My husband and I celbrated our 2nd anniversary in Montreal from December 12th through the 17th. We had a wonderful time and I want to thank everyone for all the great advice. <BR><BR>We flew into Montreal on Thursday afternoon. Continential lost once piece of luggage, of course the one that had ALL of my clothes in it. We were told it would be delivered later that night. We took a cab to Hotel Le Germain. I read several good reviews so we decided to give it a try. It is a beautiful hotel. Very modern, clean and hip. Simple decor. Our room was really nice. We had a platform bed with nice sheets, down pillows and a down comforter. The batroom had a stand alone shower with a glass wall that looks into the bedroom. Aveda bath products and a nice thick cotton robe. We loved how every time we came into the room there was classical music playing on the CD player. Soothing!<BR><BR>The conceirge immediately arranged tickets for us to go the Nutcracker on Sunday. For some reason, my husband was craving steak, so the conceirge made a reservation for us at Moshies. So we relaxed a bit, then head out on Rue St. Catherine's. A lot of shops and very crowded. Nothing that exciting about that area. We did stop at Van Houte for a cup of white hot chocolate. Yum!<BR><BR>We went back to the hotel, hoping that out luggage had arrived, but it had not. So freshed up a bit and took a cab to Moshies.<BR><BR>It was a typical steak house. We both thought the food was average. We both got steak and wine and pastries for desert. Including tip was about US $60.<BR><BR>The next morning we woke up and my luggage still had not arrived but was told it would be there in an hour. UGH!!! So we went down to breakfast in the hotel. I Looked so terrible in old sweats, but I had nothing else to wear! The Germain's breakfast was great! Crepes, hard boiled eggs, cheese, pastries, cereal... most everything you could think of. It was the most contintental breakfast I've ever had!<BR><BR>My luggage FINALLY arrived and we took the metro up to do some shopping in the Rue St. Dennis area. Lots of neat little boutiques. We did some Christmas shopping and had a pleasant time exploring the area. <BR><BR>For lunch we made it to Schwartz's. We walked in and were taken back by how chaotic it was. But we were seated quickly at a table with six other people and had a fantasic lunch! Smoked meat/corned beef sandwhiches, amazing cole slaw, french fries and pickles. Yum! All for about US $14. It was a great experience. We highly reccomend it. We walked a bit more, got another hot white chocolate from Van Houte and took the metro back to the hotel. We rested and I worked out in the exercise room.<BR><BR>That evening we went to the movies on St. Catherine and then took a cab to Toque for dinner. Wow! What a meal. It lived up to all the hype. We opted for the 5 course chef's dinner and the wine tasting menu. It actually ended up being seven different courses. We both got the same things: Scallop cheviche, Sea Urchin soup, skate fish, some sort of meat and mushroom ravioli, venision, five cheeses and a dessert. We ended up paying US $200 but we thought it was worth it. We were so full we ended up walking a bit of it off by walking to the metro station instead of taking a cab back.

... Even though there is ample transportation, we were feeling a bit locked in place. So we went on priceline and rented a car. So Saturday morning we got up, ate the fantastic breakfast and checked out of our hotel. We loaded everything up in the rental car and set out to explore the city by car. After driving around a bit, we went to the market at Atwater. It was so interesting to see all the people shopping for meat, cheese, vegies and flowers. It seemed so European! We bought some maple syrup and then headed to the market at Jean Talon which is on the other side of town. That was fun too. We ended up buying a baguette and some pastires there then walked across the street to a great cheese store and bought two different types of cheeses. Since it was so cold, we decided to eat our breat and cheese and explore the city.<BR><BR>We drove up to Mount Royal and looked at the houses up there. Wow!!! Talk about a view and huge beautiful homes. We continued through many of the residential areas and then went to St. Joseph's. We took the tour and spent some time up there. It was beautiful. We then went back into downtown and did a bit of shopping on Rue Crescent. That was a really nice area. We liked that a lot.<BR><BR>Since I couldn't decide which hotel to stay in, we made reservations at both the Germain and the Hotel Nelligan. So Saturday afternoon we checked into the Nelligan which is in the old historic part of town. <BR><BR>We LOVED this hotel. We walked into the lobby which compared to the Germain was so warm and inviting. Leather couches and chairs, warm wood paneling and a nice roaring fire. We were taken up into our room and I feel in love! We had a great huge room with the most comfortable bed ever. Great sheets thick down duvet and awesome pillows. One of the walls was brick and we had our own fire place. Then there was the bathroom.... Wow! It had a jucuzzi tub big enough for three people and a stand alone shower. They also provided you with nice toilitries. My husband and I decided we could both live in that hotel room. It was so warm and inviting, new and beautiful!<BR><BR>That evening we went down to the wine and cheese hour in the lobby/restaurant. We met several nice people and drank wine and munched on some food. It was such a great atmosphere. Then that night we went to the Nutcracker which was a lot of fun. I think I drank too much red wine before we went, becuase I was getting sleepy! Afterwards, we came back to the hotel then walked around the historic part of the hotel.<BR><BR>We loved the ambiance with the cobbled streets and old buildings.<BR>

