Trip to Montreal: Day 8

 

The conference concluded at 12:30 pm today. It had been a unique experience for me. It will take some time to reflect and put everything I learned into better perspective. 

We walked for brunch today at Chez Suzette a restaurant known for its crepes and fondues. Abhay tried a panini with green apple and goat cheese. This seems to be a specialty here. It was quite good. I had really come hoping for a mango crepe like the other day I got elsewhere but was disappointed they didn’t have one here. After deliberating whether to choose a savory or sweet crepe I settled for a strawberry, Nutella and cheesecake crepe. I soon realized I had made the right choice. It was simply out of this world. I followed this with their local hot cider with rum, cinnamon and citrus. That too was a worthy complement to the crepe and very much a welcome addition for the cold day.

We called Uber from here to take us to the Montreal Botanical Gardens. This venue sits right across from the famous Olympic stadium of Montreal with its tilted tower and huge domed top. 

Most of the outdoor displays were closed due to weather conditions. The Chinese and Japanese gardens were accessible but who would walk through the thick layer of snow to see anything? There were no flowers and mostly not even leaves. Instead we spent our time exploring the marvelous greenhouse exhibits. There were exhibits of carnivorous plants, a separate exhibit of begonias, another for cacti, one for bonsais and a few others. It was cozy indoors and we made most out of the 2 hours there.

Next on the agenda was the Barbie Expo. This is situated inside a high end shopping mall in downtown Montreal. It is free for visitors and showcases a private collection of over a thousand Barbies. One could easily spend a couple of hours looking at the neat details on each Barbie. There were a few of them representing India. The mall didn’t have too many people today and as we sat down at a cafe to sip on tea we realized why on a Saturday there was not much crowd. It was snowing outside !! 

It took us a few challenging moments to connect with the Uber driver in the snowy conditions. My phone battery was about to die and the driver got out of his car and came looking for us just in time. He took us back to Old Montreal. I had to get the mango crepe before leaving the city tomorrow. With the one ways in the city and the snow fall we were briefly lost after we were dropped off but managed to find the creperia after a few minutes. There were two different guys manning the place today. They were very friendly and helpful. I got my mango crepe, though today the mango wasn’t quite ripe and therefore turned out to be sour. The man had earlier graciously given me a complimentary mixed fruit smoothie. How could I complain about the sour mango? 😃

The snow had gained more force by the time we got on the street. It was quite an experience waddling through the snow covered Saint Paul street under active snowfall. We made it safely back to our hotel under the conditions.

A light dinner at the restaurant within the hotel and time to pack up everything. Tomorrow morning we will check out and head to the airport.

Saree is a cotton Bavan butti weave from Bihar.