Here we go, WordPressers! Jamming two days into one post.
My husband went off to his all day meeting early, the first one and longest one of this trip. So he was leaving us H Girls for the day to have fun on our own.
Our plan for the day was to eat, shop and hang out by the pool till he got back. We got out of our hotel at a decent time in the morning, and guess what? The girls wanted to go eat breakfast at Artisans across the street! haha And, I did as well. Their crepes are so good! But the catch this morning for them was not just to have crepes, but they also were promised a donut from Tim Hortons. So after our delicious round of crepes we went to the underground to grab some donut holes to enjoy at the pool. Timmy Hs is like a better tasting version of our Dunkins.
At this part of our morning, we were concerned that the pool area would be too packed to find loungers, and made our way back to our hotel as fast as we could. The day before was a slight challenge to grab that many loungers together. We made it to the roof pool to find a set of chairs available just as we walked, with an umbrella, too. Score! We enjoyed a few hours of swimming and suntanning, and eating Timmy Hs.
Right after the much needed pool time, we got ready to go shopping around the underground. Their underground is my favorite part of the city. The selection of stores and food stalls, and the amount of them there, are impressive. So many name brands, and so many people!! I found a lot of good finds, and with the exchange rate a lot of good deals.
Thank God I had my kids with me to carry bags! haha
After shopping, we grabbed a coffee then made our way closer towards our hotel. We walked through the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel, where they had featured the John Lennon art pieces from the day before. We happened upon a new exhibit in the lounge area. This lounge area showed a visual media show along the walls and columns. It was a stunning story, engulfing the space with the history of Canada. It was beautiful. And peaceful. And the hotel had strong AC on which we all needed!
We met up with my husband, freshened up for dinner, then took a walk toward Old Port to check out some sights with the sunset before dinner. This night we had made dinner reservations for Escondite, a Mexican restaurant, for 7:30PM.
We got seated in a cute booth that was decked out with vintage lighting, real reminiscent of the 1970’s. This place was a lot of eclectic cuteness in one place. An influencer’s wet Instagram dream. There were so many spots for a perfect photo, it was almost like it was constructed for that purpose.
We enjoyed our dinner here. We started off with a margarita media noche for me and a mojito del’king for my husband, then guacamole with their homemade chips and corn bread for the table. My family also is obsessed with cornbread, I don’t think I ever shared that fact. Then we ordered a slew of tacos (a baja set, an al pastor set, and an en puerco set), oh, and nachos for our daughter. It was a pig out feast. Except the nachos, which were tasty just tiny and not what we all expected. Everything was delicious, however, but my cocktail was quite exquisite.
After dinner we took a great walk around the Old Port, and ended up in front of Chez Catherine. The place where my family loves to get dessert crepes. I swear, I don’t know how we got there, but there we were. They all got dessert crepes, and happily ate them outside on the patio. I sat there laughing because how could they be hungry still!?!? This time my husband and oldest daughter got ice cream topped crepes, one banana with salted caramel and one chocolate with strawberries, and our youngest got a chocolate dipped cone.
How much ice cream can these guys eat?!!? ;P
We ended our night walking the commons along the water, browsing at all the shopping stalls set up around the piers. It was a beautiful night together.
Last day:
We started another beautiful day with my husband going off early to a meeting. Womp. But, our plan was to take advantage of the weather by swimming, being ready in time before he returned, which was to be about 1PM.
Well, we decided to forego swimming because we packed up the room later than we figured. We re-planned to, of course, eat crepes, then, take a walk shopping around Saint Catherine Street. Saint Catherine Street is like a much larger version of Newbury Street in Boston. Lots of shops, cafes, businesses, restaurants and city parks along the large boulevard. High end shops and restaurants.
We had such a great time shopping. We found a lot of unique stores, which my favorite was an unmarked party supplies shop. Which if you know me, you know I have friends over all the time and throw big parties every few months. So, needless to say, we spent a long time in the shop. I bought a lot of supplies I just can’t find back home. And with the foreign exchange rate, I made a killing on these good purchases!
We then met up with my husband at the hotel. Packed up the car, and made our way home. We made one stop in Vermont on our way home for an ice cream and a stretch! (and like I mentioned a few posts ago, we made it home in time for fireworks before the Fourth!)
Montreal is too close to Boston to miss out. So glad we made this trip happen last minute!
Valeria Out Loud 