I don't even know where to start - there were so many amazing and fun things that we did on our brief trip to Montreal. So, I guess I'll start at the beginning.....we arrived in Montreal on Wednesday evening, grabbed our bags and took the bus to our hotel - a 10-15 minute walk from le Centre Bell. We quickly freshened up from our day of travel, changed our shirts and were off for supper at Joe Beef. The food was amazing - Bryan had an escargot appetizer and a horse tenderloin wrapped in bacon. I had croquettes for an appy and my main course was an arctic char with bone marrow. We got convinced that we needed dessert so we did. Triple vanilla ice cream with poached pear and a praline chocolate sauce - who doesn't eat ice cream when it's -20ish and snowing?? While we were deciding what to eat Michel Therrien stood up from the table behind Bryan and walked out of the restaurant. I'm pretty sure I didn't stop looking for him to come back or smiling for the rest of the meal!! |
On our final day Bryan and I walked to Schwart's Bifteck for a smoked meat sandwich and then met up with Dave Stubbs (Montreal Gazette) for a penny tour of le Centre Bell. I got a ride around the ice on a Zamboni piloted by Keith - who has worked for the Canadiens since '61. He has helped them win 12 Stanley Cups!! We got to see the players lounge, Beliveau's seat, the 24 replica Stanley Cups, the door to the Canadiens dressing room, the press box (which was lower than our seats for the Toronto game), the orchestra that was practicing for the national anthem and numerous photos and memorabilia through out the stadium. As we were exiting we ran into Pierre Houde from RDS - if you've watched a highlight from a Canadiens game and heard "Le tir, ET LE BUT!" chances are it was Pierre. Thank you so much Dave - we had a great time. We really appreciate you taking the time out of your day for us. It was then off to supper (apparently it was Valentine's Day) where we had some crab legs and then headed back for the Habs vs. Leafs game. For the second game in a row it went to overtime (really got our money's worth) but this time the home team won!! Bryan even wore a Habs jersey.
We won't talk about the 8 hours we hung out in the Montreal airport on Sunday.....