August 13 – St. Andre to Montreal

We intentionally bypassed Montreal on the way out, but it was a planned highlight of the return trip. We got in a bit later than we had planned – we kind of got lost trying to find our hotel and before we knew it a couple of hours had passed! By the time we got settled in here, it was dinner time, so we headed to Weinstein and Gavino’s, where we had been with my parents on Cheryl’s 30th birthday. Fun place! We wandered around a bit along St. Catherine’s st. as well, but it was getting dark and we were both tired, so we packed it in early.



Montreal sure feels like a different country! It is extremely multicultrual compared to everywhere else we’ve been. I think it is one of 2 “great” Canadian cities that are world class, Toronto being the other. Montreal is more exiciting in many ways than Toronto, however. It would not be hard to spend a week here just visiting different parts of the town, checking out some museums, old town, etc.

Our hotel has a great view – we are on the 25th floor. It has a view of the train station, and I have counted many passenger trains going in and out. It is nice to know this is still a form of public transport in some parts of our country! It is a tribute to times gone by, when efficiency really mattered in transport, not like now when gas is so cheap that people can afford huge guzzlers just to commute. I suppose this is why engineers are fascinated by trains.

It looks like much of old Montreal that has been neglected is getting restored now. As with many cities, it seems, the downtown core is being rediscovered, and it is a trendy/expensive place to live. Funny how things go in patterns! Old Montreal was a bit bigger than I thought it would be, and due to the fact that much of the rest of downtown Montreal has old buildings as well there is a gradual change from the old town into the city.