The Montreal Vacation. Part 2

Day-5. We got up around 7:30 AM and took the Kava Winery tour, which started for us at 8:45 AM in the Square Dorchester. Our driver was the bilingual Nicholas of Montreal. We then made one other stop in the city at the old Montreal information station and then left the city traveling down highway 10 for about 30 minutes before making yet another stop to pickup additional people at the city of Brome, all before we arrived at our first winery. There were probably about 24 people on the bus, of which 4 of us were anglophones. 

Nicholas would use the microphone to lecture in French, and then talk English to the 4 of us, who were seated in the first two rows. I would say that about 95% of the tour was in French. Nicholas would go on for about 15 minutes describing the countryside or winery in French over the microphone, and then give us a quick review in English as he drove, and as we leaned forward to hear the best we could. 

The first winery we stopped at was the Domaine Les Brome Winery.  We split in to two groups.  One group was led by the women owner, who later said she was an American. This group was the French speaking group. Our group, was led by Nicholus and was the English speaking group. The other couple consisted of two students from outside of Quebec.

The owners of the winery were a husband wife team that had left the corporate world to start the winery. He had formally been a bank president.  The winery had a reputation as one of the top wineries in Quebec. The winery was perched on top of a little hill, from which you could see lake Brome in the distance. Nicholas went on to explain to us about how they take care of the vines, which were now covered with bird proof netting as per the season.  Later in the year they cut the vines down closer to the ground so that they can cover them with materials in order to protect them from the snows. Nicholas went on to tell us that sometimes they must use helicopters to warm the vines if a deep freeze occurs. It all sounded a bit risky and very costly to maintain. 

Nicholas also told us about the distribution of the vines. The winery had three options when it came to selling their goods. They could see directly to the public at their winery, or they could sell directly to the public from a booth at the market.  Or they could sell their wines to the government owned distribution system, from which restaurants and other retail establishments buy from.

We then went inside were we received a tour of the facilities, which were not much different than other wineries that I have been to. We sat down and tasted about 6 wines that they produced. In my opinion, the best wines were the dryer white wines. Jeanne and I agreed to purchase the “Le Pepin” wine as we left the winery.

We left the winery and after about 20 minutes arrived at Union Libre Cidre and Vin. They told us that they had yet to produce their first wine, but we were going to taste apple cider.  They instructed us on how to make a cocktail using they cider. It turned out to be pretty good.  We then went and took a lunch that they had prepared for us. After lunch we lined up at a table and tasted about 6 ciders, all sweet.  Some of the ciders were good, but some were just too sweet for my liking. I felt like brushing my teeth after tasting a couple of the ciders. Jeanne and I both thought the ciders were good, but they were not what we normally drink, so we passed on purchasing any of their products. 

We then left and went to the third and last winery of the day. It was the Vignoble de la Bauge Winery.  Interesting winery in that they really started with raising wild boars and then moved into wines. They now sell both products. We started the tour with an ice tea cocktail, and then went for a walk along a trail surrounded by their livestock of exotic animals, which they slaughtered and sold to restaurants. After walking for about 30 minutes we went into the tasting room were they gave us tastings on about 5 of their wines. I believe that all the wines were white wines. They ranged from somewhat dry whites to crack your teeth sweet wines.  They also gave the group tastes of the animals they sell: I declined to taste any of the animal parts. Jeanne and I passed on purchasing any of their wines. 

After about an hour we then headed back to Montreal, after dropping a group off at Brome.  On the way back the road became very congested, looking like LA after a holiday weekend. Nicholas was now coming down with a cold and could barely talk, but decided to take an alternate route to enter the city in order to bypass the heavy traffic. But, it was not to be.  The traffic was bad everywhere.  We were about 2 hours late rolling into Montreal. 

Nicholas, the perpetual professional, kept a smile on his face even though he could barely talk in the end. We parted and Jeanne and I went back to the hotel to rest before going out to dinner.At this point, Jeanne was also coming down with a cold. So we stayed close to the hotel and ate at an Italian restarant on Stanley. I had a wood fired pizza which was just fantastic.  It was probably one of the better meals I had in Montreal. 

Day-6. We once again slept in until 10:00 am.  We stopped by our regular coffee and Croissant shop before attempting to get one day bus pass so we might head to old Montreal and take a river cruise. We did not realize it before but you can only get a bus pass with a credit card at the Metro stations. We then walked down to the Metro station at Bonaventure to purchase a pass. Unfortunately, once finding the machine it did not work property and we had to abandon the plan of purchasing a pass at that moment in time.

Therefore we were doomed to walk and we went down to the water front so we could get on the 12:30 ride. We purchased our tickets and were the first people on the boat. We opted to sit out in the open, which was just fine weather-wise, since it heated up once we were out on the St. Lawrence. The only bad part about sitting out in the open was it appears to attract all the little “jimmies”, who were running from their mothers and attempting to throw themselves off the boat into the waterway.  It got so bad with the Jimmies trying to kill themselves that we finally had to move to the middle of the boat to get away from them all. As it was just too stressful watching them run to the railings and hanging over the roaring churning water, while their mothers modeled for pictures. 

The boat ride was great and very interesting. We went down stream and then up stream.  Where else you going to go on a river? It spattered a little rain, but nothing bad.  This was the first day that the sky was not sunny. 

We left the boat ride and decided to get a late lunch in Old Montreal. We opted for a crape restaurant where we both had red Bordeaux wine with our crapes. The food was good and we sat at a table on the second floor out of the way.

We then went to the chateau in old Montreal. We paid the fee and did the self tour. It was somewhat interesting but not over the top. You do the first floor and then down into the basement. Round and around you go.  

When we were done, we exited into a rain storm. We made a bee line to the nearest Metro, where we finally got our beloved one day pass which we used to ride the 747 bus to the airport the next day. If I had not already said so, the 24 hour pass is $10 CAN per person. We rode the metro to the Bonaventure station and walked home. 

Jeanne was not feeling good so I went out and got a couple of sandwiches at the Crudescience vegetarian restaurant which was about a 45 minute round trip walk. On the way back to the hotel I was enjoying walking through the groups of people that were out on St. Catherine street. There are times where it is feels just great to be with many people, but be total invisible and anonymous at the   As I passed her I could see the beads of sweat rolling down her face. Clearly she had been carrying the box for quite some time. As I passed I looked at her and smiled knowing the work she was doing. She then smiled back at me as she held the box on her knees.  This was obviously a purchase that was well worth the effort. 

When I got back to the hotel room, Jeanne and I then sat on the bed and ate the sandwiches along with drinking the bottle of wine that we had purchased on the winery trip. 

Day-7. We got up at 4:00 AM and went down to the peel street bus stop and waited for the 5:05 AM 747 bus to the airport. There are more taxis on the street than people at that hour in Montreal. The bus pulled up on time and much to my astonishment it was almost full.  We road the bus to the airport and arrived just before 6:00 AM. 

Departure processing is always changing. Gone are the days where you just walk up to a man at a counter, he stamps your passport and then you board the aircraft. Now you must go through security, which of course means taking your shoes off. Then you must scan your passport, answer questions and then take a picture of yourself all on little machines. Then you go to the man at the counter and he asks the regular questions and lets you pass to the gates. 

The flight left on time at 7:30 AM. We flew for 6 uneventful hours and quickly were able to get back to the car in the LAX C parking lot. Unfortunately, the car battery had gone dead... and there it is.