They say never judge a book by its cover .. and that is what I learnt during a recent trip to Montreal. We had heard some rather fabulous things about Montreal and the first impression we got on landing was nothing close to what we had heard.
Our journey (by VIA rail) from Toronto to Montreal was uneventful. We land in this city unlike any other American city we've been to (and trust me we have travelled the length and breath of the whole United States (although this was our 2nd in Canada). It was like landing in one of the cities in Europe. There are very few places in North America that are not tourist friendly and Montreal ranks no 1 in that list if you ask me. Most signs were in French and god forbid if u dint know French which was the case with us. To add to that I felt there was a snooty air about the whole place. I know many people that we know, would not agree with me on this but they have to experience the city as we did.. wholly by public transport and walking.
Anyways we trekked from the station to our hotel The Omni Mont-Royal -a luxurious hotel about a block from the foot of Mont-Royal. After refreshing we went down to the concierge service to get ideas on "what to do" in two days besides good recommendations on food. We got quite a few tips on the former and almost nothing on the latter. So we set out to explore the city with a plan to walk around the new city and that evening trek up Mont-Royal for a view of the city by night from the mountain. The following day was set aside for Old Montreal including le Notre-Dame an artificial island located in the Saint Lawrence River. It was created for Expo 67 to celebrate Canada's centennial.And then to Stadium olympique before heading back to Old Montreal to kick back for the evening, before heading back to our hotel, in the new part of the town.
Day three was set aside for Biodome, Park Olympique, Insectarium and Montreal Botanical garden. We did not do justice to the botanical garden and hope to return there someday as it requires a decent amount of time to explore the whole place. If you are pressed for time as we were, then I would recommend the Japanese and Chinese garden in the Montreal botanical Garden. The Biodome ,can also be given a pass unless you are an animal lover like me and don't mind spending a few hours seeing very few animals.. I would give insectarium a pass but am sure children would love the place. All in all, I would call Montreal an interesting place .
Anyways we trekked from the station to our hotel The Omni Mont-Royal -a luxurious hotel about a block from the foot of Mont-Royal. After refreshing we went down to the concierge service to get ideas on "what to do" in two days besides good recommendations on food. We got quite a few tips on the former and almost nothing on the latter. So we set out to explore the city with a plan to walk around the new city and that evening trek up Mont-Royal for a view of the city by night from the mountain. The following day was set aside for Old Montreal including le Notre-Dame an artificial island located in the Saint Lawrence River. It was created for Expo 67 to celebrate Canada's centennial.And then to Stadium olympique before heading back to Old Montreal to kick back for the evening, before heading back to our hotel, in the new part of the town.
Day three was set aside for Biodome, Park Olympique, Insectarium and Montreal Botanical garden. We did not do justice to the botanical garden and hope to return there someday as it requires a decent amount of time to explore the whole place. If you are pressed for time as we were, then I would recommend the Japanese and Chinese garden in the Montreal botanical Garden. The Biodome ,can also be given a pass unless you are an animal lover like me and don't mind spending a few hours seeing very few animals.. I would give insectarium a pass but am sure children would love the place. All in all, I would call Montreal an interesting place .
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