Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader
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Danforth Ave Toronto
Last week's post includes Friday Toronto - Montreal trip and dinner.
ONE YEAR AGO Pumpkin Spice Latte
FIVE YEARS AGO Coffee To Go 2020
TEN YEARS AGO Palm Springs CA 2015
This is how it feels in Montreal!
SATURDAY
We were up and ready by 9 for John's son to pick us up for a funeral in St. Zotique QC.
Outside the hotel, my contribution to Natalie's Public Art challenge.
The sculpture is titled The Effigy and Children by artist Stephen Schofield.
Visitation was from 8-11 then a service from 11 - 11:30, ashes walked to graveyard for burial. From there we went back to John's sister's house for refreshments.
From there we went back to J's house for a visit with L and the grandkids. Lots of laughs.
We Ubered back to the hotel around 10. A long day.
SUNDAY
Our hotel room.
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19,000 STEPS!!
We were on our own so we planned a walking tour of Griffintown. This is about half of our walking day. As we continued along Notre Dame and then walked back to the hotel.
The plan was to grab lupper (lunch/supper) late afternoon and then get settled into our hotel room for the 8 PM ballgame.
John finally got up at 10 AM!
Out our window.
I had written about this massive complex in August when we were here. Maestria Condominiums.
Some of the places we stopped were covered in my August post Sidewalking Montreal.I also did a separate photo/history heavy post Sidewalking Griffintown.
The plan had been to eat at Grinder, however it didn't open until 5 and we wanted a late lunch.
Protest as we are eating.
Blue Jays Crush Mariners 6-2 in Game 6, Force ALCS Decider
We headed down for coffee and then lazed about until our 12:30 check out time.
Another view of The Ring from the restaurant.
Some photos as we left in the rain and the rapidly shortening days.
Walking by Chinatown.
We have to decide which way to go around Le Palais des congrès, and instead we walked through, it was very impressive with various food and retail services.
But first coffee. It was sooo windy when we headed out at 11. We walked to Old Montreal to Crew Cafe. Housed in the monumental teller room of the former Royal Bank headquarters, It's a collective workspace open to the public and the perfect place to start a tour of Old Montreal. You get to enjoy an excellent cup of coffee while admiring the superb gilded coffered ceiling dating from 1928.
You place your order and then select a seat. John very clearly said twice, and she repeated our order, two cappuccinos and two cheese croissants. She forgot to give John her receipt. John asked for our receipt. Then I saw other people getting their pastry while waiting for coffee. John went back to ask her and she said oh you pick them up at the end of the counter okay......got our coffees and went to the counter end as John's name was being called. It was where the bagels were made, I checked the receipt and she had entered bagels with cream cheese! Back to the cashier, apologies and we finally got our croissants. We were probably overcharged.
Simply gorgeous! There were an incredible number of tourists just walking in to take photos, even tour groups were brought in.
Inside the InterContinental Hotel, formerly The Nordheimer Building, I had shown from the outside in August.
Dendrites is composed of two huge staircases sculptures. Placed on either side of Rue Notre-Dame and integrated at the north threshold of the Bonaventure project, the hybrid-shaped sculptures emerge from the ground like two great industrial-looking trees.
The term “dendrite” refers to the branched extensions of neurons, which propagate cerebral stimulations from the brain. It also means a ramification, a tree-like grouping of branchings of a network or system. The two elements that form the work reproduce this neuronal phenomenon on the scale of the landscape.
Griffintown is historically an old working class neighbourhood of Irish immigrants and their descendants, which is now experiencing huge condo and highrise projects and gentrification. The name of Griffintown comes from Mary Griffin, who obtained the land and sub-divided it in early 1800’s. Griffintown lies within Notre Dame Street to the north, the Lachine Canal to the south, the Bonaventure Expressway to the east and the old St. Gabriel lock to the west. Many of the old factories of the late 19th and early 20th century are still standing.
Some of the many condo developments.
The architectural design is inspired by the shapes of a canoe and the boreal forests, paying homage to the Cree culture.
Thirsty hot work. Le Petit Dep, was already one of Montreal's most Instagrammable cafés following its opening in 2021.
