Mont Royal = Montreal

Bonjour! This morning Amanda and I ventured out on the Metro to seek out the best bagels in Montreal. Our expectations were exceeded at St. Viateur in the Le Plateu-Mont Royal neighborhood. We're hoping to swing by again on Monday to bring some bagels with us on the rest of our road trip. After exploring the neighborhood for awhile and popping into some thrift stores, we entered the Parc du Mont Royal. A note for other visitors: we could find no signage reflecting trails, and there were only intermittent signs pointing in the direction of a few different attractions. I think it's safe to say we were both a little demoralized by the wandering in the woods, with no view or activities for pay off. However, we ended up walking up a very long staircase, thinking there might be at least some view and we could give up on finding the Chalet. And, surprise! It was a shortcut to our destination (as much as hundreds of stairs can be a shortcut). We were rewarded with a cool breeze, beautiful views, washrooms, water, and ice cream. Success!

On our way out of the park, we discovered a much more populated and approachable entrance, near the L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal Cathedral. We recommend both that entrance to the park and the Cathedral itself. It is the second tallest cathedral dome in the world after St. Peter's in Vatican City.Read more