Week in Montreal

September 3-10

A week at this campsite was probably three days too long, but we both took advantage of the wireless Internet service and access to Montreal.

Getting into Montreal was quite expensive using public transportation, so we chanced it and drove our car in. Fortunately, we found a place to park near Old Town and spent the day walking around. Montreal definitely has a European feel, I would say most comparable to Brussels. We walked through Chinatown, Old Town, and the Plateau area, where we had the famous smoked meat sandwiches standing up at a little Hungarian meat shop. They were likely the same as the ones sold just down the road at Schwartz, the one that made a mention in the guidebooks. The architecture in Old Town isn't that spectacular, a bit dark and conservative, but there were some interesting contemporary art galleries. One in particular focused on graffiti artwork, which is ubiquitous in Montreal.

Montreal is definitely a hip city, with an abundance of cafes, clothing boutiques and restaurants. One of the best outdoor markets that I have ever visited, the Jean-Talon market in the northern part of town near Little Italy, nearly made the entire trip worth it for me. I don't think I have ever seen such variety, all of which was from the Quebec area. Strawberries, blackberries, purple, red, white, yellow potatoes, small and large leeks, huge bunches of basil and parsley, baskets of red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, and on and on. There were also more high-end stalls selling exotic mushrooms, smoked meats, cheeses, etc. I was pretty much in heaven. It was here that I realized what was missing in my backpack travels throughout Asia: I was never able to actually buy and cook any of the fresh food that I always drooled over at the markets. It is so wonderful to shop at these places on our travels and bring back bags of local food to cook up.