Montreal - Day Two - The Olympic Stadium

We started today with some amazing baked goods from a bakery right here in the Plateau called Le Fromentier.  It is one of the top-rated bakeries in the city according to everything we read, and it did not disappoint.  We had a couple of berry pastries and croissants.  They were incredible.  I know that we will be going back there tomorrow.  And the day after that.  And the day after that.

It took a while to get going this morning, so we decided to stay around the apartment until lunch time.  We walked from the apartment to Schwartz's Deli.

The walk took about 30 minutes, during which we passed Parc La Fontaine.  Montreal is full of these really big parks that are simply beautiful.  It does not hurt that the weather here has been unbelievably nice.  It has been a welcome respite from the heat of the South.

When we got to the restaurant, we had to wait about 20-30 minutes to get a seat.  The seating is NY style, where they just put you wherever they can find you a spot.


Schwartz's has been around for over 80 years and is world-famous for their smoked meats.  The main item on the menu is a smoked beef concoction made of pastrami and corned beef.  I know, it doesn't sound great.  But it is.  They serve it on rye bread with this amazing mustard.  We ordered a side of french fries and cole slaw to go with it, both of which were really good.



After leaving Schwartz's, we walked to the Mont Royal Metro stop.  One of the fun things at this stop is that they have these HUGE Adirondack chairs.  The gang horsed around while I returned some phone calls.

We headed off to the Olympic Park area to tour the remains of the 1976 Olympics.  There is this really odd-looking observation tower that was, at one point, going to be used to raise and lower the roof on the stadium.  However, it only worked a few times and then stopped, so now you can just ride up there and see all of Montreal.  You ride this odd cable car thing up the outside of the tower, then get off in the  observation area to look around.

I am not sure what I was expecting from the Olympic Stadium area, but it was thoroughly underwhelming.  It looked a bit run down and dilapidated.  There is a new stadium right next door where the Montreal MLS team plays (I don't know their name, and let's be honest: Who really cares about the MLS?).

After the run up the observation tower, Shelley and our son went to the Biodome.   This has four climates under one roof, complete with live animals and other accouterments.  I stayed outside and enjoyed the weather / slept on a bench in the shade.

On the way back to the apartment we picked up some groceries for dinner. One of the main reasons we like to stay in an apartment when we travel is that there are times we feel like eating in.  Tonight was one of those nights.  We had some pasta and veggies, along with some fresh bread.

After dinner we went to get some ice cream.  We found this really tasty spot here in Mont Royal called Bo-Bec.  I had a single scoop combo of Pistachio and Strawberry, and our son had Blood Orange sorbet with Blackberry.  All of it was quite delicious.

After a full day, we hit the rack with full bellies and the cool night air drifting around the apartment.  Tomorrow we are heading out of the city for some hiking and (hopefully) Alpine slides.