Hey Everyone!
Here we are on day two:
The big man left early for his half day of meetings, so the girls and I ventured out to find breakfast nearby. One of the cooler things about Montreal is that there is a whole underground city right under your feet in the city! Their subway system is probably one of the most organized underground systems, and it comes along with a whole world of shopping, salons, bakeries, and cafes. It is what makes Montreal, Montreal! This comes in super handy when it is unbearable outside, the whole city goes underground. Which can be great to actually walk the streets.
The girls and I had a great time grabbing coffee at the Starbucks under Bonaventure Place, for the first one of the trip, and making our way in the underground finding a boulangerie, a bakery. There was so much to see and smell, it was actually quite amazing, but the amount of people who use the underground for food is simply impressive. Highly recommend taking a day to search through all of it. We grabbed 2 plain croissants (one for each girl), a chocolate croissant (for my youngest), a brioche cinnamon roll (for my oldest) and a braided bacon bread (pour moi). I split half of almost everything to have at the pool later, and scarfed down the rest at the central seating area while watching some of the World Cup.
‘Have you had the bread?!?’. Gah bread is my favorite food group. YES, that thick, crunchy and airy type bread, though. Oh, and croissants. Holy buttery awesomeness. I am so glad to live in a city with not this caliber of breads. My kids take after me too. They wanted me to get like three more croissants each right after eating one, but no. haha
We rushed back to the hotel to hit the pool because this time I was NOT going to show up to no chairs. But guess what? I found only one to start, but then this really nice, GIANT, French speaking man waved me over to take some loungers he saw freeing up near him. Which was super nice. Actually, people in Montreal, all around, are gracious, polite and generous with their smiles. This guy at the pool went out of his way to help me out, why? Just because he was a nice person, and maybe nosey haha jk. But I’d of done the same thing for someone else I saw struggling with kids or alone, because I am nosey. I mean nice hahaha.
My husband ended up arriving two hours later because of timing and traffic, which wasn’t that big of a deal. I pushed a lil pool time on him so the girls could get tossed around in the water. You know, real father daughter time. He is a pretty big guy and crazy strong, and patient as heck, so he can take on the girls’ pool energy; picking them up on his shoulders, tossing them a handful of feet away or whatever horseplay that lasts a long while. Long enough to tire them out and let me be alone in the sunshine… silent. We were at the pool from 10:50AM to 4:30PM, and the girls still grumbled when I said it was time to get ready to go out. haha
We quickly got ready to go out for a night on the town! We walked through old port to our destination, the Notre Dame basilica. Before the trip we had plans to go to see Lumina in the woods of Coaticook, a multimedia show done by Moment Factory, the company my husband was collaborating with for his company. But going there didn’t pan out with the amount of time we had, so we got tickets to their other show, Aura inside the Basilica of Notre Dame!
WHICH WAS SO GREAT!!
By chance, a viral YouTube video was floating around Facebook a month ago. So I sort of knew what to expect for this show but not really. Gosh, this show was special. The whole basilica was bathed in so many different types of lights and lasers, and the music was spectacular that went with it. There was even a part where the whole basilica looked like it was under glass that was facing a storm, and the storm was so strong it was breaking through the glass… it looked so real that when it broke open everyone flinched!! So amazing. I can’t even give it enough justice with words.
I felt so lucky to be there. We got out of the show just in time for our dinner reservation at Holder Brassiere. We had THE best waitress, she was beyond friendly; and the food was perfection on a plate. I got the veal steak & frites, and holy wow. I ate the whole thing, every fry, too. So good. My husband got the filet mignon with vegetable risotto special, which was to die for too! The girls shared panko crusted, or Holder style, fish and chips that was crispy and eaten in minutes flat. haha I love my lil piggies.
While we were eating, the girls were talking dessert with their dad, cause that is how my family rolls.. “Oh, look, I am eating food. So, let’s talk about what we will eat after we eat all this food we haven’t finished yet. Because, FOOD!” haha I wish I was kidding, but I am not. 🙂 Ok so we were talking dessert, and we promised to take them for their first crepes. There was a fun spot along the boardwalk of Vieux Port down the street, Chez Catherine. It was super cute inside, with seating outside on the street. We got a caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream crepe for my husband and oldest to split, a mint choc chip ice cream (because I love mint) and a chocolate ice cream; everything was amazing!
We ended the night full of awesome food and cocktails, walking around the boardwalk. There is so much nightlife! On the walk back to the hotel, we saw the light show that was going on all over the city, Cite Memorie. There was a map of locations where they set up street light shows; interactives or projections, but there were so many stops in Old Port. A definite must see. Some were streams of vintage movies, or changed adverts, or just words streaming, just real cool stuff. The best was the interactve down one of the alleys, it went from a babbling brook, then as you walked on it changed to rustling leaves to a bright path to a bloody path, etc etc. Super fun!
It was a great day!!
Valeria Out Loud 