Montreal, Quebec

Montreal is in an entirely different country, yet it is less than 2 hours from our place on Lake Champlain. We could drive to Montreal in half the time it takes to drive to Boston. And, on a Thursday a couple of weeks ago, we did. We left at 8:30am and returned at 4:30pm. We took our passports but didn’t take the dogs – we didn’t want to risk having them detained at the border. But it wasn’t a particularly long day for them. I am sure they would have enjoyed meeting some French-speaking dogs, but staying at home was best for all concerned.

The hightlight of our trip was lunch at Lester’s Deli, an iconic Montreal deli famous for its “smoked meat” sandwiches. I, of course, had to try one. The smoked meat is brisket and the result is a smoky version of a corned beef sandwich. Pretty good. I also ordered a side of poutine, a Montreal staple. It is a pile of French fries, soaked in gravy and covered with melted cheese. It sounds disgusting, right? But I was assured that if I tried it I would love it. So I tried it. It is disgusting.

We also wandered the area around Lester’s and were surprised to find that it had a heavy Hassidic Jewish population. There was some interesting architecture as well. I don’t recall ever seeing triple-deckers with three front doors. I would like to tour one of these buildings sometime and see how the stairs are arranged. We also saw many buildings where the main entrance was on the second floor, with some *very* long staircases to the front door. I had to wonder how dangerous those stairs would be in the winter.

We drove around some other neighborhoods but found the traffic and the parking conditions to be daunting, so we only got out of the car on top of Mont Royal. There is a terrific panoramic view of the city from that promontory, but the photo didn’t turn out. Don’t know why. I guess you will either have to take my word for it or go see it for yourself.