Ooh La La--a Lovely Time in Montréal

Thanks to our frequent flier miles, we were able to spend our holiday weekend in Montréal . We visited Montréal last summer and immediately fell in love. We knew we had to go back! Our chance came last weekend and we had beautiful time.

Since we had been to Montréal before, we did not feel too much pressure and were really able just to wander around.  The first thing we did after checking into our hotel was to head over to the French market to load up on food for our stay. I had brought a cooler with us to make it easy to transport food while on our travels. While we did expect to eat at some restaurants on our trip, picking stuff up at the market helped us keep our expenses down. Plus, we really love the choices of fresh bread and cheese we can find at the market. (And, who can forget the pastries!)

Maple tart--a danger to my waistline.

We spent part of two of our days walking around the very picturesque Vieux-Montréal. We loved ambling around on cobblestone streets, eating at crêperies, and popping in and out of stores. The area is also abuzz with performance artists and the clip-clop of horses. One of my favorite things to do--check out the offerings of local artists.

Montréal  City Hall

The beautiful weather afforded us the ability to hike around Mont-Royal and have an amazing view of the city. The view was really like none other that I have seen.

I learned that we could enjoy the outdoor portion of the Montréal Botanical Gardens for free after 6PM. While we still had to pay for parking, the free admission to these gorgeous gardens made up for it. The gardens are quite expansive. The Chinese Garden not only presented us with a feel for a traditional Chinese garden but also depicted various scenes.

The Chinese Garden in the Montréal Botanical Gardens

We had a pleasant picnic lunch at Parc Lafontaine. The park was full of wildlife. There also was a nice play area that my daughter loved. The surroundings were perfect for a picnic!

As you can see, we managed to pack a ton into a weekend. However, we did not feel rushed and were able to really enjoy everything that we did. We had a great time taking moments to absorb the beauty around us. Montréal is a gorgeous city that is culturally vibrant. It is only a 2 hour flight from Chicago, making it a very accessible travel option.