The plan had been to eat at Grinder, however it didn't open until 5 and we wanted a late lunch.
After discussing where we should eat, we decided to go to Ste. Catherine St. near the hotel.
We chose Cochon Dingue (Crazy Pig) as we had eaten in one in Levis QC a few years on our way back from the Maritimes.
We both had:
Choice of house sauce: Dingue, peppercorn, mushroom or mustard. Served with fries and green salad 170 g $30,95 each.
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Just something I picked up along the way.
Settled in to watch the game!
Blue Jays Crush Mariners 6-2 in Game 6, Force ALCS Decider
MONDAY
It was a dreary dark morning. We had tentative plans but decided the weather didn't match.
The hotel is within Complex Desjardins which is a large mall with a huge food court and stores, including a grocery store and a SAQ (Quebec Liquor Board) along with at least 4 sit down restaurants. We decided that this is the place to stay, although it is pricy.
Complex Desjardins and hotel are just under the Quartier des Spectacles.
We headed down for coffee and then lazed about until our 12:30 check out time.
We took our suitcase and bags and wandered west along Ste. Catherine debating what we wanted to do. It started raining so we decided that the best thing would be to get underground. See map above, we went in at Place Ville Marie (connected to Central Station and the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. We found the large food hall but it was filled with office workers.
A different angle, looking towards the Mountain.
Walking through the Queen Elizabeth Hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Oko's "Bed-In for Peace" unfolded in 1969, you can rent the room if you are so inclined.
After some time we found a place in PVM, however, John's GPS app was a little confused.
Place Ville Marie is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, comprising four office buildings(11,2,3,4 Place Ville Marie at street level) and an underground shopping plaza. The main building, 1 Place Ville Marie, was built in the International style in 1962 as the headquarters for the Royal Bank of Canada.
We found Les Enfants Terribles and quickly decided it would be our go-to when in Montreal. We chose to sit at the bar as we only wanted side dishes. Fantastic service from the bartender (who looked and sounded like Mr. Big) along with very decent prices.
Beet hummus and crispy wontons. Delicious.
Caesar Salad and Ahi tuna.
Another view of The Ring from the restaurant.
We headed to the VIA train business lounge for a while then boarded at 4:10 PM.
A quiet ride, compared to Friday's, with a 30 minute delay "due to rail traffic".
My gingered beef would have been good if it hadn't been microwaved to mush!
Luckily, we were able to get a cab home before the ball game finished!
I tried getting an Uber, but because of the game, it kept showing my location at the Rogers Centre, at Rees St.
Once home, we watched the recorded game.
TUESDAY
We both wanted scrambled eggs this morning and then just relaxed the rest of the morning.
We headed out on the 3:20 first stop was Union Station and Shake Shack.
Then we had a 4:45 reservation at Beertown to meet John's daughter (we had seen her on Saturday at the funeral) who was in Toronto for business and had a 8:30 flight back to Montreal.
Our first time in Beertown and it was packed on a Tuesday! We are really liked it and it had an amazing gluten free menu. The only downside was the gluten free burger bun as it fell apart.
The tuna tacos were absolutely amazing, full of tuna. John had the burger and J had the GF chicken salad which also looked good.
Caught this photo on the way home!
This week's Union Samples nada, Longo's specials nada.
WEDNESDAY
The day started with sunshine but we had rain in the afternoon so John moved his golf to Friday.
John did a Costco run, unfortunately the jerky never made it home. See under cooking for the rest of my day.
Look at the number of scallions he bought!
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I tended to my neglected plants, they were begging me!
We unpacked the suitcase from the weekend.
Booked our Covid and flu shots for tomorrow. The pharmacist called and asked if we had a preference to Moderna or Pfizer as they were waiting for a delivery of high dose Pfizer, so we went with the Moderna.
I love how these huge corporations love to nickel and dime us. I can just see a bunch of overpaid minions sitting around looking for more revenue from their loyal customers.
I mean how many legacy customers do you have to make this worthwhile?? Most people jump providers every other day?????? I guess paying the middle man, the credit company, also involves a cost.
As a valued TELUS customer, we’d like to provide a final reminder about upcoming changes to your account. Your current rate plan includes a legacy $5 monthly pre-authorized credit discount. Starting with your next bill on October 31, 2025, we will be discontinuing this discount.
