Montreal -- not speaking French in Quebec, Old Montreal & Schwartz Deli

plus a Harvest Host, LaFerme Brasserie

When I told some family members that we were going spend time in the province of Quebec, one of them asked, “Don’t they round up Americans in Quebec? Deport them?” She was serious, and actually a bit worried for us. I was touched.

Back in the nineties, my Mom and Dad traveled in Quebec and had some negative experiences, primarily because they can’t speak French. She expressed concern also.

I told her that times have changed.

“But you don’t speak French, do you? And neither does Doug!”

“That’s right,” I said, “But our credit card speaks French.”

Is that an obnoxiously American attitude, or what?

July 8, Saturday — LaFerme Brasserie

The first Harvest Host we visited in Quebec was “La Ferme Brasserie” in St. Polycarpe. Ferme is French for farm. Apparently when you add an accent it means closed. Which is confusing.

I anticipated buying a meal on site, but it turns on that La Ferme Brasserie doesn’t sell meals, only snacks and beer. Maybe I misunderstand the meaning of brasserie also! That was fine. An adventure means you don’t know what’s ahead. I purchased two chocolate bars and a bag of peanuts in a crunchy coating. I wish I’d taken a photo of the bag — those peanuts were super addictive! We also ordered beers that were made on the premises — I got a chocolate stout and Doug a pale ale.

Behind the store was a beer garden complete with trees and picnic tables, very pleasant. Three black dogs in various sizes sported about, and small children toddled between their parents. After we drank the first beer, we went to the rig to fix and eat a sandwich, then came back for a second beer.

July 9, Sunday — Microtel in Montreal

As I mentioned in a previous post, we choose not to drive Big Blue in cities if we can avoid it. So we booked a hotel for our 3 days in Montreal (and another for 3 days in Quebec City). We plan to take a taxi, Uber, or public transportation into the cities.

We drove to Montreal on Sunday and checked in early to the Microtel by Wyndham. We spent the day resting, enjoying the pool, and reading. A lovely Sabbath day.

July 10, Monday — Old Montreal

On Monday morning we went down for our complimentary breakfast. The hotel was swarming with young athletes carrying hockey sticks and speaking French. Glad to see them enjoying life.

The day was rainy so we weren’t in a hurry. Around noon we took a taxi to Old Montreal. Our cab driver was French-speaking, from Morocco. I noticed that he was drinking McDonald’s coffee. He dropped us at the Notre Dame basilica, but we opted not to tour it immediately. On the advice of our friends in Ontario, we had purchased tickets for the AURA sound and light show in the basilica that evening.

Using our umbrellas, we walked the cobblestone streets following the harbor, and ended up at the old port. Just as we were beginning to tour the chapel dedicated to Mary (which is called the Sailors Chapel) I suddenly remembered that it was past time for me to join a zoom call (a business call about an upcoming pilgrimage that I am co-leading). So I joined the call on the chapel’s front steps, standing under an umbrella. Construction was underway on the street so I had to combat the shriek of drills by staying on mute and pressing my ear to the phone. I kept the conversation short!

People sometimes pretend that working and traveling make a great combo, but to me it spoils the fun of both activities. But that’s me, I am a one-track person.

After my Zoom call, Doug and I went back into the Sailors Chapel. I couldn’t figure out the stained glass windows because they seemed to repeat stories, and it bothered me. Each side had a nativity narrative in the front window, a presentation narrative in the next. So I asked the guide.

She said the windows on one side depict the life of Mary, and on the other side, the life of Jesus. When she said that, I immediately noticed that each of the pictures on Mary’s side had a pope-like figure in them, complete with red outfit and hat. The red hats made me laugh out loud. The guide looked surprised and I said, “My problem is that I’m a Protestant. We don’t deify Mary, so I forget that other people do.”

The guide said she didn’t know anything about religion, so I asked her how she ended up in this particular job. Then we had an interesting conversation about her education and professional aspirations. I loved chatting with her.

