Friday, August 26, 2011

On the Tail of St. Urbain's Horseman ...


Through the Palais des congrès to reach the metro ...
Up early in search of Mile End on the plateau! Map in hand, we get off at the Laurier metro and promptly start walking east (we should have been walking west folks) but happily we end up at cute little restaurant called Le Toasteur, 1310, ave. Laurier E (at the corner of Chambord) for a very tasty brunch - eggs and crepes for all! Great service, friendly staff and reasonable prices.
Berry and ice cream crepe at Le Toasteur
We eventually make it to boul. Saint Laurent and begin to walk south away from the plateau rather than north towards Fairmount, our original destination. We encounter the Mix Art Festival on Saint Laurent. The vendors all had tables on the street and there were some good bargains to be had although I am unsure where the "art" part comes in. We stop for some black skinny jeans for J at Soho, 3715, boul Saint-Laurent, and frozen yogurt at yeh!, 3804 boul Saint-Laurent which rivals Menchies in Toronto. R also buys some black T-shirts because neither of us has enough black in our wardrobe.

R on St. Urbain
Having exhausted the shopping area somewhat we cab it north to Mile End and I encounter some familiar places as my sister also lived in this area (at the corner of Rue Bernard and boul Saint-Laurent) during her university years.

We buy bagels at Fairmount Bagel, 74 Fairmount O., visit The Japanese Paper Place, 21 Fairmount O., stroll along the fabled St. Urbain where Mordecai Richler grew up and which reminded me a great deal of a certain north end part of Hamilton. That makes sense if you know Richler's book. We stop for coffee and biscotti on St. Viateur at a sports bar. The area is so pretty and vibrant, filled with people.

Bagels from Fairmount Bagel
It's been a long morning and afternoon in our wanderings so the pool is looking very attractive at this point. We get on at Rosemount metro and head home for a short rest before dinner.

After a quick swim we decide to head out to a restaurant that was recommended to me called Ghandi, 230 Rue Saint Paul Ouest, in old Montreal. This Indian restaurant is lovely and was completely filled with patrons. You can see horse drawn carriages pass along Rue Saint Paul outside your window but ... the service was very slow and not particularly attentive (there was a large birthday party in the room next door which might have contributed to this). Some of the food was lukewarm when it finally arrived although beautifully served; some of us were disappointed with the dishes we chose. I liked mine a great deal and thought it was very fairly priced (Poulet Bhuna, basmati rice and vegetables, creamy rice pudding for dessert and coffee for a fixe prix of $25). My fellow guests were less impressed.
Little Miss K avec famille
J at rest
 A stroll back to our hotel, very full and tired ... we leave for home tomorrow.

No comments: