Canada 2014- Montreal

First Stop: Montreal

August 11

Our summer road trip started out as a typical five family adventure. My husband woke us up at 3:45 woke us in upstate New York and we stopped for gas, food and to switch drivers. Kids switched on their electronics and I drove straight into Montreal. We arrived just in time for lunch. Funny how we tend to always arrive around meal time to our destinations. 
am, piled the 9, 8 and 6 year old into the back of the car with the luggage, I dropped into the passenger seat and we hit the road by 4am and left Maryland with sights on Canada. We all fell back to sleep while my husband drove straight for 4 1/2 hours in silence. Finally by 8:30 our stomachs


We Checked into our hotel, The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Montreal. We were able to score an amazing rate and our room had an small additional room with a pull out sofa for two out of three kids. From our hotel we walked to Ruebens Deli and Steakhouse a 40 year old deli in the center of town. We munched on smoked meat sandwiches, pickles and french fries. After we let the kids run around in the small square outside the deli and chase pigeons as they had been in the car for nearly 10 hours and needed to get some energy out. After we headed back to the hotel to unwind and get ready for dinner. Eating is high priority in our family.


Dinner was quite an adventure in heavy but delicious food. We ate at my husbands favorite restaurant in Montreal, Au Pied de Cochon. Not for the faint of heart nor vegetarians, heavy on the foie gras and fat. Dinner started with cromequise; deep-fried cubes of foie. They arrived at the table, we were instructed to wait one minute, and then to pop it into our mouths whole. Liquified foie filled our mouths. Was a bit of an unwanted surprise for our 9-year old. We also ate duck in a can. Half a duck is combined with foie, bacon, and demi-glace and then cooked in a can. Its rewarmed and then opened tableside, spilling out unfathomable amounts of cholesterol onto the plate. One of the big hits was a buffalo short rib, with the meat served on a hole rib, Fred Flinston-style. The meal was top notch and the maple syrup fondue for desert was outstanding. We needed to be carried home from all of that fat. Somehow my husband woke up and ran along the Lichine Canal the next morning. I slept.

August 12

The day started out by taking the kids to La Ronde, Montreal's Six Flags amusement park. Why not? They'd spent 10 hours the day before in the car. It was a nice way to start a vacation with a bit of kid fun before some sightseeing and touring. Kids had a blast, but the park was rather small and some of the rides were shut. We finished up at the park early afternoon and took the metro back towards the city and stopped at the Parc Jean-Drapeau to visit the Biosphere Museum. This was fun for the kids to see the different climates in the museum and it was a bit interactive which is always good for young children. From here we took the metro back to our hotel and spent a couple of hours resting before dinner. 

We went to La Maison Kam Fung for dinner. It was perhaps a 20 minute walk from our hotel, and a favorite of Montreal's small Chinatown. A bit confusing to find as the restaurant is in a small mall. The food was good, not great. Atmosphere was ok, but I guess it's the place to go for dim sum. Kids were not terribly impressed and wanted to go back to the hotel to watch Shark Week on the Discovery channel.

August 13

We took the kids to Pointe-a-Calliere, the archeology museum of Montreal. It was informative and interactive. We walked the original 17th century streets undeground, beneath the museum. Kids loved the pirate section and after 2 hours we left and walked around the old town for a bit of exploring and checking out the souvenir shops. This included sampling maple syrup in all of its forms, including maple syrup snow candy. From there we headed to the Jean Talon Market and proceeded to eat our way through the market. The blueberries were divine and the oysters were fresh and we gulped them down. It was fun to try the local cheeses and we bought some local maple syrup.

After a nice rest at the hotel we headed out for dinner at L'Express a bistro serving traditional French cuisine. Our daughter tore through the steak tartare. I'm a sucker for anything with fries (real adventurous) and my husband devoured a bone marrow starter followed by quail. I cannot remember what the boys ate, but I believe the youngest had something that was more towards the kid friendly side. Dinner rocked, and our final night in Montreal was awesome.