Doug and I walked through a long building full of shops and boutiques, which has historically been a market place. Around 1:30 or so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Crêpes Suzette. After a short wait we were seated at a picturesque table in the window. The shutters were open to the falling rain, and tourists passed by on the cobbled street. We each ordered wine, Caesar salad, and a crêpe. Mine was stuffed with tiny shrimp and covered with lobster sauce. Doug’s was Florentine with béchamel. Our lunch was so lovely that we ordered decaf cappuccino, just to extend it a bit more. A passing tourist took the photo below.

After lunch, we visited some stores selling Inuit-made items, as well as a few art galleries. Eventually we ended up at the old port again and Doug wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. It’s a huge wheel! Each car is fully enclosed and can sit eight people, although we had one to ourselves. The sky was completely overcast but it was still fun to see the view— the ships heading out of the harbor, the people zip-lining, and the city spread out with Mont Royal behind it.

After the Ferris Wheel we walked back toward the Notre Dame basilica. We explored our metro options and figured out how to get to the closest stop to our hotel.

Then we got seats in a ground floor bar named Kyos, a Japanese tapas style bar. We ordered drinks and later a snake roll made of tuna, tempura shrimp, and avocado. Delicious.

Then we walked a few blocks to a crêpe place, very informal, for dessert. At that point we were literally two doors from the Basilica and got in line at 7:30 for the 8:00 show.

The Aura show lasted about 25 minutes. Light and sound illuminated the amazing basilica, which is known for its intense color scheme of blue and gold. There’s also a lot of wood carving, in rich brown tones. The colors are all very saturated and gorgeous and the light show highlighted them. The lighting effects included color changes and projected effects such as leaves turning color, and snow falling, to depict seasonal change,

The music featured the amazing organ. It was dramatic, religious music. At one point some very grand music seemed to depict death and heaven. At the end, three intense laser beams projected from the front of the church toward the organ at the back, each eventually splitting into five or six streams of light. It was breath-taking. (But I fall on the hokey/sentimental/spiritual side of things, so take that into account.)

Ever since, I’ve been musing about the appropriate use of religious space. In Quebec, it appears that the culture is well into a post-religious phase and the church buildings have become dinosaurs. This light and sound show feels like it was an attempt not to be lost behind that curve, and I applaud that.

After the show we walked to the metro, found the orange line, bought tickets, and rode about eight stops to the Namur station. Then we called an Uber to take us to the hotel. It was dark and drizzling, and a challenge to find the right Uber as the front license plate was not the same as the rear. We arrived home around 10:00 — a long day of walking and eating.

July 11, Tuesday — Montreal — Museum of Art & Schwartz Deli

Since we figured out how, the next morning we took an Uber to the metro, then rode the metro to the Museum of Fine Arts. We saw a special exhibit titled “Wolves” which turned out to be about totem carving. It was excellent, but not what we expected. We looked at the rest of the museum as well, following the “attraction” principle — just walk up to the thing that speaks to you, and ignore the rest. Otherwise museums are too tiring to be fun. My daughter taught me this approach and it’s been very helpful. My tendency is to read every word of every exhibit and get exhausted.

Around 1:00 we took another Uber to the Schwartz Deli to sample some of their famous Montreal smoked meat. Our Uber driver was of Indian heritage and quite friendly. His parting words to us were “don’t buy sandwich, buy pound of meat and extra bread.” He also recommended that we try the Montreal poutine. Apparently there are styles of poutines and the sauce is what makes it unique.

After a short wait on the street, we got a seat at the counter. The place was very small, and very crowded. We ordered poutine with smoked meat, and a sandwich, and then a second sandwich. Chatted with the guy behind the counter. I asked him how long he worked there and he said “43 years.” I said “That’s a long time for anything. Even marriage.” He said the next day was going to be his 37th wedding anniversary. He seemed very happy about that. I asked him how he planned to celebrate the anniversary and he said, “Buy her some flowers and take her out for dinner.” I said something affirming, and he said, “Not everybody gets to have this.”