Au revoir Montreal!

Today was our last day in Montreal!  Luckily we accomplished everything on our to do list so today was a lazy day. We slept in and leisurely packed up our stuff. After getting everything ready to go, we headed to the Underground City to check it out. Basically it is a huge "mall" of sorts underground and is connected to certain subway stops and some office buildings. It covers a large part of downtown and has a range from nicer brand name stores to random other shops and eateries. It is apparently more busy during the cold winter where no one wants to be walking out and about in the freezing weather. It wasn't anything too exciting but it was worth checking out.

 Next we went to the Halles du Gare which is the area around the train station. Here there are all kinds of fun food stalls and one of them is Boulangerie Premiere Moisson where we ate lunch. This bakery is a famous bakery in Montreal that is famous for their fresh bread and other baked goods. The original store is in another part of Montreal but now they have several outposts. Will and I got a sandwich and some desserts to share and it was delicious!  After that we got another bagel, this time from another famous bagel shop, called Fairmont. I'm definitely going to miss these Canadian bagels!!

Much to see at the Museums!

Today was tourist day!  We woke up early to get a head start to the museums right when they opened. We want to the which is where the old Olympic stadiums are housed and where a bunch of the museums are.

First, we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was super pretty and was huge.  

 

 

Allons-y à la plage!

Today we gave our feet a break which worked out because I forgot my FitBit. So far I've been clocking in about 30,000 steps a day which makes for tired feet!  Today we decided to go to Parc Jean Drapeau which is the name of two small islands in the middle of Montreal, created on a man-made lake.

This park is awesome and is the home of an amusement park, the Biosphere and other museums, an aquatic center, a casino, an open water swimming area, and a Formula 1 track which becomes an awesome place for cyclists and rollerbladers.  It's so neat!!  In addition, one of the islands is a fun "beach" where you can swim in the water. When Will and I were discussing what to pack, I was surprised when he told me to pack a swimsuit and that this "beach" existed. I was super excited because he also mentioned they had all kinds of water activities and one of them was wakeboarding!! Will knew I have been wanting to try that for some time so that was on our agenda today. Unfortunately when we got to the beach, the wakeboarding park was closed due to what we think was mechanical issues. Womp womp!  However, we still had tons of fun!  We went stand up paddleboarding, laid out in the sun, and played on an aqua-obstacle course called Aquazilla!! It was the perfect way to get some relaxation in after such a busy day yesterday. 

This was what the beach looked like when it first opened and no one was there. Soon there would be tons of people on both the sand and grass laying out and picnicking!

Montreal by foot.

Last night's movie didn't start until past midnight and we got there about an hour early to get in line. I'm surprised that Montreal is a late night city with most restaurants and even Starbucks open until about 2am. While I couldn't believe I was starting a movie at midnight, the restaurants and bars were just getting started. I had no real idea what this movie was about but it was called the Greasy Strangler and Will said it was a campy horror movie. Well I should've known it was going to be totally weird and goofy because while we were waiting in line, a character from the movie came out to greet everyone and he was basically wearing a speedo and had a bunch of huge, phallic shapes balloons coming out of his crotch. He even handed out trading cards with his picture on them. Needless to say, the movie was totally weird and strange but hilarious and entertaining.  I can't even tell you what it was about because it was just so strange but Will and I now have some one-liners to last us a lifetime.

Fast forward to this morning and we slept in. Today's agenda was basically a Will-created food tour but with a movie half way through which was perfect because the forecast called for a midday heavy thunderstorm. 

First we started by going to Marche Jean-Talon.  Going to markets in general is one of my favorite things to do in a new city but this one was especially good. They had so many funky specialty shops and food stands as well as a full fruit and veggie market. It makes sense though because Montreal is a big food city. 

Bienvenue à Montreal!

We woke up at 4am this morning to head to the airport for our trip to Montreal. While we typically go on longer and more exotic international destinations, Will has been wanting to go to this film festival, Fantasiafest, for a while now and he was finally going to get to do one of his picks!  So while we are mainly here for the Fantasia Film Festival, Will had also promised to have other fun things planned.  In our relationship, the person who picks the trip does most, if not all, of the planning and Will wasn't playing around.  As I was packing last night, Will let me know he already had reservations for almost every meal and he already had places he wanted to go all mapped out so today when he landed, I knew he already had a plan ready to go.  Here's his map.  All those little pins are his.  Man, do I love this guy.