Last weekend we hopped on the train and went to Montreal to visit Peter and Emily during the end of their summer in the city!
It wasn't our first visit to Montreal (2013, 2016), and Emily and Peter are leaving in the next couple of weeks, so the weekend was full of lots of random exploring, with some Kijiji furniture pick-ups mixed in.
We arrived on Friday evening and were greeted at their apartment by some birthday decorations and a Mexi Dip birthday cake for Elizabeth. It was a great surprise after the 5 hour train ride, and we also enjoyed playing a game of Sushi Go Go before bed.
On Saturday morning, we headed in the direction of Saint-Henri, in search of an artisan market in the area. Unfortunately we got the time wrong, so there was no artisan market (Planning Fail #1), but we did take the opportunity to check out the regular Atwater Market and stopped at a restaurant for some brunch.
We arrived on Friday evening and were greeted at their apartment by some birthday decorations and a Mexi Dip birthday cake for Elizabeth. It was a great surprise after the 5 hour train ride, and we also enjoyed playing a game of Sushi Go Go before bed.
On Saturday morning, we headed in the direction of Saint-Henri, in search of an artisan market in the area. Unfortunately we got the time wrong, so there was no artisan market (Planning Fail #1), but we did take the opportunity to check out the regular Atwater Market and stopped at a restaurant for some brunch.
After brunch, we continued exploring and decided to go to the Planetarium to check out two of their shows. Planning Fail #2 of the day: while we were on the subway we realized that by the time we got to the Planetarium we would have missed their English shows for the day.
While we were planning our next move, we headed to the location of the Montreal Symphonique, an epic event featuring a number of performers, which was taking place later that evening at the base of Mont Royal. We enjoyed a sound check with people who had already claimed their spots for the evening 5 hours before the show was due to start!
By this point, we had been outside in the sun for quite a while so we decided to make our way towards an indoor activity, Arcade MTL, so Peter wouldn't get a sunburn. We spent a couple of hours with our gamer faces on, and played some old classics as well as some new faves.
While we were planning our next move, we headed to the location of the Montreal Symphonique, an epic event featuring a number of performers, which was taking place later that evening at the base of Mont Royal. We enjoyed a sound check with people who had already claimed their spots for the evening 5 hours before the show was due to start!
By this point, we had been outside in the sun for quite a while so we decided to make our way towards an indoor activity, Arcade MTL, so Peter wouldn't get a sunburn. We spent a couple of hours with our gamer faces on, and played some old classics as well as some new faves.
Off Road!!!
We then wandered down Saint-Denis, and caught the subway a couple of stops to Old Montreal. Hunger took over, so we went out for some pasta before heading to Notre Dame Basilica just in time for Planning Fail #3; all of the tickets to their light show, Aura, (which we had be planning to go to all day) were sold out for 7 pm and there were only two tickets available for the 9 pm show...
Determined to avoid any more planning failures, we went straight to the ticket booth to pick up our free tickets to the Avudo multimedia show. Success! While we were waiting for the show to start, we walked along the waterfront before making our way back to the show where we saw the history of Montreal in images projected onto buildings and water foundations - pretty amazing.
We then continued the evening with one of our go-to activities: an Escape Room.
Determined to avoid any more planning failures, we went straight to the ticket booth to pick up our free tickets to the Avudo multimedia show. Success! While we were waiting for the show to start, we walked along the waterfront before making our way back to the show where we saw the history of Montreal in images projected onto buildings and water foundations - pretty amazing.
We then continued the evening with one of our go-to activities: an Escape Room.
Just in case we didn't convey our emotions adequately in the photo above, we lost. The escape room only had a 3% success rate, but Peter and Emily are semi-professional escapers, so we were hoping we could do it. We then finished off our Saturday by drowning our sorrows in delicious cocktails at La Distillerie.
On Sunday morning, we met up with some friends for brunch before heading off to the Planetarium. The Planetarium has two dome theatres were you can see one of two sets of films. We ended up seeing a film about asteroids (while lying on beanbag chairs... amazing!), as well as one about Mars. We thoroughly enjoyed both and were even more thrilled when they gave us a couple of pairs of glasses to check out the solar eclipse the following day.
On Sunday morning, we met up with some friends for brunch before heading off to the Planetarium. The Planetarium has two dome theatres were you can see one of two sets of films. We ended up seeing a film about asteroids (while lying on beanbag chairs... amazing!), as well as one about Mars. We thoroughly enjoyed both and were even more thrilled when they gave us a couple of pairs of glasses to check out the solar eclipse the following day.
Testing out the glasses
After being blown away (figuratively) by looking directly at the sun, we went back to the apartment to gather our things and headed to the train station. 5 hours later we were back in Toronto, another fun weekend in Montreal on the books.
Here are some more photos of our weekend:
Here are some more photos of our weekend:
(SLIDESHOW)
