With Love… in Montreal

Hello Darlings,

One of the best parts of traveling is exploring new places and seeing many new faces. On my recent trip to Montreal, Quebec, I was able to explore a lot of the different downtown areas, eat at many new restaurants, shop in some new stores, and generally had a great experience.

One of the most interesting things about Montreal – in fact, all of Quebec - is it’s unique character relative to the rest of Canada. In addition to the distinct language spoken by the majority (French versus English), Montreal is very different socially. But fear not if you are planning your first Montreal trip, since it seems almost everyone working at restaurants, shops, hotels, bars, etc. all speak good english so the language issue is not a challenge.

Montreal is far less hectic than Toronto and New York, as evidenced by horse drawn carriages common-place on downtown city streets. Also, the downtown neighborhoods have a very distinct character from one another, such as the picturesque and romantic Old Montreal, with centuries-old cobblestone streets and buildings being less than a 10 minute taxi ride from the cosmopolitan area of downtown Montreal.

Some of my favorite neighborhoods to visit were boulevard Saint-Laurent close to Sherbrooke street, where there are numerous romantic and more upscale restaurants and bars such as Buonanotte and Koko Lounge inside the Opus Hotel. Another must-see neighborhood for food and entertainment is Crescent Street downtown near the corner of Saint-Catherines street. Crescent is a relatively long street, but in this one location there are numerous bars and restaurants such as Wienstein & Gavino’s and Newtown.

Despite all the sight-seeing, I did sneak in an hour or two a day to lie back at the Hyatt Hotel’s beautiful outdoor terrace to write and relax. I used Priceline to book the hotel for this trip, so the location was a random choice but worked out well since the Hyatt is centrally located right on Saint-Catherines street, walking-distance to either Old Montreal or downtown. Surrounded by the trees and pools, the view of the city’s skyline is beautiful and it was interesting to watch the throngs of people in Place des Arts square from above.

For lounging by the pool, I rotated through 6 bikinis and 2 cover ups, which were all complemented by colorful polka-dot Marc by Marc Jacobs flip flops. Being a sun protection freak, SPF 60 accompanied my every look with regular reapplications every 2-3 hours.

What is your favorite city to visit?

Do you know some great Montreal places to suggest?

With Love…

Marta

Post proofread by Iris Braunstein