Montreal - Day 2 (4/8/10)

Day 2 began with a stop at the concierge desk (which was empty), but thankfully a very helpful bellhop (Patrice--our new BFF) came to our rescue and suggested we stop for breakfast at Au Pain Dore--a yummy French bakery (I'm thinking this can count as #52 on my list)! I had coffee, Deb had a latte, and we each had a chocolate croissant--heaven! We sat upstairs, enjoyed our decadent delights, and watched the bustle of downtown Montreal (what's not to love about vacations with lazy mornings!).

The weather was windy and chilly, but we bundled up in our winter coats, scarves and gloves and warmed by the coffee and croissants, headed out for some sight-seeing and shopping.

A first stop was to head up to McGill University on foot--of course we had to stop in at their bookstore (we're two academic geeks--and a bookstore is very much like a souvenir shop!). Patrice had also mentioned we should walk through the McGill Ghetto--we thought he was joking and throwing out some slang, but turns out that it's a real area. (The shopping won out over the historic neighborhood walk.)

A second stop was at our favorite clothing shop--H&M. I love this store--sure, some of the clothes are a little "out there" for me, but they have great prices and I often find things suitable to both work and home. Deb and I both made some purchases and headed down Rue Sainte-Catherine (a great shopping street in Montreal).

We eventually headed back towards the hotel--the conference that Deb was attending was hosted at a hotel just down the street. We stopped there for lunch and for her to pickup her conference materials. Then Deb went to a session while I headed back to the hotel room for a quick nap and some more shopping. This time I stopped in at Roots, a Canadian mainstay. Super expensive clothes but I found some great deals and gifts on clearance. Yea for sales!

For dinner we headed out to another area that Patrice had recommended--the Plateau--another historic part of the city. We wandered the streets searching out a place to have dinner (Thai, French, Italian anyone?) and enjoyed the cute confectioner shops, book stores, and papeterie (stationery stores--I was in heaven). We eventually settled on a small Mexican restaurant for dinner that served tacos al pastor. This was something new to me, but my cousin Deb, the Spanish professor and fluent-Spanish speaker, assured me I wouldn't be disappointed. And I wasn't--super yummy and I ate too much (even though the tacos were small!). After dinner we continued walking around Le Plateau, making a quick stop at a convenience store so we could pick up some Mackintosh toffees--another Canadian mainstay and something I always try to pick up while in Canada.

Then it was back to our hotel to get some shut-eye (did I mention the hotel had an elevator with a direct connect to the subway/metro tunnel--how cool/convenient is that?!?).

[I may have overdone the wikipedia citations in this post...but since it's not a paper for my class, I think I'm safe.]