Day 9: 18 May 2017, Thursday
It’s our last full day here in Montréal and KP generously gave us some of his time to show us around the city he had been calling home for the past 11 months or so. For breakfast, KP brought us to his favourite dim sum place called Restaurant ChinaTown Kim Fung, located at 1111, Rue Saint-Urban M05, Montréal. From KP’s apartment, we walked to the Terminus Angrignon station (which was just around the corner) to take the train to Chinatown.
To make the most out of our day, we bought a Day Pass for unlimited travel on the Metro system. It cost CAD$10 (S$10.35) and it is much more value for money because a single trip fare is already CAD$3.25, regardless of the distance travelled.
We alighted at Place-D’armes. From there, it was a short walk to Chinatown. Most of the shops in Chinatown were still closed at 8:45am so it was pretty quiet and almost devoid of people. The dim sum restaurant was located on the second floor of a plain-looking building so it isn’t obvious at all to the casual passerby. It was one of those hidden gems that you only know about if you have lived in a place long enough and happened to stumble across it one fine day while exploring.
The restaurant served traditional dim sum on a dolly, and it looked like one of those old-fashioned, authentic Chinese restaurants that we had in Singapore in the 80’s and early 90’s. We ordered all of our favourite dishes, including the century egg porridge, chee cheong fun, har kow, carrot cake, yam pastry, siew mai and char siew bao. We ended up really stuffed but the food was so good and we enjoyed it a lot. Thanks, KP for the great recommendation!
After breakfast, we took a leisurely stroll to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal nearby, located in the historic district of Old Montréal. When we visited at 10am, the sun was behind the building so it was hard to take a good photo of it. There was an admission fee of CAD$6 and we didn’t pay to enter. On hindsight, I kinda regret not doing so because I have seen pictures of the intricately designed interior and it looks absolutely beautiful. Oh well, next time then!
We continued walking east and soon found ourselves at the Old Port of Montréal. It stretches for over 2km along the St. Lawrence River and it was used as a trading post in the old days. Today, it has been redeveloped into a recreational and lifestyle area, making it a nice place to hang out and enjoy a stroll.
The area around the Old Port is surrounded by many heritage buildings. One of them is Marché Bonsecours, a beautiful 1847 two-storey, domed building housing boutiques and fine restaurants. The building’s exterior reminded me of our Old City Hall building in Singapore, which has since been transformed into the National Gallery today. We did some window shopping here while KP went back to the office to settle some matters.
After that, we continued walking around the area, marvelling at the beautiful architecture and enjoying the chilled-out vibe. At about 12:20pm, we took the train to Peel station, where Montréal’s main shopping area is located at Rue Sainte-Catherine. The weather was very fine but the temperature was a blazing 31 degrees Celsius, so it was nice to escape the heat outside and enjoy some air-conditioning in the malls for a while.
At 3:45pm, we met up with KP again and we proceeded to Marché Jean-Talon, a popular farmer’s market. There were many stalls selling fresh seafood and cooked food, and they all looked yummy. KP had brought his family and friends here many times in the past to feast on the lobsters and oysters, because they were much cheaper compared to back home. We bought a huge red lobster for CAD$26 and a dozen fresh oysters for CAD$30. The lobster meat was succulent and the oysters were very fresh.
As it was still early, we decided to head over to Parc du Mont-Royal for a look. We took the train back to Peel station. From there, we walked up the steep Rue Peel towards Avenue des Pins. The street was flanked by beautiful and expensive houses on both sides and it looked a lot like San Francisco. The street was only 700m long but it was very steep and it took quite an effort to reach the top.
From Avenue des Pins, there was still more hiking to be done before we reached the lookout point. As we walked through the park, we saw beautiful, leafy maple trees and many people doing brisk walking and jogging. It was a very nice place to exercise and I could imagine how much more beautiful it would be in autumn when all the leaves turn red.
After half an hour of hiking and climbing many flights of stairs, we finally reached Belvedere Kondiaronk, the lookout point at the top of Mont Royal. There was a large, open area with a panoramic view of Montréal city below. The view was gorgeous and it was well worth the effort to get up here. All around the area in front of the large Chalet du Mont Royal building, lovely orange tulips were in bloom and they added to the beauty of the place. We spent about 20 minutes here before making our way back down to Peel station.
For dinner, we went back to Chinatown for some Vietnamese food. I ordered a large bowl of beef pho for CAD$9.50 and it was really quite large. But I was up to the challenge and I slurped it down in no time.
We then strolled through Chinatown again, and it was much livelier at night compared to the morning. I spied a Chatime bubble tea shop and couldn’t resist buying a cup for a taste of home.
From Chinatown, we walked to Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, an upscale area home to many arts and performance venues including Place des Arts, the largest artistic complex in Montréal, like our Esplanade Theatres back home.
At about 9pm, we called it a day and went back to KP’s apartment to do our final packing. For us, it had been a good day out visiting all of Montréal’s sights. For KP, it was also a way of revisiting all his favourite places and restaurants for the last time before coming back to Singapore in 3 weeks’ time. So it was nice for all of us. With that, it was the end of our Canadian sojourn and we would be heading to New York tomorrow. Big Apple, here we come!