My 2 1/2 days in Montréal in short: food and rain 😉

The plane I flew from Halifax to Montreal was the smallest commercial aircraft I have ever flown in: two rows on the left, two rows on the right, and since I had checked in six hours before boarding, I sat in the second row for the very first time with a great view of the cockpit—at least while the door was still open 🙂

The flight took two hours and was anything but extraordinary. We landed in Montreal at 8:45 p.m., where the unofficial airport shuttle (Express Bus Line 747) took me directly to the Montreal Centrale Hostel. As soon as I got off the bus, it started to rain.
This was a first for my visits to Montreal. It had always been sunny and hot or sunny and cold, but I had never experienced clouds, let alone increased humidity, in Montreal before.
However, this was to be the conditions for the next 2 1/2 days.

Montréal Centrale is basically always my go-to place in Montreal—primarily because of its location right next to the Greyhound bus station and the Berrie-Uquam metro station, but also because of its cleanliness and friendly staff.
However, I had never experienced a welcome like the one I received this time: a live concert just for me—and the other guests 😉
The only downside was that the music was so loud that check-in took forever because we simply couldn’t hear each other. But I was allowed to request a song right after that, and since I took too long to decide for Ryan, the singer, I ended up with “99 Luftballons” sung half in German and half in English. Anyway, I had barely arrived and was already in the thick of things.
Around 10:30 p.m., I finally retired to my room, only to discover that I was the only girl in my 4-bed dorm, so I quickly changed my reservation for the next two days, unpacked my earplugs, and that was that.

The next day: alternating gray skies and drizzle again. After a walk through La Fontaine Park, which is also one of my Montreal rituals, I met Saskia and Claude for lunch. After a quick tour of the hostel and a chat with Josh from reception, we made our way to Schwartz’s and its world-famous smoked meat.
As always, the place was packed, but since we weren’t just there to shop, we got a table after what felt like three minutes. Saskia and Claude went wild on the menu and ordered a smoked meat sandwich for each of us, two portions of fries, a huge pickled cucumber, a pickled pepper, olives, and cherry soda to go with it. An irresistible combination 🙂
I stuck to the meat with mustard, the fries, and my Sprite. Delicious 🙂
I tried the pickle and the bell pepper, but they were both just super salty. Unfortunately, there was no room left for dessert 🙁

Luckily, we were there on foot, so we burned off a lot of calories on the way back, but the sky above us was getting darker and darker, and one block away from the hostel, we took refuge in a globe and travel guide shop (yes, there is such a thing in Montréal).
As soon as we’d gone inside all hell broke loose outside: thunder and lightning and a deluge from above like I had rarely seen before… it was totally crazy.
We waited for about… 15…20 minutes before we dared to go outside again. The last 200 m to the hostel we covered at a brisk pace in the pouring rain.

Inside the hostel, it was a completely exaggerated 26°C: jungle climate.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at the hostel—who wants to go out in this weather?
In the evening, I hung out in the TV lounge with another German, an Australian, and a guy from San Francisco. CNN was on TV, showing endless replays of Gaddafi’s death.

Then it was already Friday, my last full day in Montreal, and I wanted to do something “real” after all. The weather was still miserable, museums and churches were out of the question due to my general lack of interest, La Ronde amusement park, which I would have loved to visit again, is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, and I was even too lazy to go swimming (for free), so the only options left were shopping somewhere underground or another visit to the Biodome. I decided on the Biodome, where you still feel a little more like you’re on vacation 🙂

Afterwards, I made a quick detour to Montreal’s old town, which I found to be super touristy: nothing but expensive restaurants, galleries, and souvenir shops everywhere. This made the contrast to the Occupy movement tents on Victoria Square all the more striking.
Another Montreal highlight was on the agenda for lunch: Frite Alors on Saint Laurent! Actually famous for its Belgian fries and homemade sauces, but on this day the burgers caught my eye – yes, I know, meat again – and it was simply… delicious!
I rested my feet in the afternoon before the hostel’s usual Friday “free meal” in the evening. On this day, spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread were served. Absolutely amazing!!!!

Around 10 p.m., Ryan was back again, and since the hostel crew’s friends were also partying at the hostel, the atmosphere was really good.
If you want to get an idea of the atmosphere, take a look here :-): Montréal Central party on YouTube
The video is from last year, when Guilherme, a Brazilian guitarist, was responsible for the hostel’s musical entertainment. Unfortunately, he returned to Brazil in the spring of this year, but Ryan is doing a great job too 😉

I spent Saturday sleeping in and hanging out at the hostel before my bus left for Toronto at 3 p.m.