Marie took us to "Les Halles d'Anjou" in the morning for coffee and a light breakfast, as well as some shopping for dinner ingredients in the wonderful meat and cheese markets, as well as the seasonal vegetable market near the entrance. Duly fortified, we dropped off our wares back at the residence, then went on our way to play tourist.
Turns out the Biodome is closed on Mondays from September to March, so we went directly to the Olympic Stadium, where we took the funicular to the top for the amazing views, and then back down and across the street to the Botanical Gardens. Even though we were late in the season, the Gardens were beautiful--especially the Chinese Garden, decorated with lighted "lanterns" (in shapes from traditional to whimsical) for an annual exhibition. We headed home after that to start work on dinner, since Christopher and I were cooking.
We did the very American thing of using our cheese course (a brie and a camembert) as appetizer, then went on to a main course of steak in pepper sauce and roasted potatoes. Dessert was brownies and ice cream. A nice blend of the French and the American.
Tuesday, September 16th
Before we started touristing, Marie insisted we needed a proper brunch, so we went to Chez Cora for massive ham and swiss crepes (Marie and me), and a full breakfast with "foggy" eggs for Christopher. (Scrambled eggs are "brouille" in French--literally that means they're foggy.)
Christopher and I did play tourist all over town that day. We started by going back to the Biodome (it's a kind of zoo/botanical set-up with 4 different areas representing the Tropics, the Arctic, the Laurentians, and the St Lawrence River). Then we made our way to Vieux Montreal, visiting the Basilica and the shops (and tried some Maple Sugar Cotton Candy). Next we dropped into the Underground City and did some shopping. And finally another trip up Mont Royal, where this time we hiked around to the top so that we could get a good look at the city.
For dinner, Marie took Christopher and me to L'Academie--a restaurant in her neighborhood, but definitely not a "neighborhood restaurant." The ambiance is a little modern (ie. loud, because it's a large box), but the sunset was beautiful through the high windows. Our waiter was friendly and did pretty well speaking to us in both English and French as he tried to explain the specials. We uncorked our bottle of wine and enjoyed another amazing meal. We started with salads and bread, then moved into main courses. Marie had "Riz de Veau" (which she had trouble translating, but tasted quite nice, actually), Christopher had a filet mignon, and I had "Jarre d'Agneau"--rack of lamb in an amazing sauce.
** sidenote ** I love that in Montreal (and much of Quebec), there are restaurants where you are asked to bring your own wine. These places do the uncorking and the pouring for no extra fees. I wish they'd do that in the States. ** end sidenote **
Although Marie and Christopher each took coffee after dinner, we made our way back to Marie's for a light dessert of leftovers before splitting up for the night.
(still more coming soon...)
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