Quick weekend in Montreal

Many thanks to those who helped out. DH and I planned a very spur of the moment trip to Montreal this past weekend. We booked it the prior Tuesday thru the Continental last minute deals that are e-mailed to us on Monday nights. We paid $108 round trip out of Newark to Montreal. We had a 7am flight out of Newark on Saturday morning, and returned on the 12:45pm flight on Monday afternoon. We spent the night at the Fairfield Inn at Newark for $103 +tax, and took their shuttle to the terminal. Note: it is $15 each way from NY Penn Station to Newark Airport on NJ Transit.

We arrived early which was nice and immediately got a taxi to the Hyatt. The fee was a flat $35. The Hyatt is a nice hotel, no complaints, and we thought the location perfect. Our package included a full breakfast, and some shopping coupons and admission to the casino. We took advantage of the breakfast but not the other stuff.

We had no real plans, just planned on wandering around seeing the city.

After checking in (yeah, the room was ready even that early), we walked down St. Catherine Street. As it was quite cold, I ducked in La Baie and bought a hat. We visited St. Patrick's church which was just gorgeous. DH and I love intricate woodwork, and were just blown away by it here. After spending some time in and around St. Catherine St., we decided to walk up to the Plateau area and find a place for lunch. We really liked this area, and wandered in and out of the shops for a bit. We found a Greek restaurant on Prince Arthur that was offering a buy one get one lunch and was BYO. Food was good, and they had a nice fireplace going, which was great on the cold day. After lunch we wandered over to St Denis and walked back to the hotel. We also like this street very much. That night we had dinner at Bonaparte, which was excellent. We asked the concierge to make the reservation for us and he requested and got us a window table. DH had the 6 course tasting menu for $62, and I had the rack of lamb. The food and service were excellent.

Sunday was a bit warmer, so we decided to head to Little Italy and the Marche Jean Talon. Lots of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, chocolates. It was fun to roam around the market and just people watch and take it all in. We purchased some cheeses at Hamel and chocolates that were sublime. After that we took the Metro to Place D'Armes to wander Vieux Montreal for a bit. We visited Notre Dame where a mass was taking place, and marveled at the altar. We were a bit put off by the fact that there is a $4 admission fee to the basilica but with mass going on you couldn't wander the church anyway. We wandered the old town for a few hours and then made our way back to St. Catherine Street for lunch. We remarked that it was much more lively today and figured because it was much warmer than Saturday. We had lunch at 3 Brasseurs and ended up sitting at the bar watching the Jet game and then some of the Patriots game.

That night we decided to wander St. Denis for dinner and ended up at a small Italian place. It was perfect as we split an appetizer and a pizza for two. It was quite lively in the area, and we came upon a movie or TV shoot taking place.

We left the next morning after breakfast. The flight and trip home was uneventful. It was a great city for 2 days, and we found it to be relaxing and charming. We would return.

I would be happy to answer any questions, and thanks to all who assisted me.