No Sleep Until Montreal

Last night, the overnight private party bus departed from Manhattan. Despite everyone having to hoof it to the 42nd st and 12th ave (but we ended up going up the upper east side), and surprisingly no one forgot their passports, the trip was a success.

This was key as we were all headed to Katie's homeland for her wedding to my Sweep the Leg teammate Sunjay. Montreal was a destination wedding for everyone and a compromise for all those traveling to celebrate this auspicious occaision! We have all been eagerly awaiting this expected-to-be epic weekend!

Munching dried mangos, drinking ice tea and vodka, and playing games, the 8 hour ride was relatively smooth and quick. We even met probably the best looking border agents you can imagine. Just not what we expected at 6 am at the Canadian border.

We arrived at the Hotel Place d'Armes - our hotel and wedding reception venue. As a group, most of us walked through Chinatown and previewed the party street called Rue St-Catherine. Here we ate at Eggspectations - a restaurant dedicated to eggs every which way.

Caitlin, Allison, and I were sharing a room which was still not ready after breakfast. We decided to head down to the Old Port where we ran into other guests. Kyle joined us as we explored the canals and for some reason Kyle got really excited about an old silo warehouse.

We then wandered Rue St-Paul where I pretty much walked by every restaurant recommendation given to me by colleagues and friends who have visited Montreal. We walked past Hotel de Ville (City Hall), the 3 Palaces of Justice, and Champs de Mars.

We made our way back to the hotel where our room was still not ready, understandably as it wasn't even noon yet. We rested for a bit in the lobby and were about to head out again, when our room was just made available. After showering and napping, we made plans to meet Brendan and Gary at Schwartz's - a Jewish deli famous for their smoked meat. Delicious! We then walked to La Banquise which had Poutine every which way. Poutine is a classic Montreal dish of fries, cheese curd, and gravy.

Gary, Brendan & Allison with 3 different types of
Poutines washed down with Boreale Blonde Beer

On our way back to the hotel, we walked by the Fountain Park where we observed a Rhythmic Gymnastics class for beginners. Not really, but they were doing interesting things with hoola hoops...

We tried to nap a little after returning to our hotel, but we quickly got ready for some dinner plans out. We ended up in Place Jacques-Cartier where we ate at Jardin Nelson with about 12 folks. The food was good and the service was great (the poor waitress took it in stride while being hit on by the guys). Post-dinner, everybody went to Big in Japan, a speakeasy bar. But I was too tired and headed back to the hotel.

Dinner at Jardin Nelson

So I wasn't planning on blogging like on my other trips, but after seeing the Pink Power Ranger who was also on the first season of Felicity in front of our hotel, I had to blog this weekend! Kudos to Caitlin and Allison for recognizing the Pink Power Ranger (aka Amy Jo Johnson)!