July 8 - Heading to Kingston

Well we’re Kingston bound! We caught the train at Montreal’s Central Station and have just pulled into Dorval Station. Traveling along the tracks from the old downtown to this suburban area you get to see things from a pretty interesting perspective. We pulled out of the station slowly and traveled along seeing the backs of the old typical three-storey Montreal apartment blocks with old iron staircases outside of the buildings. There were some old multi-storey factories converted into new condos but other buildings were falling down – such a shame to see the history in the old factory and industrial areas being lost. We traveled past the CN yards where large shipping containers were being loaded by conveyor belt with bags of grain. We travelled across the Lachine Canal and soon after pulled into Dorval station. I immediately noticed a change in landscape. Newer apartment housing and large, single storey factories close to the hub of the airport and highways. No longer does Montreal’s industrial district rely on water and rail transportation to ship goods and materials. Trucks and planes serve the majority of this function now.

Last night we stayed in the Grey Nuns Residence at Concordia University. Keven picked us up from the airport and though he was nervous driving in downtown Montreal, he did really well. There were a lot of one way streets and none of us had the address with us (though Keven had his GPS unit) and the building was not well marked – not long before we decided to stop and find some free wireless to get directions, Keven ran his one and only red light in downtown Montreal. He was pretty calm about it though there were a few honking horns. Bruce and I thought it was pretty exciting, an authentic Montreal driving experience! The room was really nice, VERY clean, and in a lovely old building which presumably was once owned by the Grey Nuns and must have recently been rented or purchased by Concordia for their residences. There were lots of neat old details in the building – the staircases, windows and mouldings were beautiful!
After we checked in (my only complaint about the accommodations would be the lack of staff at the office – we relied on the surly security guards to hunt down the staff to check in and out) we started to walk around Westmount, an old English neighbourhood of downtown Montreal. It didn’t take us long to get walking in the right direction on Saint Catherine street where we found Crescent Street and a really nice strip of bars/clubs that filled the block. The old buildings were 3 – 4 storeys tall and there were businesses on every floor – sometimes one bar/pub/club occupied every level in a building. There were open air patios at street level and above – we lucked into finding a really nice spot to enjoy dinner. We weren’t sure of the menu at Taverne Crescent at first, but once we ordered and saw the presentation of the food and tasted it, we were impressed. Keven enjoyed the chicken with potatoes and seasonal vegetables, Bruce loved the pulled pork shepherd’s pie and I thought the beef Carpaccio salad was lovely. We had ordered a veal poutine as an appetizer but the waitress forgot to put the order in. In the end it was the perfect dessert!

Here we are enjoying our large glass of Okanagan Spring Pale Ale.

They were out of the Blanche de Chambly, a local Quebec micro-brew beer.

Next we walked to the Peel Pub. I have fond memories of visiting the Peel Pub on a third year geography trip with Professor Al Brunger. I remember having a lot of fun with a lot of the people in that class and for some reason recall the bar having a basement and that night there were male strippers for some reason. I don’t think we took in the show but we did enjoy the 140 oz pitchers of beer – I am pretty sure someone tried to sneak one of those pitchers out under their jacket that night. Well our trip to the Peel Pub last night was less than spectacular. I guess my tastes have changed after 10 years! It was a bit grungy but very cheap and it was busy and filled with a lot of young people for a Tuesday night. There was karaoke and we left after the 2nd song – not the best entertainment and Bruce and Keven wanted someplace more quiet so they could catch up on their old Navy stories. We did enjoy a pitcher of Blanche de Chamblay here though.
Next we walked back in the opposite direction along Saint Catherine Street checking out the window displays in some of the big name shops and when we didn’t really find any pubs that looked interesting, we headed back towards Crescent Street again and found a patio seat at the Sir Winston Churchill. The patio was really nice and the evening was not that chilly, though we could not believe just how many people were smoking on this patio and others. Smoking seems much more prevalent in Montreal than in Victoria or Vancouver. Bruce and Keven had a mediocre Irish Coffee (there was coffee and booze in the glass but no cream?) and I tried to stay awake. We were glad to get back to our dorm room and our firm single beds for a night’s sleep. I think we were all tucked in by 12:30am.

We thought the Bixi public bike system was awesome!

I woke again by 6:30am. We snoozed a bit longer and were up again to meet Keven for breakfast and a walk to Cora’s. We enjoyed HUGE plates of food. I first enjoyed Cora’s in Charlottetown. It is a bit of a franco-Canadian legend for its huge portions and piles of fresh fruit with each meal. The night before, Keven had told us about creton which is, as he described it, kind of like a seasoned pork pate which is traditionally made of all the left over bits of pork meat. We ordered it as a side dish – Bruce and Keven both preferred it as an after breakfast food so that left me to finish it off along with my French toasted brioche (or cinnamon roll – delicious!), egg, bacon and fruit plate! We were all stuffed.

Before & after photos of my giant breakfast.

After breakfast we checked out and then had about 1 hour to walk towards old Montreal. We were able to walk a few blocks in among the old cobble streets and buildings and definitely wished that we were able to spend more time in the city. We couldn’t find any fresh Montreal style bagels though – apparently we needed to do our research because the two best bagel joints in town are open 24 hrs. Once we got our luggage dragged to the train station I slipped into a cafeteria style restaurant and was able to purchase ½ a dozen from them. Sadly we weren’t hungry enough to dive into a smoked meat sandwich so we’ve left a few culinary stones unturned in Montreal so we’ll be back soon, hopefully for a much longer visit!

An archeological dig in a construction site in Old Montreal.



Reconstruction of original cobblestone streets.

We are travelling south west to Kingston now and are almost to Cornwall. Passing farm after farm with the long and thin seigneurie, range-style lots, with lots of lovely houses and barns with the Quebecios style flared roofs. We have also passed the odd large industrial manufacturing or warehouse plant which reminds us that we are indeed moving into the heart of Canada’s manufacturing region.

We’re in Kingston tonight visiting with family and hoping for nice weather so we can get a boat ride with Aunt Holly & Uncle George into the Thousand Islands. Tomorrow we hope to spend the day in downtown Kingston taking in some historic sites and meeting up with some old friends for coffee and my cousin Nicole for lunch at an favourite old cafe, The Sleepless Goat. The train is filling up now and Bruce is having a well deserved nap. I’m enjoying the train travel even if it is ‘19th century’ travel in Bruce’s mind since we aren’t travelling much more than 80-90 km/hr for short stretches. It doesn’t quite compare to the speedy European trains to his mind. I am enjoying the Eastern Ontario landscape though as I have such fond memories of spending time here every summer. It is always nice to come back!

The first five days of our two week eastern adventures have been fun – stay tuned for more Bruce & Brandy Adventures!