Thursday, I decided to take a day off from my thesis and take a day trip to Montreal (its about 6 hrs by bus, so easily done through overnight buses back and forth).
I got into Montreal about 7ish. The bus station is connected to the subway, and a couple of things grabbed me right off the bat. First, to celebrate Earth Day the system was giving out free day passes. Second, unlike Toronto there were few recycling bins in sight, in the subway or on the streets- so ironically I probably recycled less on Earth Day than on a normal day in Toronto.
The subway was very new and futuristic-looking- much neater than Toronto’s, which looks less old and decrepit than NYC but definitely more so than Montreal. Unlike the rest of the city, Montreal’s subway is newer and it shows.
Began by taking the bus to Outremont, an area that is very French-speaking but very Hasidic. Decide to go to morning prayers; was originally planning to go to more normal synagogues but due to some misadventures involving places that I thought were open but weren’t, wind up in a shul where everyone is Hasidic. It was a pretty odd experience; most people were using an all-Hebrew siddur, which is really beyond my abilities. So I faked it for a few minutes till some kind soul found me one with English translations.
So then what to do? I had decided earlier, given that Montreal is famous for smoked beef and bagels, to let food be my guide. That meant to start off in the outskirts for breakfast and lunch and then go downtown at the end of the day (since there’s a fancy kosher Morroccan restaurant near downtown that struck me as a dinner kind of place). I picked out where to go based on some posts at chowhound.com about the best Montreal kosher places – sometimes this worked sometimes not. I don’t normally keep 100 percent kosher, but because Montreal has an unusually big Orthodox population, it seemed like it would be a shame not to be kosher for the day.
So I walk through Outremont (about 3 miles from downtown), see lots of Hasidim. It definitely feels Brooklynish- low rise but pretty compact. Stop off at one bakery identifying itself as “heimishe” [which in theory means something like “comfortable” but it’s a term Hasidim like so it really is used more in Hasidic areas] and I got a cheese pastry and a freshly baked chocolate wafer. Eat small amounts of each, resolve in the interests of nutrition to give the rest to the first set of pigeons or seagulls I see. (Someone once asked me why I weigh so little, and I think my answer should have been: eat anything you want, but if its bad for you don’t eat too much of it. But to put it even more concisely- don’t be afraid to waste food).
Then after much more walking, I go to the first of the bagel shops I had read about. This was the place I texted some of you from- bagels were hot and soft, wonderful. The best bagel I’d had in a long time. After a stop at a grocery store and nearby park to feed the seagulls, see what I could find in a Montreal store that I couldn’t get in Toronto, I take a bus to another area further from downtown. (Every major street has bus routes, so you don’t really need the level of preparation to take buses that you would in an area with weaker bus service).
I start off in Mont-Royal, an affluent suburb that feels a lot like NYC’s Forest Hills Gardens or Atlanta’s Ansley Park: big houses close together, sidewalks, built in the 20s. (I’ll post pics on Facebook). Maybe 5 miles out, Feels very nice. Then I go to bagel shop #2 in Mont-Royal: OK but not as good as the first one.
I know lunch is a couple of miles away: a place that one of the Chowhound posters said had good smoked beef. (a regional specialty, slightly different from corned beef somehow) So I walk to another neighborhood called Snowdon, where the lunch place is. Snowdon is also very Jewish, though less Hasidic. Lots of duplexes, feels like a 50s suburb that has shown its age- doesn’t feel as loved as Outremont, feels more than a neighborhood that in the US would have become a slum long ago. The main commercial street, Decairie, is like something in Dallas- the Canadian interstate system cuts it in half so to cross the street you have to take a bridge over the interstate. (I don’t bother to cross, since my destination is on the side of Decairie closest to the residences).
I go to the smoked beef place; the smoked beef was OK but nothing special. But one thing I did like: they fill you up on lots of little salad type things (something cilantro-y,something with beans, plus they allow you to have a salad on the side instead of the usual fries). So I didn’t really eat that much beef or bread anyhow. Nice cultural experience: I think the menu was mostly English, and everyone was speaking English. (Come to think of it, the Hasidim in Outremont were speaking English too). Reminds me how isolated much of the Jewish community is from the Frenchness of Montreal (about which more later).
So by this point I decide I’m done with Jewish Montreal. So I go to a few other interesting neighborhoods I’ve read about.
I start off with Westmount, another fancy suburb but next to downtown. Has a commercial core that feels like a satellite downtown, with 5-10 story apartment houses and mostly chichi low rise shops. Then walked through a block or two of duplexes, then large single family homes, then up to the hill to the more suburban part of Westmount (also large single family homes close together, but streets more curvy and less gridded). If you look it up on Wikipedia it is MUCH richer than Mont-Royal; the Bronfmans and a former prime minister live there, though I don’t think I went into the blocks where they live.
But still always sidewalks, and buses aren’t that far away. Lots of kids in private school uniforms running around.
One interesting thing about Westmount: while the stop signs in Montreal are in French, in Westmount they are in English. Westmount is the traditional home of the English-speaking elite and you can tell!
Then I go to the Plateau, a hip intown area I’ve heard about. Reminds me a lot of the Annex (where I live inToronto). Kind of a hipster area but an affluent one, with colorfully painted two and three story buildings and nice-looking small shops. Somewhat less affluent looking than the Annex though- it was once a working class neighborhood, unlike the Annex. Close to McGill, feels very studenty like the Annex.
One difference: lots of govt buildings here. One thing I noticed about municipal buildings: they all have the Quebec flag but NOT the Canadian flag. Separatism really has won the culture war in some ways, even if not the political one.
Then to Old Montreal – not what I expected, and slightly disappointing. I thought it would be all 17th c. stuff but there’s only one building left from that era and its been renovated to death. Most of the buildings are mid-19th c.- new construction by Philadelphia standards! Apparently the REAL Old Montreal was built of wood and destroyed in successive fires, so there’s nothing left from before the city’s 19th c. growth spurt.
Then in the 20th c. the area was abandoned. Instead of renovating the area or tearing it down to build newer stuff, the city’s commercial class apparently abandoned the area entirely after the Depression. Kind of odd- in Buffalo or NYC these kind of old bldgs would have been either used or torn down.
Now Old Montreal basically a tourist trap- lots of ice cream stores and expensive restaurants, but not a lot of visible housing or workaday offices.
Then I walked up through the real downtown (not that interesting, though definitely some fairly lively blocks; feels less fun than Toronto) to the Morroccan place. Had chicken tagine which was quite good- the chicken felt a little too dark meaty for me or something, but it was mixed with dates and honey so the topping (for lack of a better word) was delicious. It was a 4-course special so had some soup and honey desserts as well- I felt like I’d never eat again. Wow!
Photos from the trip are online at
http://atlantaphotos.fotopic.net/c1841335.html
