Bonjour!
FRIDAY FAVORITES FROM MONTREAL!
Today I am delighted to link up with lErika from A Little Bit of Everything and Andrea from Momfessionals for their weekly Friday Favorites Link-Up! If you want to go somewhere in North America where most people speak French, you will definitely want to visit Montreal!
Why Montreal?
While in Savannah last April, we had Montreal Bagels at Spread Bagelry. We loved the bagels so much that we decided to go to Montreal to eat the "real deal" bagels. In addition, three years ago, we had been to Quebec City which we totally loved. Plus, Montreal is five hours north of Boston so it should be cooler weather (NOT true; it was in the 90's the entire time!). Anyway, check out some fun activities we managed to do!
We first went on an excellent walking tour of Old Montreal while it was extremely hot, and it was Trash Day so we had plenty of obstacles! Our tour guide, Carole, managed to keep us in the shade as much as possible while giving us the lowdown on the "old" part of the city.
Luckily, one stop was Montreal's World Trade Center which is indoors! There is a section of the Berlin Wall:
Interestingly, when I did my Junior Year in Paris through Hamilton College in 1980 - 1981, I was so lucky to see the actual Berlin Wall!
We saw the Notre Dame Basilica from the outside but did not go in as it cost over $15 to enter. Luckily, you could see the garden outside where the clergy live.
Botanical Gardens
We took the metro to the Botanical Gardens which were outstanding. We started in a greenhouse where we saw plenty of carnivorous plants and cacti.
After that we visited the Chinese gardens:
Before leaving the Chinese garden, I took a picture of some bees enjoying an ancient plant:
My goal is to get this picture posted some day on the New York Times' Spelling Bees Game!
This place was outstanding!
This museum allows you to visit five different North American ecosystems in one place!
The first ecosystem was the Arctic where we saw penguins and puffins. Then we visited the capybaras (my favorite):
Montreal Bagels!
We took a bus from the hotel to the Mile End neighborhood to visit Fairmount Bagel. I thought the bagel place would have seating, but it's purely a take and leave store that is open 24 hours a day. The bagel variety was amazing and overwhelming.
On either side of Fairmount Bagel, there was Caffe Grazie-Mille with homemade cannoli, and on the other side, Drogheria Fine with homemade gnocchi. If you like to eat, this is the street to visit!
Winners = the TJ Maxx/Marshall's of Canada!
One afternoon we strolled over to Winners. A lot of the merchandise was similar to what we have around here, but I loved all the French greeting cards!
In Closing...
I loved going to Montreal that I want to go back again and see more of the city!
Remember: If you want to read more great blogs, head here:
Happy Labor Day Weekend! Thank you for visiting today!
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