Canada is not such a bargain any more. Ok like 10% off but the dollar is so weak that it really is 1 to 1.
We arrived on Wednesday and checked into our hotel Lord Berri (rue Berri and we will not stay there again). The hotel wasn't shabby by mommy's budget tastes, it was clean, cheap, but it was cramped, hot (air conditioning would freeze and shut off), and the parking in the basement was basically a shoe box. Try parking a minivan in backwards in a shoebox. Next to the "Village" and Rue St. Catherine, it was a good deal enough far away not to be in the middle of the festival. So the first day we walked and walked toward Rue Guy to check out a place in a food court called Cuisine Bangkok. It was spicy and there was a sign that read "We are not responsible for the level of spice, no refunds". We tried to take a Metro and learned that the Metro is not accessible by anything with wheels. We couldn't even get the stroller in the doors on the street. So mommy went in, found no elevator or escalator going down, walked down under ground and asked an attendant what to do. Her answer was basically "take a bus". Apparently the Metro is not wheelchair accessible and the doors (all of them we tried) are single skinny doors not wide enough for a wheelchair. Hmmm, Boston doesn't seem to have this problem, we always find an elevator albeit with some searching. So we walked around some more, ate some pizza on the street and listened to the outdoor concerts at the Festival. At the main venue they had a whole kiddie park, stroller check in, face painting, clowns, it was wonderful. The kids played in the sand box with a ton of other kids.
Day two it rained half the day so we got in the car had breakfast at Eggspectations and attempted to find all these Kosher restaurants that were boasted by the Kosher Montreal website, it was supposed to be near Snowdon stop, no luck, ok with the help of the GPS we found a strip mall of kosher places 5 miles from the downtown. So it stopped raining and we headed back to the Festival, we ate a late lunch on Crescent Street, the party street. There we sat on a terrace and ate food and a little bird flew up and chirped next to Zev from the rail of the terrace and Zev got scared and cried. Orli walked around and entertained the waitstaff. We went to the concerts and took turns letting the kids walk around while the other parent watched the stuff.
Day three, we went to the Old Montreal, and Port, Zev played in a fountain, we found the guy that did mommy and daddy's caricature and contemplated getting one of the kids. Mommy approached and asked how much, the guy "Simon" said "16$, because I am just getting started, I have not done this in a long time", Mommy said "Are ya sure", this Simon said "It is the first time in 10 yrs", we passed it up, but next time we'll get one done, it would be funny to see how he'd capture the kids. I think we then went to Outremont, a nice part of Montreal, where we went to Bilboquet, a great ice cream place, they had Maple, daddy was happy. There a Japanese man took the babies' photo because they looked so different.
Day four, we got breakfast in the Village section, and walked up and down the Village that was in the middle of an art festival. It was amazing. Later tried to go find a mall to see if the prices of things were any cheaper, nope. So we drove back through parts of town we had not seen before due to the GPS, we went past very huge houses, most of Montreal is all apartments. On our way home, the Carnival festival let out and there was some kind of disturbance near the Metro stop a block from our hotel so the cops were out in full force and the traffic was horrible. We went to the concerts again and spoke to a nice couple with a beautiful little girl that Zev was flirting with, the mom was from Cuba and the dad was a Montreal guy. The night before we met a couple with a baby the same age, they were from Mexico originally. We sat down to feed the babies and another Japanese tourist took pictures of the twins. We had a late late dinner at Ming Do, what turned out to be during the fireworks competition, so we heard it as we ate. Orli and Zev flirted with a table of ladies next to us. So you can just imagine, Jazz Fest, Fireworks, Carnival parade, there were hordes of people coming from every direction. Montreal is a great diverse city, we love it.
Day 5, We said goodbye to a nice couple from Brooklyn that we met at our hotel. We ate breakfast on the sidewalk at a fancier place in Outremont, they had baby seats!! Zev waves at everyone and Orli would occasionally say "buh bye" softly. We stopped at Schwartz so daddy can get his smoked meat fix and then at a famous bagel place that doesn't measure up to bagels next to GG in Brooklyn or H & H.
Overall we had a great time, logistics aside. The babies love music, Zev more than Orli, he likes to dance and wiggle his hips, Orli gets into it when you hop around with her. She is really good at knowing when to clap. Zev is 85% walking, he is not as steady but he is gaining ground on Orli. Zev is ready for his admirers, he waves and says "haaai" to everyone, he makes eye contact with people and gives them his little sly look. He managed to get the attention of people standing behind us where ever we were. Orli is more reserved, but when she perks up, she says "haaai" to people walking by but it is not everyone and we have no idea how the picks the chosen few. As we walked the kids would hug each other and be so sweet to each other. They appeared to hug us more and hold us tighter over this week. It was so cute.
We are trying to remember to capture on video the way they interact with us and babble to each other and play together. They really do play, not just side by side, but they interact with one another in a very deep way. They are best friends.
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