As for the last week of vacation, we've been wanting to take a trip to Montreal and Quebec City for a while now, and we decided this the perfect time to go!
PLAY
Mount Royal Park
This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same man that designed NYC's Central Park. So yeah, it was a good park. We loved the playground and the beautiful landscaping. It is a great place to take kids and let them do the wonderful things kids love to do; climb, run, and scream.
Jean-Talon Market
I absolutely loved this market. There were hundreds of varieties of fruits and vegetables and all kinds of artisan foods. Sawyer enjoyed looking at the different meats; there was deer, rabbit, bison, duck, horse, and quail. The best part was that most vendors gave samples of their perfectly ripe fruit.
Hop On-Hop Off Bus Tour
Aaron got us some free tickets for this on a deal, although normally its ~$40 for adults, and free for kids under 6. It was two hours long, and I thought that the boys would be long gone after 30 minutes, but they were entertained for most of the time, especially on top! The great thing about the bus tour is that your wrist bands get you on and off buses anytime you want for two full days. If your kids are getting tired you can get off and get back on again when you feel like it. I'd highly recommend taking the bus tour if you go to Montreal, or any city that has double-decker buses, our kids loved it!
I noticed that a trend in Montreal is to make hanging banners out of all kinds of materials. I'm kind of obsessed with them now. I saw them all over the city; parties in the park, events in the city, on peoples porches, everywhere. One that really stood out was at a theater playing Mary Poppins, above the street they had strung hundreds of small black umbrellas. Darling!
Walking Around the City
The city of Montreal has beautiful old houses and buildings. I also love that everything is in French, in language and style. I almost felt like I was back in France!
This is the only decent family picture we got on the trip. It may be blurry, but I love that its genuine: kids moving all over, parents trying to keep it together haha!
If you go to Montreal you must go to Notre Dame. It is a replica of the same one in Paris. Inside is breathtaking. I am always amazed at the talent craftsmen used to have, just the woodwork on the pews must have taken years to create. Aaron and I try to take our boys to beautiful places like this so that they can gain an appreciation for beautiful things. Even babies can appreciate the vast space, colors, and patterns that are so rich in old cathedrals like this.
EAT
We try to spend as little as possible when we travel, yet still experience all that we can while in the city. So we only eat one big meal at a restaurant (usually lunch) and the other two meals are usually light and easy to prepare from our hotel (Airbnb) room. Montreal had so many good places to eat, and if you go you need to try Poutine, a classic Montreal dish made of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds. Another place I'd recommend is L'oeurfrier. It serves lunch and breakfast items, and it is a franchise, so you can find them all over Quebec. At the particular one we went to they gave the kids popsicles to suck on while we waited for our food. Um, brilliant! And the popsicles were just frozen fruit smoothies so they were healthy as well. The food was really good, and there was a lot of it. The price wasn't too bad either, my salmon eggs benedict cost $9 (U.S. dollars). Aaand they have a waffle covered with nutella and bacon. So yeah, you need to go.
There are so many more things to do in Montreal that we didn't have time to go to. We also found out that there are a lot of street festivals in Montreal during the early part of July. I was so bummed we missed it! If we go to Montreal again we will try to visit while all the festivals are going on.
If you plan a trip to Montreal, I'd recommend checking a city calendar of events to see if there is any festivals or special events that you would wan to plan your trip around. Montreal is a great city for families to visit, especially since most attractions don't charge entrance fees for kids under 6 years old. Most everyone speaks French and English, but it is helpful to learn some key directional phrases, like north, south, east, and west. Because all the signs are in French...
The other great thing is that Airbnb was very inexpensive. We had a whole apartment to ourselves for $24/night. The cool thing was that it was an older apartment built in a French style with tall ceilings, a subway tile bathroom and black bathtub! It didn't have air conditioning so that was a downside, but overall I couldn't complain for $24.
As far as traveling with kids, well, Montreal was rough. We made some mistakes, learned from them, and then had a much smoother time in Quebec City, I'll explain more in my next post.
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