That night Nima and I walked to St-Laurent for dinner. It started to rain so we ducked into one of the first restaurants we saw. It was an Italian place named Cafeteria. The restaurant's atmosphere was somewhat imposing. Its interior was dimly lit and the hostess and wait staff were chicly dressed. But while the decor was a hit, the food was unimaginative (though moderately priced). At least the attractive people surrounding me gave me a diversion from my plate. On that note, our waitress, Andrea, was a sight to see. She wore a tiny dress with a plunging neckline (think J-Lo), set off by a belt made of oversized rings. San Francisco's restaurants are supposed to innovate in many respects, but Montreal beat us here!
Another way to get hitched in Old Montreal
The rain hardly let up for very long the entire night. After dinner we barhopped on St-Laurent. First we stepped into Go-Go Lounge, a sixties-themed bar. It was the only bar that was busy at 10pm. After a couple of drinks we went down the street to Lodge Taverne. (Imagine wood paneling and moose head hanging on the wall). There we met a couple of nice folks from Wisconsin: a chiropractor and his assistant in town for a conference.
Then we went next door to Le B-Side. We met a bartender named Shannon, who is originally from San Francisco. (We found out about her from someone I contacted on Couchsurfing — Shannon is her roommate.) She greeted us with a smile and a round of drinks. It didn't take very long for us to laugh like old friends, but there's Montreal for you. Our new pal gave us a pass for a place down the street named Rouge. Rouge is a two-level club, by far the most bumping spot on the street. I counted at least two bachelorette parties happening here tonight.
How does the elevator work in these apartments?
After a while Nima and I had to step outside to catch our breaths. It was only 1:30am. We heard about another nightlife destination a couple of miles west named Rue Crescent, which is supposed to be more fun (and less pretentious) than St-Laurent. We decided to check it out. We hit up a club called Newtowne (nice decor with sunken dance floor, plays hip-hop) and Thursday's, a huge bar that was only half full.
We didn't enjoy these places as much as St-Laurent. There was still much Saturday night left to live, though. We took a cab back to St-Laurent and hung out there till the bars and clubs let out. At 3:30 we called it a night.
