Spring Break in Montréal

BONJOUR MONTRÉAL!

Last week was Spring Break, and I went to Montréal!!!! Montréal was another place I had always thought of visiting when I found out I was studying in New York. It was actually one of the places I selected as an option to study abroad, and the whole French region thing really interested me - although it was soooo much more French than I had expected!!! My friend drove us both to Montréal, where we stayed for 2 nights; which was definitely enough time to see the city!!

We arrived at about 1pm after a 3 hour drive, and headed straight to get a hot drink because it was freezing! Then we decided to go straight to Mont-Royal which was top of our list of things to do in the city. Fun fact: Mont-Royal is a dormant volcano, which Montréal is named after! The views up here were incredible, and definitely worth the hike up - we found a much easier and quicker path back down luckily!! As you probably know, my favourite thing to do in a city is to see it from above and so I loved being up at the top of Mont Royal. 

After that we wondered around a bit just to try get our bearings, and got some dinner - unfortunately no photo here because we were sooo hungry we dived straight in! In the evening we headed to the Airbnb to check in, and then went a drive round and spontaneously visited L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal, which was absolutely stunning. The sunset was absolutely beautiful, the photo doesn't do it justice! 

The next morning we got up early and went straight to Old Montréal, where we planned to spend most of our day - it's definitely the most touristy and has the most things to see in the city. We walked around everywhere we wanted to go first (everything in Old Montréal is thankfully really close together). Then we went straight to Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal, as we heard the queues could get really big. I was completely blown away when we got inside. I have never seen something so beautiful and intricate in my life - it was incredible! 

Montréal City Hall 

Loved the old cobbled streets - not something you see very much of in this part of the world! 

Place d'Armes and Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal

Then we walked around some more and went to Tommy Cafe for some coffee; which was the best coffee I've had since living abroad! I loved the architecture in Montréal; in my opinion it felt both European but also Canadian (american looking) at the same time, for example the buildings were all really big and dominating, but the detail and look of them was very European. It was really interesting to just walk around and take it all in. 

Jacques-Cartier Bridge in the background

After an amazing brunch we decided to go on La Grande roue de Montréal. Again, the views at the top were wonderful. 

La Grande roue de Montréal 

After that we had a look in Marche Bonsecours and walked back through Place Jacques-Cartier, which was definitely one of my favourite parts of Old Montréal. There were so many shops and restaurants overlooking the square, and I bet the atmosphere is amazing in the summer, especially being so close to the port too. 

Place Jacques-Cartier 

We then stumbled upon another Basilique, which was also absolutely stunning. There are so many magnificent religious buildings in Montréal, and of course you don't need to be religious to appreciate their intricacy. 

Basilique Marie-Reine-Du-Monde Cathedrale - Mary Queen of the World Cathedral 

We also had a walk around McGill University which was absolutely beautiful. I know I keep saying beautiful, incredible, amazing a lot, but the architecture across the city really was! 

McGill University 

The next morning we got up and walked through the absolutely pouring rain to go and get a St. Viateur bagel for breakfast, as we had heard they were the best in the city. Montréal bagels are different to New York bagels because they have a much bigger hole in the middle, and are much sweeter - they did taste really good and I wish I'd bought more than one! 

Because it was raining we decided to visit the Biosphere for our last stop in Montréal. The Biosphere was formally the pavilion for the US in the Expo 67 (I really need to do some research on this because not entirely sure what that means), and is now an environment museum. This semester I'm doing an environmental policy class, and environmental politics is actually something which quite interests me - last year I did a module on environmental security which was really good. I found the section on Montreal really interesting, which explained how Montréal is trying to become more environmentally friendly. For one display they had taken a picture of the view of Montréal from the Biosphere every day for a year, and the photography lover in me thought the project was awesome- it was so cool to see all the different seasons. 

Then we headed back to New York after a great few days in Montréal. I found the city so interesting! I was not expecting it so be so french, but literally everybody spoke french, and some people couldn't even speak english which I was astonished by! It felt so bizarre because it felt like you were in France, but Canada at the same time!! Like Toronto, I imagine that the city is even better in the summer when the weather is amazing and there is a busy atmosphere! 

Of course that was only 3 days out of my Spring Break, and so next week I'll post part 2! 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Elsie xo 

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