Stop Over: Montreal
Our second city stopover, Montreal, began with us saying “Bonjour, Barbie” and heading to the nearby movie theater to catch the new release. It took a little troubleshooting to make sure we didn’t end up in a showing dubbed into French. But, we got it sorted out, hit the Dollarama for movie candy, added a healthy portion of popcorn, and called it dinner.
That evening, on a recommendation from a friend, I made a last minute decision to hit up a spa in Montreal called Bota Bota. It’s situated on a boat in Montreal Harbor and it’s a beautiful little spot to relax. Five stars. Could have spent a whole day there.
We woke up the next morning to rain, so any kind of plan that involved meandering around Montreal neighborhoods was mostly nixed in favor of some indoor plan.
First, on a suggestion from a friend (and later, we realized, just about every where-to-eat guide to Montreal), we had an early lunch at Schwartz’s deli. Our waiter basically took control of our order, told us everything we needed, and then returned with a huge platter of smoked brisket, rye bread, pickles and cole-slaw. It was heaven.
From lunch, we decided to indulge a favorite pastime of each of the kids. First, we hit up a mall-atrium skating rink and then we made our way across the city, catching a few glimpses of Montreal’s Old City charm.
We spent the bulk of the afternoon exploring the very hands-on and fun Montreal Science Center. As we were buying tickets, Ben asked me if it would be like Science and Industry (Chicago) or the museum of transport (Switzerland) or the Nemo (Amsterdam), which reminded me how much these kids have gotten around in the past five years.
As we wrapped up these activities, it was clear that the kids had enough venturing around town, so we wrapped up and returned to camp for the evening. The kids and I went out for pizza and pasta at a spot near camp and then Eli went out to see Oppenheimer, the other film, besides Barbie, that he has been eager to watch.
The stay in Montreal was a little too quick to really get a sense of the city. But, without the advantage of staying near the city (our campground was a solid 35-40 minute drive to the city-center), I think we made the best of it.
We now drive home in earnest, splitting the last 850ish miles of our journey between two long days.