To keep your $5 monthly discount, sign up for pre-authorized bank payments in your My TELUS account before October 31, 2025. Linking your bank account is fast, simple, and secure. You can choose to either enter your online banking login or input your transit number, institution number, and account number.
No, thanks, I'll keep charging it to my credit card, get my points and at least deal with a company that still cares about customers. You don't need my banking info.
I really do like their service and have gotten sweet deals in the past with them.
THURSDAY
As we waited.
On our way.
We caught the 9:35 for our 10:20 shots at Rexall. As usual, Eric and Carol were there, both such pleasant people to deal with. Carol gave us both our injections Moderna right should and flu in the left shoulder.
There was lots of activity along the lake, film crews were taking up at least three of the parking lots and giant lights were located around the swimming pool and Sunnyside Pavilion. This is definitely a big budget production. You can click here to see the current filming schedule.
I was right! From the Humber Bay discussion group!
Hollywood is along the Lake Shore today. Season 5 of Reacher. Sunnyside Pavilion is getting transformed into Philadelphia!
See us in the background? Two brownish buildings in the middle?
FRIDAY
We both had sore arms when we got up. John headed out to lunch and golf with a friend. I was supposed to meet up with my BFF but she had the start of a head cold.
I headed out to get what we needed for the weekend, not much. The city is abuzz with baseball fever and many people were dressed in their baseball attire.
Walking to Longo's.
John snapping the fall colours on the golf course.
They had met for lunch at Stacked beforehand. He says he had the best gluten free pancakes EVAH, better than mine!
BASEBALL! We've got our tickets and dinner in front of the TV!
WE WON GAME 1!
A slice of Canadian culture:
Street musician covers the Barenaked Ladies as thousands of Blue Jays fans bask in post-win euphoria after Game 1 of the World Series.
Police ask him to shut it down for crowd control, and he obliges—politely urging the crowd not to boo.
A few revellers wonder aloud why the street can’t be closed for such a historic sports moment.
The crowd sings O Canada, chants for the Blue Jays, and then peacefully disperses.
AROUND THE CITY
Wonders will never cease!
OOPS SPOKE TOO SOON! WHAT A SURPRISE!
COOKING
On Wednesday I cleaned out the fridge in preparation for Costco. I also went through the freezer and took two small containers of barley soup and beef broth out to use. I hope to use the broth for a gravy.
I froze two containers of turkey soup to add to an old container, which we couldn't find before Thanksgiving that I could have used for gravy.
I baked two loaves of cinnamon raisin bread.
I deboned the Costco rotisserie chicken and put the bones in a pot with onions and celery to make a small batch of stock that I will use with tonight's Alfredo and tomorrow's chicken stew.
Saturday - Montreal family piri-piri chicken. This lead to a conversation about where we had it.
We first had piri-piri with friends M and C. Then we tried The Portuguese Chicken Guys here in Toronto. We had piri-piri wraps in the KLM lounge at Pearson and they were delicious! John then had it in Portugal.
Sunday - Montreal steak frites
Monday - Montreal PVM and train
Tuesday - out
Wednesday - rotisserie chicken Alfredo
Thursday - rotisserie chicken stew
Friday - steak fajitas (tomatoes, green peppers, onions, salsa, guacamole) hot sauce, sour cream. John's request as A) he loves them and B) we need something we can eat in front of the baseball game!
We're watching an old season 13 of MasterChef Australia and were mesmerized with this pressure test.
Contestants had to replicate guest chef Khanh Nguyen's pork wellington. Contestants Pete and Tommy had more success, receiving praise for their well-cooked pork and crackling.
WATCHING
BASEBALL
We finished Task and started season 3 of The Diplomat.
READING
2025 Irish Book Awards Shortlist I see that the second volume of Joseph O'Connor is on the list. He is a favourite author of mine. The Ghost of Rome.
I started Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue and much as I wanted to like it I couldn't.
I did start Coming to Find You, it is well written and has a dual narrative of a WWII storyline.
Here's a cute book challenge.
What a week! I'm sorry it included a funeral, but happy to hear about good times with friends and family..
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