Along the way, many people told us how much we would love Montreal. Our brother Kris and his wife Ann gave us excellent recommendations for dinner and our friend Keith gave us advice as well. The port was right in the middle of everything and we couldn’t wait to get out to explore the city.

But first, the Marina: the best way to describe it is clean and efficient. The restrooms and showers were modular and easy to clean. The laundry room was the same. The facilities were minimal, yet had everything we needed. The efficient staff hustled around with walkie-talkies making sure boaters had everything they needed including delivering ice. The docks were immaculate and at night, lit up with neon blue lights.

When we arrive in a port we often have a lot of things we need to take care of including: laundry, provisioning, acquiring reference materials and of course, dog walking. Once we completed the laundry we were ready for provisioning, which was an opportunity to explore!

The grocery store was several blocks away and the marina staff recommended walking up and cabbing back.
We struck out with our shopping list, pausing in the park next to Notre Dame Cathedral to sit and watch beautifully dressed montréalai strolling around on their lunch hour. Those high heels, though! The ancient stonework and cobbled streets reminded us of the old cities in France.

The grocery store had these cool carts that you assemble yourself by combining a shopping basket with a waist high cart. The grocery store itself was a combo deli, with specialty meats and chesses and a full grocery store with stuff like gallons of water and toilet paper. The grocery store turned out into an underground shopping mall which we struggled to get out of due to our wheeled cart and no ramps to pull it up. We figured it out, but not before appearing to be the country rubes we are.

When we got back, we had a new neighbor, an ocean going super-yacht, with Bermuda registry and a staff of several workers who spent hours cleaning and polishing “Prediction.” The Russian Vodka titan owner did not appear to be aboard. Couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to have a crew like that cleaning Big Frisky.

After stowing our supplies we were on our next outing, a dog walk and trip to McGill’s Maritime to pick up the remaining tide/current tables we need to travel to the Atlantic. The dogs have become expert in short leash work on busy streets. And they were rewarded by a dip in the fountain next to the old Ursuline Nun Convent. I don’t think the Ursulines would mind. Do you?

We dressed for dinner taxied up to D’Emma, a wonderful Italian restaurant with dinner on the patio and an after dinner drink below in the first floor of the restaurant. With its stone walls, low ceilings and uneven floors, it reminded us for all the world of Rouen France. Olde World Charm indeed and we loved it.