A Whirlwind Weekend in Montreal!

Last weekend Jake attended an environmental philosophy conference in Montreal and was on a panel about animal rights (his talk being more about biotechnology). I tagged along because I could and even though Jake was busy most of the weekend, I got to explore the city (within a few subway stops at least) and meet up with a friend I met in Israel who I haven't seen in 8 years. Montreal reminded me of Europe not only because it is Fracophone, but because of the look and feel of the city as well as the cultural diversity and things to do. The first day there we met up with Erin who took us on a personal tour of some of her favorite places in Montreal. Lucky us, Erin enjoys food as much as we do so most of our tour is food related! She took us to a farmer's market that reminded me of San Francisco:


And after consuming many baked goods throughout the day, we still ended up at a cookie shop called Nocochi Cafe that has amazing little Persian cookies and tea:

The cookies were full of chickpea flour, dates, figs and pistachios. Really unusual and tasty!

Here's me and Erin. We haven't changed a bit since we met 10 years ago (according to both of us)!


I didn't have many chances to eat in restaurants while in town, so I ended up at this vegetarian cafeteria-style cafe called Le Commensal that had amazing food that you pay for by the 100g. It had dishes ranging from vegetarian hippie food with sprouts up to classy modern vegan fare. This is not the best picture, but pictured here is vegan potato salad, beet and apple salad, chickpea and mint salad, a half an avocado, ginger tofu, seitan bourguignon, and coconut milk seitan. This was dinner Saturday night and I went back for lunch on Sunday because it was so good.

After lunch on Sunday I was on my own and explored the city by foot and subway in 40 degree weather. But it was sunny and tolerable. I was loving the cold weather!

Typical building of Old Montreal - reminded me of Paris:

Popped my head into a Catholic Mass at the Notre-Dame Basilica which was a beautiful old church that could rival many of the ones in Europe. They choir was singing and the 7,000 pipe organ was playing. It was beautiful! After I had enough of church, I found a cupcake shop across the street. Needed some green tea to warm up and had an amazing red velvet cupcake for some sugary energy. I'm usually wary of buying cupcakes because they are usually so dry, but this is one of the best cupcakes I've ever had!

This cool building was right near our hotel. Took this cheesy photo because it was on my guide book.

This monster guy is the Canadian milk mascot. They look like knitted sock puppets and were really cute. Here's a shot the shows the weird, the old and the modern.
I'm not usually one for Christmas decorations, but these perched on a shiny building caught my eye:
Later in the afternoon I headed to the Musee Des Beaux Arts because I cannot travel without going to a museum! Plus I didn't have Jake there to make me hurry up and leave.

They had a small wing about Napoleon of which they have one of his original hats. I'm not particulary interested in Napoleonic history, but I liked this room because of the window.
One of my favorite pieces from the collection. By Tissot in 1877. The picture, of course, doesn't do it justice.
This is actually from our hotel. This same design was in tile form in our bathroom in Paris. I thought is was crazy that the past two hotels I've stayed in had this same art. My friend Erin said they were some famous design for china. I haven't seen them in California.

Sunday night we braved the cold and went to get some poutine at Resto La Banquise, a 24 hour restaurant specializing in this unusual dish. Poutine is a Quebecois dish french fries, cheese curds and gravy (this one is vegetarian) and was very gross and inedible after about three bites. Maybe if I was a little drunk I could have eaten more, but all the salt and grease was just too much. Jake thought it was pretty awesome though. This picture makes my stomach hurt:

As per Jake's tradition (ok, the one other time he had been to Montreal), we went to one of Montreal amazing bagel shops to buy half a dozen to eat on the plane and to bring home. Wood fired, covered in sesame and completely delicious - everything I now desire in a bagel since Jake first brought one home many years ago.


It was too short of a trip to travel so far, but those were the circumstances and I'm glad I went.