....On Sunday, we got up and had the continential breakfast. It was okay. Typical but not nearly as nice as the one at the Germain. You could order extra items if you wanted, but you had to pay for them.<BR><BR>We set out and went and looked at another hotel that we were consiering, the Hotel le St. James. It was beautiful inside, but we didn't see a single person that was staying there while inside. It was kind of wierd. We decided we made the right choice by staying at the Nelligan.<BR><BR>We then went to mass at the Notre Dame Basillica. So beautiful, but of course everything was in French so I had no idea what they were talking about! AFterwards we set out to explore old Montreal. Great little boutiques and lots of galleries. Did some shopping and sight seeing. The sun finally came out that day and it was a great afternoon. We had our best lunch that day. We wandered into a little market that had a few tables inside it. We had homade quiche, salad, drinks and desert for about US$12. It was such a great experience. We felt like we were in a french bistro. I wish I could remember the name of it... but it was a few blocks down from the Nelligan.<BR><BR>Part of our package at the Nelligan included massages. So went back that afternoon and were pampered with massages in our hotel room. AAHHHH!!!! So relaxing. It also included dinner in a little French restaurant Les Remparts. So after our wine and cheese hour we walked a few blocks to dinner.<BR><BR>It was really yummy too. You had a seperate menu to chose from, but it was great. I had lentel soup and phesant. My husband had some sort of liver something and caribou. The mean ended with creme brule. I was so full.. we did some more walking around and then headed back to our wonderful room.<BR><BR>On Monday, we packed up and headed for Mont Tremblant. We left early and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We checked into the Westin. It was nice as well. Our room faced the village. It had the popular heavenly bed, heavenly shower (2 heads) and a fire place. It was really nice however, it didn't have the warm cozy charm of the Nelligan....

... Mont Tremblant village was cute. Being from Florida though, it kind of reminded me of Disney. All the buldings looked exactly the same, sort of artificial. <BR><BR>Anyway, we spent all day skiiing. It was really cold. When we got to the top of the mountain, I could feel the inside of my nose freezing. Burr. But we had fun skiing. I hadn't skied in 4 years since we were in Austria, so I was a bit timid, but I eventually got the hang of it.<BR><BR>When the slopes closed we headed back to the WEstin where we went into the hot tub. That was a blast becuse it ws outside! It ws so amuzing to me that we were sitting in our bathing suits in a hot tub while there was snow all around us. It was so awesome, but getting out was torture becuase you had to run back into the building.<BR><BR>That night we had reservations at a fondue restaurant called Savoix or soemthing like that. Charming little place. We had wine and cheese fondue for about US $60. Very filling. However we were disapointed that besides the bars, all the shops in the village closed down at 5. Oh Well!<BR><BR>We were pooped from a long day, so we went back to bed. The next morning had the continential breakfast which seemed much more American. All your typical stuff plus scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes. Then we packed it up and headed to the airport and headed home.<BR><BR>We had a lovely time and did not have a language problem anywhere. Sorry this is so long, hopefully someone else take some of our advice.... Sarah

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip to Montreal; I live here and think you got a pretty good idea of what the city's all aobut.<BR><BR>Best wishes. DAN

Sarah,<BR>What a great trip report. Thanks for the time and effort you put into it! Always great to have people come back and give their opinions. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Thanks again.

Sarah<BR><BR>Was there at the same time. We went to Jean Toulon mkt but did not have enough time to make Atwater. How do they compare to each other? Thanks