#Schummer14: Day 8-10 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ Montreal

Three days isn’t enough time to do everything for first-time visitors in Montreal, especially when you’re staying at a hotel so comfortable you want to spend time there, too. (See my post about the Ritz-Carlton Montreal.)

We had two partial days and one full day in Montreal. Since we didn’t have a lot of time, I booked a five-hour bicycle tour called Montreal Highlights. It was a small group and through an outfitter called Fitz & Follwell. We don’t do a lot of group tours but we really enjoyed this one – we covered a lot of area on the bikes and learned a lot from our guides. And as the tour name implies, we saw many of the major areas of Montreal.

Two other activities in Montreal stand out:

Moishe’s – a restaurant that was recommended to Lee by a friend in Houston who grew up in Montreal. It’s a steakhouse on Saint Laurent Boulevard, a main street full of restaurants, shops and culture that geographically divides the city east-west. We were eating a little later than usual and decided to split a steak. The menu didn’t list sizes and we were so glad we split this ribeye! It was 22 ounces!! Plus, they serve house made pickles, coleslaw and bread. The steak had a great taste but my favorite part of the meal was the twice-baked potato that comes with it.

Mont-Royal – I had no idea until I started researching our trip that Montreal was named for the mountain that is west of the city and called Mont-Royal or Mount Royal. It was visible from almost everywhere in the city and not far from our hotel. On our last morning there, we climbed the 256 steps to an observation area. The climb was worth the amazing views of the city.

We had other meals (tradition poutine: French fries and cheese curds covered in brown gravy), saw many historical buildings and even managed the Metro on our own (we usually have our buddies Charlie & Kim with us when we are navigating mass transit in large cities).

I can’t believe a full week of #Schummer 14 has already passed! Montreal was our last stop in Canada before heading to the U.S. for a tour through many tiny little states I always got wrong when filling in blank maps in grade school. Maybe experiencing them first-hand will set them straight in my head for once (I hope there’s no geography quiz at the end of our trip).

Photos from our time in Montreal:

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#Schummer14 – Lee & MeLinda Schnyder are turning their home in Wichita, Kan., over to a friend and taking a month-long road trip. They’ll travel from Kansas to Ontario and Quebec, Canada; then through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The trip home will include stops in Ohio and Missouri. Beyond the blog, you can follow #Schummer14 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.