Saturday was Montreal!
I was excited to go back for the Cat Cafe and roam where I wanted, as I’d already visited most of the tourist areas with my mother before Explore. However, I like history so I decided to go on the little guided tour of Old Montreal. It wasn’t completely worth my time, but that’s alright.
Meetup point by Old Montreal
Walking around, looking for food places in Old Montreal
Megan, Jamie, Alyssa, and I stayed together for the day, as we all wanted to go to the same activities. After the guided tour, we found a restaurant to eat at. Alyssa and I weren’t as hungry, so we shared a smoked meat poutine – I wouldn’t have been able to finish it by myself!
YUM
The cute, secluded patio where we ate
After lunch was the mandatory excursion for Beavertails. It was close by, just at the river. Jamie and I got Avalanche Beavertails (skor cheesecake, basically), Megan got a gelato from the ice cream store next door, and Alyssa had to have her ice cream beavertail bouché thing. The Beavertail was insanely sweet, causing me to recall my traumatizing first experience (when I was around 7 years old?) with Beavertails being too sweet (and hence not liking them). I sneakily grabbed a handful of the tiny milk containers used for coffee and downed them like shots as I ate the rest of the beavertail.
Dessert
The afternoon activity: The Museum of Fine Arts. I only went because I didn’t think I’d have enough time to go to the planetarium that Greg, the chanson atelier animateur, highly recommended. It was alright, but definitely not the most useful nor interesting part of Montreal. Had I known, I’d have gone to Cacao 70, a chocolate restaurant that I didn’t get to go to!! Alyssa, who stayed overnight, had the chance to go and told me how amazing it was. Hopefully I have enough time during my layover on my way back to eat there.
My favourite piece: I thought it was a fat man being eaten by monkeys, but it’s a fat monkey. Metaphor still exists.
Coming back to the meeting point by the school bus, we each headed our separate ways. Alyssa went with her overnight friends, Megan went to do something (I forgot), Jamie wanted to wander on St Catherine for souvenirs, and I went to the cat cafe!! I spent an hour there, sipping chai tea as I pet the cats and finally relaxed. Most of them slept for the most part, but a few were awake, walking around and chilling. It was about 5:30 when they started gathering around the waiter’s door, meowing. They knew their dinner time was coming, and they were hungry! It was super adorable and it confirmed my desire to own a cat or two. I paid for my chai tea on the way out – a steep $4 – but it was a cost for both the tea and the experience, so I don’t regret it.
The 8th was still sleeping.
I walked quickly back to the meeting point, as Megan, Jamie, and I agreed to meet for dinner together. I saw Jamie on my way and he said he regretted not coming with me, as he didn’t find St Catherine interesting nor useful and he wanted to play with the cats. Once we met Megan, we looked around for food and found a reasonably priced Italian restaurant. Jamie ordered a wholesome pizza, Megan a 4-cheese for her cravings, and me a “Calabrese”, with Italian sausage, mushrooms, and ham. It was SO good! I didn’t think I could finish it all, from the size of it, but I did it. Megan had to remove all the cheese after about 1/3 of the pizza since she’s lactose intolerant. I was confused as to why she even ordered that type of pizza with her condition and she replied that she just had to have 4-cheese since it tastes so good.
Am I Italian, yet?
I had a craving for a chocolatine, so I looked around and saw an ice cream store just by our restaurant. I took a chance to look in, and they had the chocolatine! It was $4 with tax (jeez), but my desire was fulfilled.
Too small to be $4
Rather than staying overnight, thinking the price would be too steep and there being not much to do, I took the bus back to TR that night with Megan and Jamie. However, from all that I heard from many people, I wish I had stayed to experience the nightlife, gone to the planetarium, gone to the park with Tam-Tams, and gone to Cacao 70. Montreal isn’t very far from Toronto, so hopefully I get the chance to come back soon.