Commencing the next day with a scrumptious breakfast of an “everything” omelette at our home-base of the Marriott Chateau Champlain, we were off on a walking/tasting tour of Old Montreal.

Our first stop was the exquisite Notre Dame. Having visited Paris’s Notre Dame, I was equally enthralled.

 

Our next stop was at Cantinho de Lisboa where crème brulee-like tarts called pastéis de nata were served to us.

Colourful macaroons created by pastry aficionado Chef Christian Faure enticed us into his pastry shop. The subtle shades of a lavender one caught my eye and melted my tongue. The highest compliment I can pay to Chef Faure, who was visiting with friends at nearby tables in the Maison, was that the macaroons surpassed my memories of those eaten at the legendary Landeree on the Champs-Elysees in Paris!

I am well aware that Quebec cheese makers are amongst the greatest in North America and certainly the best in Canada. I understand that it is because their ancestors brought their cheese-making skills with them from Europe. The Bourlingueur Bistro presented them perfectly with a simple torn  baguette so as not to camouflage any of the taste.

This restaurant is just down the street from the Bourlingueur. Marked only by the white square sign, the food I imagine must speak for itself.

These lovely ladies made me miss my sisters.

Marche Bonsecours.

Haut Bois Normand is the maple syrup brand that friends from Quebec bring me as gifts. The purity and clarity of their product is unsurpassed, in my humble opinion. We were treated to maple syrup beer and visited with one of the handsome family members at his shop in Marche Bonsecours.

Some members of our party zip-lined at this spot.

We returned that evening for dinner and to take in the International Fireworks competition with Britain entertaining us in Old Montreal on the 4^th of July. The irony of this was not lost on us.

Montreal….I cannot wait to return.

Kath’s quote: “I think Montreal is the most amazing city … A paparazzo today gave me advice on where to get a coffee. She’s all, ‘I notice that you like this place, but I was thinking that because you like it so much you’d probably like this other place. Go around the corner, go left.’ I was like, ‘Gosh, thank you. They don’t make them like you in L.A.”-Olivia Wilde

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

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