I wasn't sure how different Montreal and Québec would be, but I'm glad I made substantial stops at both as they each have their unique charm and stand out from one another. Montreal is both full of towering skyscrapers and incredible historic architecture, with many streets sharing an interesting mixture of centuries. I stayed in North America's best hostel for 2015, and it was fantastic. Free tea/coffee, croissants for breakfast, incredible amenities and a rain shower in the rooms ensuite... I was rather impressed. I shared a room with an Italian restaurateur and one evening under my strict guidance he cooked up the most delicious Carbonara for some of us lucky backpackers. I've let him know I'm definitely heading to his restaurant once I've made it to Italy and that he should keep a table open for the entire week or so I'm there, perhaps again I could show him a thing or two.
I covered the city extensively by foot. I gave the subway a try a couple of times, and it was excellent (Auckland, please take note...), but despite the very cold weather, I much preferred travelling above ground and seeing all the nooks and crannies tucked away around the city. I was also lucky enough above ground to visit some historic landmarks such as the Notre-Dame Basilica, and see all the Gothic Revival architecture. I hadn't realised initially that it's open to the public for a small fee, so I was quite happy when I was able to spend a full morning inside, sheltered from the snow pelting down, taking some incredible and very unique photos.
On several occasions I tried to make it to the restaurant La Banquise, which I'm told is home to the best Poutine in Quebec. It's open 24/7 and has been around since the 1960's. Every time I went there was a 40 person line not even in the door yet, so finally after arriving at further obscurer and obscurer times, I managed to get a seat without waiting too long. I have to say, it was worth the wait, and was the best poutine that I've tried so far. I went for the classique, as I thought it would give me a good baseline, but now I'm wanting to head back (after a few days of poutine cooldown) to try the perhaps 30 different kinds of poutine, particularly with different kinds of smoked meat.
Of course, knowing my track record, I happened upon another happy family of squirrels. This time one of them (named Jean-Pierre), following a fist-bump and handshake, proceeded to climb up my arm, onto my shoulder, then halfway up my toque (beanie). That was definitely a first for me, but he seemed to know what he was doing. He also disappeared inside my camera lens hood, I'm sure he licked it... So I spent a good couple of minutes braving one of Montreals colder days to get a few photos. I've now happened upon black, red and grey squirrels and kickstarted my budding wildlife photography career, focusing exclusively and extensively on squirrels.
On the last day I made it out to a massive snowball fight after I saw an event on Facebook listing 1500 attendees. It ended up being a couple hundred people or so, braving the elements, in all out warfare. I took a good chunk of ice to the face, and a few wheelbarrows full of snow, but I ultimately lived to tell the tale.
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