Perfect Montreal Day

Here's a London day that inspired this post.
If I had my way, I'd be writing about a perfect Istanbul day, or a day somewhere in Scotland and Wales. But Montreal will do in a pinch :-)

9 am
Rise with the sunshine coming in the window. Shower. A table has been miraculously laid with almond croissants, eclairs, a steaming pot of coffee and a latte in a bowl, maple syrup, buttered toast and egg and cheese sandwich (all bread and pastries from Première Moisson), and at least four newspapers, the Montreal Gazette, the New York Times and some English ones. Monday or Tuesday (see below) would be nice for this, cos I could have the Saturday Gazette and the Sunday New York Times.

12 pm
All those newspapers and magazines and crossword puzzles, not to mention the coffee, would take a while. Noontime is a nice time for a walk, either in the neighbourhood or, better still, up on the mountain (which Oscar Wilde once called a "hill", rousing the ire of Montrealers of the time). It's a warm day in early October, and the leaves changing colour... An alternative destination is the Ecomuseum.

2 pm
Time to walk down the mountain, toward downtown. Any time is pub time, but early afternoon is best, when the terraces aren't yet full of the 5 à 7 crowd. Two choices: the Irish Embassy or McKibbin's.

5 pm
Can't stay longer than a few hours, because if it's Tuesday's there's a hockey game on! Time to head home, where supper is magically waiting. Could be anything, lahmacun from the local Armenian/Lebanese/Turkish restaurant, with ayran, homemade manti or borek with some olive oil dishes, or a nice big pasta dish a la Jamie Oliver... Although if it's a Jamie Oliver dish, it's usual lots of fun to make yourself.

7.30 pm
Puck drop! Go Habs Go! Now the table's got beer and snacks laid out for the game. And I've got a knitting project to work on at the same time...

Comments

Deniz Bevan said…
I thought of two alternatives to pubbing downtown:
Walk down to Old Montreal and head east to the gay village, for a late lunch and scrumptious desert at Kilo, and drinks at the Oscar Wilde pub
OR
Walk east down the mountain and, starting at Saint Joseph street, walk down Saint Denis all the way to Sainte Catherine, eating and drinking and shopping all way, and ending at Bar Saint Sulpice, which has a Frites Alors next door!