Friday 15 August Glen, Nathan and I went on a road trip to Montreal to check out the city’s Pride festivities. Why didn’t we fly you might ask, considering it’s only an hour by plane? Well, sometimes you’ve just got to hit the open road. Plus it’s cheaper to drive than to fly – and because, road trip!
Nathan picked Glen and I up after Glen got back from work. The traffic wasn’t too bad getting out of the city, considering everyone flees Toronto on Friday afternoons to go to their cottages up north. Once we were out of midtown, traffic was fine and we zoomed along for three or so hours until we reached Kingston.
We decided we’d split the journey up and stop somewhere along the way. Apparently it only takes five and a half hours to drive to Montreal from Toronto but that was already starting to look shaky, so a stop in Kingston it was.
Kingston was a real surprise. I was expecting some tiny little town with barely much going for it. Turns out, it’s practically a whole other city. We checked into our hotel by the 401 (I think it was a Marriott) and then drove downtown (yes, they have a downtown) to find food. The main strip in Kingston is pretty long and has everything on it you could imagine. There were also some beautiful houses and old buildings around and us three gushed over what a beautiful place it was.
We went to Chez Piggy, as recommended by Julian, and had a real good meal there, sitting out on the patio. Had some drinks, ate a load of food, and then went back to the hotel, chilled out for a bit and went to bed.
Next morning we were up at a reasonable time and went for breakfast in Kingston. Glen bought five raspberry jam filled donuts for a midmorning snack, we drove past some more pretty buildings, and then hit the 401 heading east to Montreal. We stopped along the way for a coffee break, ate one of those delicious donuts each, and then continued on our way.
We arrived in Montreal at about 1pm. I got annoyed with Glen because he was ignoring my directions to the hotel in favour of his own. Anyway, he was wrong, I was right, neither of us were very happy. Still, we checked in to the hotel (Le Meridien Versailles)…and promptly went to bed. The nap did us a world of good.
Refreshed we went in search of food, a vague plan to walk towards the gay area on Rue St Catherine. Unfortunately, it was raining in Montreal so the city wasn’t bursting with the joys of SUMMER, but we did walk past the Musee des Beaux Arts, which Glen and I hadn’t seen before. There were some beautiful sculptures out the front so we stopped and took some photos.
Late lunch next at Les Trois Brasseures. Ok food, nothing fancy, and then continued on our trek to Rue St Catherine. The stalls setup for the Pride festival were all a bit water logged, and most had packed up by the time we got there. At first I thought it was because of the rain but really it was because they were due to finish. We had some more drinks, went walking, and then headed back the way we came to go to dinner.
We went to Bouillon Bilk, a recommendation from a friend of Nathan’s. We walked past it the first time as its name isn’t that prominent, though the layout and decor should have given it away. We went in, took our place at the bar, and prepared for a great dining experience.
The waitress we had was excellent, going through the menu with detail, and the rest of the night she was attentive and friendly. I think it helped that Nathan was with us as he’s tall, good looking and very personable. We had three courses each. I had food envy of Glen starter which was a lobster dish. It was a work of art. I had a shrimp risotto with passionfruit, followed by probably the most delicious scallops I’ve ever eaten. For dessert I had a fig dish. There were cocktails and wine too. Just before we left, the waitress gave us recommendations for brunch in Montreal and for the Atlantic in Toronto. Excellent!
We then went back to the hotel for a little while, taking a taxi back. It was a long drive and we realised we’d walked a hell of a long way. No wonder Nathan was complaining about his feet (He’d brought inappropriate shoes along). My contacts were killing me so I swapped them for some new ones and felt much better. Then we were ready to hit the parties.
It was still raining over Montreal so we skipped the outdoor dance party and went to a bar for a drink, then to Stock Bar, and finally Unity to dance the night away. There were lots of people out, prices and quality of drinks varied from place to place, but all in all we had an excellent time and a lot of fun. Shame about the weather but in the end it didn’t stop us staying out until the wee hours of the morning.
Check-out wasn’t until midday and we made full use of it, lounging in bed until about 11 (though Glen and I were awake before that, trying to squeeze out some more sleep). Surprisingly we only felt tired, not hungover. We made the decision to skip the parade at 1pm, go for brunch/lunch and then get going.
We went to H4C, the restaurant the waitress recommended. We couldn’t sit inside as they were busy but luckily the rain had stopped and it was looking like a nice day outside. We ordered a plate of donuts and brioche to share, which came with various jams and spreads. Divine! And then we had something else each, Glen and I having an omelette each while Nathan had salmon. We were stuffed by the end of it. Excellent place to go to though.
It then took us 45 minutes to get out of the city due to road closures for the parade. I didn’t offer any assistance, as I was sitting in the back and Glen seemed to have it in hand. Hours passed as we zoomed out of Quebec and into Ontario. I tried to sleep a number of times, only once successfully when I put Nathan’s jumper over my head. Glen took a photo.
We stopped in Belleville at a surprisingly good sushi restaurant for a late lunch. We ordered a bunch of stuff, not realising when we went to pay that it was all you can eat. We were stuffed anyway, but it might have changed our choices. Still, no need to be greedy. I then drove the rest of the way to Toronto, getting stuck in god awful Sunday afternoon traffic as people return from the north to the city. We made it home safely though, and all of us were really happy with how the weekend turned out.
(Oh, and you might be wondering what happened to the remaining two donuts. When we woke up on Sunday morning, the paper bag they were in was just about see-through because of all the oil in them. They were delicious but after seeing that, we threw the last two out.)
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?