Montreal
MONTREAL
Day 6 of 9
****I have been journaling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003. In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!****
Day 6 of 9
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Sunny and 91 degrees
With the Jazz Festival in town, it was really hard to find a hotel for the four of us to include 2 queen beds at 11pm at night. Luckily, the Westin in the Old Montreal area was available and we were able to check-in close to midnight. The location here was WONDERFUL! We were able to walk to so many awesome things and restaurants - everything happens for a reason, right?!
Start Rant: You can find out about our VRBO Vacation House part one from the night before in Ile de Orleans post. NOTE TO EVERYONE - DO NOT BOOK WITH VRBO! They will not refund the renter if the owner falsely advertises a property. End Rant.
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Le Westin in Old Montreal
A sunny hot day! Who are we, sleeping in until 8am?!! We had a full day on I'le de Orleans yesterday on top of a 5-hour drive before arriving at the hot mess of a VRBO. The ENTIRE backpack was packed with toys and he loved his Alphabots the most. He also watched Planes about 6 times total on this trip. Road Battleship was super fun too. We totally need some blackout shades at home because sleeping this late is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
We started out in the city around 1130 today after a quick stop for coffee at Java U and exchanging for Canadian funds at the Intercontinental building (no fees to exchange!). This is also the entrance to the underground city that we used later.
La Grande Roue de Montreal
Our first destination was the request of Dylan. After passing on the Ferris wheel in Niagara, we promised to do this one in Montreal.
The cost to build La Grande Roue was $26 million dollars! It was built two years ago in 2017 in celebration of the 375th anniversary of the city. At 200ft tall, its the tallest Ferris wheel in Canada. La Grande roue de Montréal provides a 360° view of the city, including Old Montreal, its historic buildings, Place Jacques-Cartier, and the architecture of Downtown Montreal with Mont-Royal as the backdrop. To the south, the Saint Lawrence River and its seaway unfold.
Happily, La Grande wasn't busy so we had a unit all to ourselves! Each unit can fit 8 people and the climate-controlled cabins are great! It was getting quite toasty outside so this was a welcome break. Three times around and really beautiful views of the city. Really great photo opportunity. It was nice to cool off in the Air Conditioned cabin while we looked at the map and planned our day. This would be super cool to do at night too!
Our first destination was the request of Dylan. After passing on the Ferris wheel in Niagara, we promised to do this one in Montreal.The cost to build La Grande Roue was $26 million dollars! It was built two years ago in 2017 in celebration of the 375th anniversary of the city. At 200ft tall, its the tallest Ferris wheel in Canada. La Grande roue de Montréal provides a 360° view of the city, including Old Montreal, its historic buildings, Place Jacques-Cartier, and the architecture of Downtown Montreal with Mont-Royal as the backdrop. To the south, the Saint Lawrence River and its seaway unfold.
Happily, La Grande wasn't busy so we had a unit all to ourselves! Each unit can fit 8 people and the climate-controlled cabins are great! It was getting quite toasty outside so this was a welcome break. Three times around and really beautiful views of the city. Really great photo opportunity. It was nice to cool off in the Air Conditioned cabin while we looked at the map and planned our day. This would be super cool to do at night too!
SOS Labyrinthe
This Scavenger Hunt was an enormous warehouse maze where we had to find four clues. A box of dice, silk roll, molasses jug, and alarm clock. Workers help on roller blades so they could zip around. Again, I was not claustrophobic but I was nervous about it! Marci Brickner recommended it to us after Brooklyn and Boston had a great time there last summer. Amazingly fun, sweaty in the warehouse and next time, we will bring a full water bottle and leave the backpacks in the available lockers. We circled through inflatables, "wire" jail cells, crazy mirrors, barrels and so much more, The maze changes every Monday! We had intended to stay together but split up - boys versus girls - after about 10 minutes.
The boys found the first clue. Mom and I found the second and third ones pretty quickly and we were ALL stumped on the fourth clue! The workers are clever and must be sworn to secrecy as they won't give any clues for this hunt. After mom and I found the fourth clue, we tried to find the exit again. We were able to find the exit shortly after the third clue but we couldn't find it again. Mom was pretty hot after carrying the backpack all through the maze in the un-airconditioned warehouse so we decided to take a short cut (there are lots in case you need to leave the warehouse) to the exit and punch our cards. Technically we DID find the exit at one time. When it was time for the boys to find the last clue, I navigated them from the front to the fourth clue and then left them to find the exit on their own. I joined mom for a mango smoothie to cool down and view the Montreal wheel. Guess who won!
GIRLS: 50 min
BOYS: 1 hr 11 minutes!
This Scavenger Hunt was an enormous warehouse maze where we had to find four clues. A box of dice, silk roll, molasses jug, and alarm clock. Workers help on roller blades so they could zip around. Again, I was not claustrophobic but I was nervous about it! Marci Brickner recommended it to us after Brooklyn and Boston had a great time there last summer. Amazingly fun, sweaty in the warehouse and next time, we will bring a full water bottle and leave the backpacks in the available lockers. We circled through inflatables, "wire" jail cells, crazy mirrors, barrels and so much more, The maze changes every Monday! We had intended to stay together but split up - boys versus girls - after about 10 minutes. The boys found the first clue. Mom and I found the second and third ones pretty quickly and we were ALL stumped on the fourth clue! The workers are clever and must be sworn to secrecy as they won't give any clues for this hunt. After mom and I found the fourth clue, we tried to find the exit again. We were able to find the exit shortly after the third clue but we couldn't find it again. Mom was pretty hot after carrying the backpack all through the maze in the un-airconditioned warehouse so we decided to take a short cut (there are lots in case you need to leave the warehouse) to the exit and punch our cards. Technically we DID find the exit at one time. When it was time for the boys to find the last clue, I navigated them from the front to the fourth clue and then left them to find the exit on their own. I joined mom for a mango smoothie to cool down and view the Montreal wheel. Guess who won!
