Montreal

Thursday, 07.07.2022

Today's day holds many unknowns, our flight is scheduled to depart at 1:10 pm, boarding at 12:30 pm. Before that, a 26 km drive to the airport, unknown traffic situation, refuel, drop off the car, time required ?, check in (online check-in didn't work again) and security check can take longer, and then have breakfast.

We start shortly before 9:00 am, make good progress, only need 35 minutes including refueling. Dropping off the car is done in 2 minutes, we have exactly 4,100 km on the odometer, the previously calculated ideal distance is 3,108 km. Check-in and security check also go smoothly, at 11:00 am we are sitting down for breakfast.

Our flight is displayed with a delay of 50 minutes. That's not so good, because with a flight time of 4 hours 55 minutes and a time difference of 3 hours, we should have arrived in Montreal at 9:05 pm as scheduled. Luckily, it stays at the 50 minutes. When boarding the plane, we notice a sign, Boing 137-800 Max, there was something. Independently of each other, we have the impression that the airplane climbs noticeably slower than we are used to from other takeoffs.

Arriving in Montreal, we go to the car rental counter after picking up our luggage. After our Chevi in Vancouver, this time we get a German make, a BMW 330 i. While getting familiar with Chevi quickly felt like being in a familiar environment, operating the BMW is significantly more complicated. It lights up like a Christmas tree and makes a lot of noises. It takes us about 10 minutes, then everything seems to be clear. The 26 km to the hotel seem quite long, the roads are in a partly very bad condition, there is nothing left of the lane markings, and it's dark.

Finally, we arrive at our hotel and there he is. Not that we weren't expecting him, but why today of all days, Murphy and his law, everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It starts with me being able to turn off the engine of our car, but the lights don't go off and it doesn't lock. Every attempt is met with a honk. The display says shift lever on P. Shift lever is on P, handbrake on, it doesn't work. After searching for a while and another error message - battery in key weak - we find the decisive switch. You have to confirm again that you want to park, it somehow reminds me of Windows. Then we go inside and check-in. We get room 312. The hotel has two entrances, our car is parked at the side entrance. Suitcases out, backpacks on our shoulders, and to the elevator, 3rd floor. There we find rooms 301 to 308. So back down to the reception. We find out that the hotel has two separate buildings that are only connected on the ground floor. So, to the second elevator, 3rd floor, we find room 312. Unfortunately, it is not cleaned. Back down to the reception. Luckily, Murphy wasn't entirely consistent, the hotel is not fully booked, we get another room. After that, drive the car into the underground garage. The hotel has spaces in another building. Drive around the block once, we find the entrance on the second attempt. The gate should open with our room card, but it doesn't. Speak to the reception through an intercom, we are told to wait. After a few minutes, the young man comes and brings us different cards, the gate opens. We walk back to the hotel, it is now 12:13 pm and we are done for today.

Friday, 08.07.2022

After breakfast, as agreed during the night, we check in at the reception. We would like to move into our previously planned room, as it is bigger and has a separate sleeping area. As said, so done, we are told that the room is ready now and we move. But it is time to stroll through the city, half of the morning is almost over. The air conditioning is turned on. We stroll through the old town to the harbor. There is a lot going on here. We decide to go on a ride on the Ferris wheel to get a better overview. Then we go to the street food festival. Here you can find delicacies from all over the world. Hans-Werner chooses Spanish paella and Rotraut goes for Mexican tacos. After that, we continue our walk to the Marché Bonsecours building, which was built in 1847 and used as a town hall until 1878. Today, trendy designer boutiques are housed here. Here we decide to take the self-guided tour through the old town. We visit the square where Montreal was founded on May 17, 1642. During our walk, we pass by the tourist information center and of course, we stop and go inside. A nice young man tells us what's going on in the city and what we should definitely see. We finish our old town tour at Place Jacques Cartier. Now we need a break and walk back to the hotel. When we enter the room, the air conditioning only blows warm air. We had forgotten to press the button for cooling. In the evening, we attend a recommended event near our hotel. Here, a small sample of Cirque du Soleil is performed in public. We enjoy the show with a cold beer in the midst of many Montreal citizens. Afterwards, we follow the crowd to Rue Saint Denis. It was also recommended by the tourist information center. Here, there are more performances by other artists. After a very long day, we walk back to the hotel.

Saturday, 09.07.2022

Today, we have planned a tour with the hop-on-hop-off bus. Thanks to the information from our very kind young man at the tourist information center, we find the bus stop near our hotel. The bus stops are not marked and when the bus comes, you have to wave to make it stop. We drive to Mont Royal and visit the Mount Royal Chalet. From here, you have a very good view over the city, all the way to the Olympic Stadium, where the Summer Olympics took place in Montreal in 1976. In the park, there is a small lake and the Masion Smith to visit. Now we go one more stop to the next lookout. From here, we go back to the city. Here, we find the café 'Le Petit Dep', right next to the Notre Dame Church, the cake is simply amazing and the coffee is super delicious. Actually, we want to go back to the hotel and rest, but we find a different attraction on every street corner. Finally, we reach our hotel and take a break. For dinner, we go back to Rue Saint Denis. We choose an African restaurant and are very impressed. On the way back, we listen to some performances on the street. Today is our last evening here and we are totally thrilled with Montreal, it reminds us of many places in Paris, or rather in Europe. Just before reaching the hotel, we hear and see a bit of a fireworks display, what a farewell.