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. 

From the market, we just explored a couple different neighborhoods all filled with adorable restaurants, bakeries, mom and pop shops, and funky clothing stores. Here we're a few highlights:

Portuguese Pastel de Natas

Trou de Beigne- Doughnuts : tasty but a uniquely different doughnut base than any donut I've ever had. Had more bounce to it, maybe like a yeast roll.

Next we moved on to a famous bagel shop, St-Viateur,  to try a Canadian bagel. They differ from New York bagels because they're thinner and sweeter because they are boiled in honey water before being baked. I love bagels in general so I needed to give it a try. Well I don't mean to be anti patriotic or anything but they are way better than NY bagels!  We got a sesame bagel and it was slightly sweeter but the texture was just awesome. Big fan here!

 

Then we found this adorable walk up shop that sold homemade pasta sauce in jars and freshly made gnocchi in take out boxes at a  little window counter. It started to rain so it's awning was the perfect little spot to grab another snack. Plus the aroma filled the street.

The rain kept going so after the pillowy goodness, it worked out that KemCoba, a well known ice cream shop on Will's list, happened to be next door!

Finally the rain stopped and we popped into more shops and funky stores. Then we made our way over to the very famous Schwartz's Deli that is known for its smoked meat sandwiches.  It's a definite tourist trap but it is also freaking delicious. We weren't expecting to be impressed and just figured we should try it as it was a big thing here. But no joke, it was yum!

After that we headed back to the film fest to see our 2/3 movie.  The movie was called The Phantom Detective and it was Korean with English subtitles. It was the perfect combination of action, comedy, and a mystery and it even included some heartfelt emotion because one part brought me to tears. I freaking loved it. In my typical "movies in a foreign country" fashion, I fell asleep here and there because I was exhausted from the day but I saw most of it. :). Loved it!

After the movie we made our way to Old Montreal which definitely has the European feel that I had heard about. First we stopped into the Notre Dame Cathedral which was super pretty!! 

From there we just walked around. There were lots of cute restaurants and bars and we had dinner at this really cute place with live music!

  

After walking around Old Montreal, we headed to Quartier des Spectacles where they had a big festival going on. There were a bunch of light installations on buildings, carnival rides, games from around the world, and all kinds of activities for free!  It was the perfect weather for it too! So cool and breezy! 

 

 

   

 

After playing some games and going through a fun maze, we called it a day and went home!