April 29, 2014
More on Montreal: But tomorrow we Go!
Today we didn't cycle anywhere abnd neither did we do any kind of organizedtouring or exploring. All we did was to meander over to the McGill University campus, and later we made the mandatory visit to the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen. This is too small a sample of Montreal to tell you much, but still it's somethiing.
McGill is an English language university set smack in the middle of downtown, on a small patch of green at the foot of the mountain, Mont Royal, that occupies the centre of Montreal island. It happens to be my alma mater, and of course is very historic. I have been reading a little book of Sabrina's : "A Little History of Canada"and I am reminded of how in 1970 troops patrolled the halls, as terrorists fought for the separation of Quebec from Canada. I watched one of my professors try to throw the soldiers out of his building, saying this was a place for learning and not guns.Today, we took Amelia and Evee to the peaceful campus, and they played by the famous, scandalous "Three Bares" statue, near that building.
Across the street from McGill was "Smart Burger". Lots of schools have fast food places strategically located nearby, and they will be pretty mundane. However, this is Montreal, so what we found included the "Parisian Burger". Grilled chicken, fried onions, peppers, brie cheese. Just routine here.
Also routine is going to Schwartz's, the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, in the heart of the "ethnic" district. Schwartz makes the Montreal version of what would be called Pastrami in New York. It is beef brisket, marinated and smoked, and served on overloaded slices of rye bread. It could easily be the most famous Montreal food item. The restaurant is a hole in the wall with very limited seating. With the exception of taking over a small space next door from which they sometimes offer takeout service, the restaurant has resolutely not grown and not opened other branches. There is commonly a lineup outside.
This evening, unexpectedly, the waiters (waiters in a Jewish deli are always men) were very polite. However everything else was just as it should be- the spiced meat, sour pickles, greasy fries, crowded tables. One thing that caused some uncertainty was the concept of "cherry coke". We always used to ask for cherry coke in the old days, but this did not refer to a product by the Coca Cola company. Coca Cola only came out with their cherry coke in 1985. Rather, our cherry coke was a mixture of Black Cherry pop from the Cott company, and Coca Cola.Tonight our request for cherry coke produced only the Cott product. It's a slight glitch. Our expectations of Schwartz's must be unreasonably high.
Anyway, I guess we are ready to leave Montreal. Dodie has finished knitting Joey's sweater, we have gobbled up all manner of iconic foodstuffs, and hung out for days in the local bike shop. Paris, stand back, here we come.
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