Montreal Trip Day 3! July 27, 2017
On Thursday, we were really in a routine in Montreal now. It was definitely the sweet spot of the trip. We were used to the weather being kind of chilly, kind of warm, like a May day in New Jersey, and there was still lots of stuff we wanted to see and do.
We started with breakfast in the hotel. I got orange juice and a pot of French Press coffee. As always, a basket of croissants and pastries came with our orders, and bread. I ordered the golden raisin brioche French toast, and my aunt got the American breakfast with eggs and sausage. She also got breakfast tea, which came in a beautiful tea pot. I know a lot of it was because we were staying in a nice hotel, but all the little lovely details really made me happy and really made me appreciate Montreal.
Then we walked to the art museum up the street from us. We were staying on Sherbrooke, so we were near McGill University, Mount Royal, and the art museum.
There were several amazing exhibits going on. My aunt is an artist, so you can imagine what going to a museum with her is like. We look at everything, and she KNOWS these people. She’s like, oh, this is this, or he’s inspired by this original version, or she’s actually this person’s mentor, etc. It’s like the ultimate inside scoop.
The John Paul Gaultier wedding dress exhibit was my favorite. I love fashion, and I was like YEAH!! ARTISTRY I UNDERSTAND! Let’s go shopping! I’m inspired! Haha.
There was this Revolution exhibit, which was all about the 1960s. The Beatles were playing while you looked at everything, and they had video from when John Lennon and Yoko Ono did a sit-in from their bed. One room was staged like Woodstock and played video from the performances. It was so cool!
Shopping & lunch
After the museum, we wandered around our little area of Montreal for a bit. We went shopping, and we got lunch at Cafe Holt. I had a chicken pot pie, which you know is my fave, and it totally made up for the weird French toast and strange dinner from the night before. Sometimes you have to order what you know you like instead of trying to be brave with your choices all the time!
Then we decided to see Montreal’s Underground City! Because the city gets so cold in the winter, they have a huge mall underground. There are tons of stores, and it’s well lit and nicely decorated. But it was also very crowded and we didn’t know a single one of the stores. My aunt and I both got overwhelmed and made our way out of their, following signs for the first ‘Rue’ (street) we saw.
Then we went to a bookstore, where books were marked up with those famous high Canadian prices! You know how books always say $16.99 US, $22.00 CAD on the back? Well, now I saw it in person. Even though this bookstore in the university district had tons of great paperbacks, even the sale books were too pricy for me after that CAD rate!
We headed back to the hotel to relax a bit after that big morning.
Then we went for dinner!
My aunt and I went to the Ritz Carlton up the street for a nice dinner before our show. It was SO stunning! We sat outside, and it was absolutely lovely. Montreal in the summer is ridiculously beautiful. Everything is completely green and blooming.
The big surprise was that this Ritz had a little duck pond! In addition to being an artist, my aunt is a farmer. She’s obsessed with animals and we basically lost our minds over these ducks.
When it suddenly started pouring, the ducks all went in their little houses. My aunt popped up and asked the waitresses if they had umbrellas for the ducks. It was very funny. Everyone was in great sprits, and the rain passed quickly.
I had truffle mushroom risotto for dinner. I’ve never had risotto before, since I’ve never attempted making it for myself. There were freshly shaved truffles on top, and they tasted similar to parmesan, in that they had that nutty, umami note. We also had lots of fresh bread, arancini amouse bouche, and wine.
Funny thing- I had ordered a cosmopolitan at the bar, and they made me this beautiful white cosmo with an ice ball with an orchid frozen inside. Beautiful! My drink was great, and my aunt was drinking this incredible sauvignon blanc. The waitress came over and poured her more wine, and then asked me if I wanted wine in addition to my cocktail. I said I was okay with an apologetic smile, which in America means no. But with the language barrier, she just started pouring me a glass of wine. I laughed and enjoyed it. It was very delicious, and it was probably the happiest mistake of my life.
JUST FOR LAUGHS: JUDD APATOW
If you’ve seen a funny American movie or TV show in the last ten years, Judd has probably produced it or directed it. I’ve been a massive fan of Judd’s for a long time. He’s from Long Island and the movie Diner is basically the whole reason he got into making movies. He’s an interesting guy. He just started doing stand up again, and we had tickets to his show. We took a cab to the Just For Laughs venue hub, which was all exciting and busy.
It was an extremely small venue, which was amazing. It was general admission, but we got great seats off to the side of the stage.
Well… this was no ordinary night! It turned out it was a rehearsal show for his live stand up taping, for his upcoming Netflix special!
Honestly, his act was the funnier than Jerry’s or Gad’s, and was definitely one of the funniest stand up acts I’ve ever seen. He had so many amazing jokes. He did the best impressions of his daughters, and he was so self deprecating and honest. I can’t wait to watch it again when his Netflix special eventually airs!
One of the funniest jokes was about how he doesn’t live with three women, his wife and two daughters- he actually lives with one woman of three different ages. And that their cycles don’t sync up, but rather the menstrual times just never end. He had such a funny dad perspective on his family life. I really could have listened to three hours of material about that alone.
We got home around 10 PM, and I vowed to go to sleep much earlier this time!
The view from my hotel room showed the busy street of Sherbrooke at night, with so much happening on a Thursday. Montreal reminded me a lot of New York. It was beautiful and made me want to get out there and be a part of it.
My Friday in Montreal will be posted tomorrow!
-Taylor
TAYLOR DOROTHY 