Well, it's now Saturday morning in Sunny Ottawa and we got back from our whirl wind 1.5 day trip Thursday mid afternoon..My friend had to catch his flight back to Windsor yesterday so we just chilled at my place Thursday night and ordered in a couple of Gyros, and listened to tunes.
I'm too lazy to upload and post pics, but man we walked and walked..We really only scratched the surface, and 1.5 days just isn't enough, so we did the "basics". Our motel was the Best Western on Peel and Sherbrooke, and while we did grab a 3 day transit pass, we simply walked up Peel to Saint Catherines on our arrival and right after our check in, which was around 1:00. our first stops were a couple of patios on Peel headed to Saint Catherine, and since my friend wanted a simple Poutine in Montreal, we had one , and it was delish..My friend lives in the Windsor area, so even poutine is considered exotic..My friend is a cigar smoker, so another friend who lives in the Montreal area suggested Stogies on Crescent street, so at around 4:00 we went there and sat on the upper terrace and enjoyed a martini, and my pal had his cigar..it was great vibe, and only an 8 minute walk from our motel.It wasn't quite open when we arrived, so we had a beer first on another upper terrace nearby, and took a picture of the Leonard Cohen muriel which was facing us across the street..My friend who suggested that place was out of town on business and said he would join us next time for a cigar at Stogies..From there we walked back to our motel for a change of clothes, and headed straight back up to Peel and Saint Catherine on foot..We then headed toward Rue Saint Denis on foot, and did a little bit of a patio crawl along the way. Snapping pics along the way of course..For a Tuesday night, Saint Catherine's was pretty busy and lively.Mind you, this is July, but regardless, there were a lot of people out and about..I'm glad we hoofed it, because IMO, that's the only way to experience a city's DT area..By foot, and boots on the ground! Once we hit Saint Denis, we turned left, and found an awesome little Mexican restaurant..My pal said it was the best Mexican he had rivaling the food he had while he was in Mexico himself!..After that, we slowly hoofed it back, but not without hitting a few more establishents along the way..We then found ourselves back in the Crescent street area, and hit Ziggy's pub which is the type of bar I wanted to experience in my opening post. A neighbourhood dive bar! .It was lively, and my friend experienced "drunk chick".A local bar fly type girl who was originally from Amos from what we understood..She sat with us, and spoke french, english, and drunkanese all at the same time..She was little annoying but entertaining too..When we left , my friend picked up her last drink. It was getting late, so we made our way back, where we had a couple of pints that were in the fridge..We turned in around 2:30 A:M
Day 2: We hoofed it up to Reubens where we had to have a sammie..Not only that, but my friend spontaneously bought an 8 lb unsliced brisket to bring back to the Windsor area where he lives..We then hoofed it back to our motel, put the brisket back in the fridge, and once again hoofed it up to Saint Catherine's to hunt down a freezer bag, and ice packs to keep the brisket cold for our train trip back to Ottawa, and his eventual flight back..My pal also needed a belt at this point, because he forgot his, and his shorts were slowly coming down at intervals Ha Ha!, so we stopped at Simmons, where he found a belt, and wouldn't you know it, the Dollarama in the Eaton's mall had both the ice packs and a freezer bag..Fait accompli! We once again hoofed it down Peel and bck to our motel, where he dumped the freezer bag, and ice packs..From there we took the 50 east bus, which took us right to the old Port, where we walked along the water front right up to the ferris wheel, and almost took the boat tour, but decided to explore a little bit of old Montreal on foot of course..We then hit a patio (shocker) in old Montreal, and took the 50 West bus right back to our motel, but immediately walked back to Stogies, only because my pal loved the vibe there..Also the fact that he could have a cigar with his drink..I caved and had one with him..We asked the server about restaurants and she suggested a French restaurant nearby called "Le Pois Penché", and it was fantastic! We sat out on their patio and enjoyed the meal..the rest of the night was spent doing a bit of club surfing in that section, which I believe is called the Square mile..it's probably not one of Montreal's highly rated neighbourhoods, but it was nearby, and lively enough! We ended back up at wouldn't you know it! "Ziggy's" where we capped off day 2.. We actually sat around the bar this time, and made friends with a 70 year old local anglo gentleman who insisted that Boston was Montreal's sister city..I told the gentleman, that this bar kinda sorta reminded me of "Grumpy's, where I went before..His response was real poignant when he stated "This is Grumpy's!".The anglo bar tender was also really friendly, and from what we gathered, he attended Harvard, then Concordia, and whatever other university, but never finished..Regardless, they were real friendly and the vibe in this bar was pretty chill, and no drunk girl this time..I snapped a picture of the Ken Dryden painting on the men's bathroom door, which I meant to do on the first night..We hit another few pubs in that section and turned in for the night..It was again, a 2:00 A:M night!
Day 3: We just slept in, made our way back to Central station by that same 50 East bus, and caught the train bask to Ottawa. Once back at my place, and once the brisket and ice packs were put away safe and sound, my pal and I enjoyed the rest of the day and night, drinking the one Caesar I made up for us, some pints listening to tunes, and playing rod hockey and Fooze ball in my little game room area..It turned out to be another 2:30 A:M night! We were originally going to go down to the Market area in Ottawa to check things out, and do YET another patio crawl, but it was raining Thursday night..It was blessing really, because I personally was spent!..It took a bit to unravel our Montreal experience, because we sure packed in a lot considering we didn't do a lot of the tourist stuff..While at my place, my friend said that he was still processing everything from Montreal...Yesterday, he had to fly back, and since we didn't get the Montreal bagel experience that he wanted, I drove him to Kettleman's and grabbed a few to go..Close enough! His flight was at 2:00 yesterday afternoon, so we ate and I dropped him off at the airport..I then went home, and crashed for a few hours, and did laundry last night!..
To sum it up, my friend loved Montreal (as do I), and wants to come back using Ottawa as a sort of launching pad..He now realizes that as a complete anglo, he can get by pretty easy in Montreal.It was a non issue..The next time we go though, I want to spend more time in old Montreal, as well as visit Mont Royal, and the Plateau nighbourhood, skipping the Square mile altogether..Well maybe a pit stop at stogies on Crescent street (for him).
All in all it was a great trip, and we packed in a solid 2 days in a day and a half, doing mostly the typical non tourist things, like visiting Mont Royal, Bio-dome, etc.!
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Maple Leaf Gardens def looks amazing from the outside still, I just think the inside of the Forum was more impressive.
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