GIRLS: 50 min
BOYS: 1 hr 11 minutes!
Bevo Pizzeria and Bar
This is a beautiful location to eat outside. Located on Rue St. Vincent at the cross-section of the beautifully adorned Rue St. Amable, the pizza and salads were delicious. Dyland Mom had the Margarita pizza. Paris and I had a pizza with mushroom, sausage, and boiled eggs. The refreshing beer and Moscow mule helped to wash it all down! We had no idea how beautiful it was inside until we used the wash room. Its pretty fancy inside, next time we'll dine in and enjoy the atmosphere there as well.
LA DIPIERE
We were told that this is the best soft-serve ice cream in town. All of us over 10 years old were stuffed from Bevo but guess who still wanted dessert? We aim to please on vacation so in we went. Can you believe that they were all out of ice cream? They did have pre-made ice cream disks and cookies of your choice to make ice cream sandwiches. As if this wasn't good enough, you can dip your sandwich in several different things! Dylan chose chocolate cookies with vanilla ice creme dipped in caramel. We ate on the beautiful St. Amable adorned with flowers.
This is a beautiful location to eat outside. Located on Rue St. Vincent at the cross-section of the beautifully adorned Rue St. Amable, the pizza and salads were delicious. Dyland Mom had the Margarita pizza. Paris and I had a pizza with mushroom, sausage, and boiled eggs. The refreshing beer and Moscow mule helped to wash it all down! We had no idea how beautiful it was inside until we used the wash room. Its pretty fancy inside, next time we'll dine in and enjoy the atmosphere there as well.LA DIPIERE
We were told that this is the best soft-serve ice cream in town. All of us over 10 years old were stuffed from Bevo but guess who still wanted dessert? We aim to please on vacation so in we went. Can you believe that they were all out of ice cream? They did have pre-made ice cream disks and cookies of your choice to make ice cream sandwiches. As if this wasn't good enough, you can dip your sandwich in several different things! Dylan chose chocolate cookies with vanilla ice creme dipped in caramel. We ate on the beautiful St. Amable adorned with flowers.
Back to the hotel, rested for a minute and laughed a lot before going to our walking tour. Why does Couche Tard make us laugh so hard! I have no idea how I was able to nap with all of the laughter, I must have been tired! This time when leaving, we realized you can see the pool from the valet lot! That makes more sense why the pool and workout area are on the 4th floor now! The photos we took of ourselves aren't pretty but this gives you an idea.
Old Montreal Tour
We started our tour on Place Vauquelin at the fountain on the West side of City Hall with Francoise. There were about 30 people on the tour and wouldn't you know that we knew someone! One of the Ph.D. students from OSU's garden project last year with Dylan was there with her husband. We spoke with them and they gave us a few great recommendations. #1 always book with Airbnb as they had a similar experience and were totally refunded. #2 try the gnocchi stand beside Fairmont bagel tomorrow!
From the fountains, we viewed the area where two walls were built around Montreal for protection in the 17th century. From here we walked to Chateau Ramezay, Place Jacques Cartier, Chapel Bonsecour, the Old Port area, Montreal science center and more. Dylan talked to Francoise about the labyrinth as we passed it because he wanted her to tell other kids that came through the city. We were proud of him for speed walking ahead of the pack to talk to Francoise (pronounced with a Z at the end!)
Francoise stated her concern for the French language. She fears it will be lost in the French Canadian area due to the slang that the younger generation is using. She is very proud of her heritage with her mother coming directly from France and as she said it, "We know all about you Americans, we watch you on TV. You don't know anything about us!" We ended the tour across from our hotel with a quick trip into the Underground City. One of the places I really wanted to visit but didn't get the chance was the building on St. Jacques Street beside the restaurant Monarque. Its directly across from the entrance into the World Trade Centre of Montreal. Inside are where many movies are filmed because of the French look of it. I think it would be beautiful to tour it!
We started our tour on Place Vauquelin at the fountain on the West side of City Hall with Francoise. There were about 30 people on the tour and wouldn't you know that we knew someone! One of the Ph.D. students from OSU's garden project last year with Dylan was there with her husband. We spoke with them and they gave us a few great recommendations. #1 always book with Airbnb as they had a similar experience and were totally refunded. #2 try the gnocchi stand beside Fairmont bagel tomorrow!
From the fountains, we viewed the area where two walls were built around Montreal for protection in the 17th century. From here we walked to Chateau Ramezay, Place Jacques Cartier, Chapel Bonsecour, the Old Port area, Montreal science center and more. Dylan talked to Francoise about the labyrinth as we passed it because he wanted her to tell other kids that came through the city. We were proud of him for speed walking ahead of the pack to talk to Francoise (pronounced with a Z at the end!)
Francoise stated her concern for the French language. She fears it will be lost in the French Canadian area due to the slang that the younger generation is using. She is very proud of her heritage with her mother coming directly from France and as she said it, "We know all about you Americans, we watch you on TV. You don't know anything about us!" We ended the tour across from our hotel with a quick trip into the Underground City. One of the places I really wanted to visit but didn't get the chance was the building on St. Jacques Street beside the restaurant Monarque. Its directly across from the entrance into the World Trade Centre of Montreal. Inside are where many movies are filmed because of the French look of it. I think it would be beautiful to tour it!
Back to the Pool - I didn't have a suit so they went without me while I showered and relaxed with a cocktail. They came back after about 20 minutes. Apparently, the pool closes at 9pm and the female attendant was ready to go when she yelled "the pool is closed, get out of the pool, I'm serious"
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