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The Olympic Tower
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This past weekend, Becky and I took a trip up to [Montreal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal). Becky’s parents had given us [Marriott](http://www.marriott.com/) gift certificates for Christmas so that we could have one last getaway before our baby was born. Neither of us had visited Montreal before, and it was a place we both wanted to go, so even though it’s a bit cold this time of year, up we went!
Highlights of the trip:
– Discovering that rural Quebec is much like rural Ohio.
– [SpringHill Suites Old Montreal](http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/YULSH), our hotel. Great location, cozy suites, nice free breakfast. A much fancier hotel than we would normally stay in, but since we didn’t have to pay for it… 🙂
– Dinner at [Restaurant du Vieux Port](http://www.restaurantduvieuxport.com/). Delicious peppercorn steak, cozy atmosphere, right around the corner from our hotel.
– [Montreal High Lights](http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/), a festival designed to light up the cold dreary nights of February in Montreal. We did the [Ice Slide](http://www.montrealenlumiere.ca/english/action.lasso?&-response=DetailsImpression.lasso&-Token.NoTitre=1581) and saw [Choreography for Snowplows](http://www.montrealenlumiere.ca/english/action.lasso?&-response=DetailsImpression.lasso&-Token.NoTitre=1514) (like [Blue Man Group](http://www.blueman.com/) with snowplows).
– The [Underground City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_city%2C_Montreal).
– The [McCord Museum](http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/) of Canadian History.
– [Parc Jean-Drapeau](http://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/accueil.asp).
– The [Montreal Biosphère](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Biosph%C3%A8re).
– [Casino Montreal](http://www.casino-de-montreal.com/montreal/nav/en/home). We didn’t gamble, but we did enjoy their buffet!
– [Parc Olympique](http://www.rio.gouv.qc.ca/), site of the 1976 Summer Olympics. We took a ride up the funicular to the Montreal [Tower Observatory](http://www.rio.gouv.qc.ca/pub/visiter/accueil.jsp), as well as a guided tour of the stadium. Very cool!
– [Poutine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine). Not a dish I would regularly want to eat, but an interesting regional delicacy nonetheless.
– [St. Joseph’s Oratory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph%27s_Oratory). Second largest basilica dome next to St. Peter’s.
We’d definitely like to visit Montreal again, but next time we’ll do it when the weather is a bit warmer!
You can see all of our photos from the trip [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/montreal/).
poutine is one of my favourite foods of all time. now, i’ve never actually had authentic quebecois poutine, but cheater poutine with regular french fry gravy, french fries, and mozzarella cheese is too delicious to think about right now an hour before lunch when i’m very hungry!
I don’t know how authentic the poutine I tried was. Franx Supreme doesn’t even make it onto this list of Montreal Poutine reviews. We did try to go to one of the higher-rated places, but they were closed.
I think that using mozzarella cheese instead of hard, fresh cheese curds would definitely be an improvement, at least to my taste palate. But it would be a disgrace to the poutine community – apparently only fresh, solid cheese curds are allowed in ‘real’ poutine.
The poutine I had was okay, but nothing I think I could find myself craving. Not like, say, tater tot casserole. Maybe it’s an acquired taste.
Montreal looks very cool. You need to put captions on all those images, though. 😉
Eek… captions. That might take a while. There are over 300 photos. 🙂 I’ll try, though. I know some of the photos could use an explanation…
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