Montreal skyline
I had been to Montreal in November of 1999 while my wife was presenting her thesis in Brattleboro, Vermont. I had some free time when she was busy and so I drove up there for a day. I really enjoyed it and need to get back there.
During my first visit, I went to the Hard Rock Cafe but it was before I was in the club in which I can get credit for my visits. The Hard Rock Cafe in Montreal will close it's doors forever on September 27, 2009 so I had to get back there for credit.
I flew out on Friday morning to Detroit on a Northwest Airbus 319 and connected to a Northwest Airlink CRJ-200. We arrived into Montreal's Dorval Airport at about 10:30am. By 11am I was out at the curbside and at about 11:20 I was in downtown Montreal.
Centre Bell--Home to the Montreal Canadiens Hockey team
I took the L'Aerobus from the airport to the Centre Sheraton Hotel. The cost was $26 return. The first place I went to was the Hard Rock in order to get it over with. I have a love/hate relationship with that place. I don't think the food is great and I also believe that if you have seen one, you have seen them all. I started a mission to visit 100 of them though, and 100 I will visit! After that, I don't care if I never set foot in one again. Once that was out of the way, I walked up the hill towards Mt Royal Park. The view is wonderful from up there! I want to go back and see the views at dusk and at night also. Then I went back down to get some lunch. I settled for the Hard Rock since it is closing.
HRC Montreal
I had the Tupelo chicken tenders and a beer. Nothing too exciting. After lunch, I just walked around a couple of hours, taking photos and people watching. At about 3pm, I caught the L'Aerobus back to YUL airport. I was cutting it close and the traffic was not helping. There seemed to be construction on every road and we were moving along at a crawl. I really did not think I was going to make it. I had not planned on staying over but I would have. I finally arrived at the airport and only had about 30 minutes. I ran through the terminal and made it to Immigration quickly. We are lucky that we can pre-clear customs and immigration in Canada. My only problem now was that I was probably 30th in line with only two agents working.
Montreal
It went quickly and I was clear in about 15 minutes. I ran to the gate and the agent said I was fine. I boarded a few minutes later and we were off.
The flight home was Montreal to New York/JFK on a Comair CRJ-100. It was smooth but we had to circle in NYC for about 20 minutes due to congested airspace. What else would you expect in New York? It's some of the busiest airspace in the world. When I finally made it in the terminal, it was a mess! There were people everywhere and lots of organized chaos. At 7:20pm, I boarded another Comair CRJ-100 to Indianapolis. We departed at 7:30 and I was in Indy at just before 10pm.
Montreal--I love ya and I will be back! Definitely longer next time............
