Brunch

The place I found for lunch/brunch was called le Magasin Général (The General Store). I liked a lot of the stuff they had for sale, but resisted buying trinkets on my first day of vacation. Attached to the store was a little bistro. There were a few customers, but it was not full, and I got a table against the wall near the piano.

The view from my table. The store is through the doors on the other side of the piano.

If you click on the link above, you can take a look at their menu. I ordered an omelette au four (an oven-baked omelet) with bacon and cheddar cheese. It resembled a soufflé and came with a delicious green salad and a piece of yummy bread. I also asked for a glass of wine, a California cabernet sauvignon.

My bacon and cheddar oven-baked omelet. It was light and fluffy, almost like a soufflé.

It was funny because it was around 10:00am and I wasn't sure if they would serve me wine at that hour. I asked the server, and he had to go check. When he came back, he said I could have wine, but only if I ordered food. I assured him that I was there to eat, and all was well. And it was all mighty tasty.

La rue Saint-Paul

A shot of the rue St.-Paul on a drizzly morning in historic Old Montréal. I stopped into a t-shirt shop, but didn't find quite what I was looking for. Just prior, I had passed a nice trinket shop with a little bistro attached. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a nice place for a bite to eat. So I made a quick loop back.

You can see the dome of the Marché Bonsecours in the distance.

Our weather here at home is improving again. We're expecting several sunny days with high temperatures approaching 80ºF. Oh, the garden will love that!

Very punny

This restaurant might have been a candidate for my late breakfast/early lunch, but it was not yet open. Still, I enjoyed the pun (I always enjoy a good pun, especially when I "get it" in French). The restaurant is on the quay (another word for "wharf"), making it au quai in French. That rhymes with "okay" in English. Writing it with an "o" instead of the au makes it a clever pun.

Bistro O'quai, bar, terrace café, and caterer.

Okay, no O'quai for me. I had to move on.

On the right track

This single rail line connects the mills at the eastern end of the Lachine Canal to the wharves in the Old Port of Montréal. I'm assuming it doesn't get used much these days.

Approaching Old Montréal from the waterfront.

The morning continued to be chilly with an occasional rain shower. Nothing drenching, just drizzle mostly. I felt right at home. The waterfront was very quiet; it was still early (not quite 10:00am) on a weekday morning and the attractions were not open yet. But I wanted something to eat.

Silo Number 5

I didn't know anything about this building when I took the picture. If I had, I might have done more with it. From what I've read since, the silo is included in a historic preservation effort that's under way at this site, called Pointe-du-Moulin (Mill Point). It's an attempt to preserve and enhance the character of some of Montréal's industrial waterfront as it transitions to a new urban neighborhood. You can read about it here.

Silo Number 5. Jake was here.

At this point in my walk I left the canal area behind and moved into Vieux Montréal (Old Montreal). As I mentioned, I was getting hungry. I knew that there would probably be someplace to eat in the streets of the old city, which is more or less a tourist mecca, replete with t-shirt and souvenir shops.

Am I blue

You'd be, too. If you were this bridge. I don't have anything much to say about it, except that it's painted bright blue. I don't even know if it has a name, but the street that runs over it is called rue Mill (Mill Street), as far as I can tell from the map.

There's a gray pedestrian bridge over the lock doors (you can see it under the larger bridge on the left), but it was closed off to the public.

There are a couple of locks at this end of the canal. In fact, the bridge crosses two parallel locks. The park on the far side is called les jardins des écluses (the locks gardens).

Something to do with Shark Week?

Nope, the sign says that it's the "end" of the construction zone. My walk was taking me closer to old Montréal, out of the transitional neighborhood and into the more touristy part of the waterfront. I was also getting hungry and wondering where I would find a place to eat.

I looked, but I didn't see any sharks.

I did find a little café, but I still had some walking to do. So here we go.