Mon-Train-All. Day Four.

Montréal, Québec - Oranges. Yes, oranges. And lots of 'em, too. Of course, we could have used the vitamin C to help make us feel better this weekend. This morning, my face felt like an acupuncture session gone awry, my sinuses like the crumbling ruins of Rome.

Sniffling away is not the most pleasant manner in which to spend eight hours on a train, which we did last night, getting back just before two in the morning. While the rain had mostly let up, it was still a grey day in la belle province. We did a lot of walking again, making it up to the Jean Talon Market, apparently the largest of its kind in North America ("Aha," he says to himself: "I knew there had to be another reason for so many pictures of fruit. That segue wasn't quite complete!")

Actually, I found the market to be patently underwhelming. Sure, there were many stalls of fruit, some particularly rancid cheese shops and the meat available at the charchuteries was no doubt top-notch. Nonetheless, there weren't really any bakeries (no Montréal-style bagels?) and frankly, no restaurants. No artisans, either. Those are just things I've come to expect from an excursion to the market.

It was, however, a veritable cornucopia of colour and the produce looked great (which really is the point, isn't it?), but from a tourist's perspective, once you've seen one pile of oranges, you've seen enough. Except in this case, I guess -- I liked how differently the merchants displayed their produce. In the end, the walk was salvaged by a couple of pains au chocolat and a panini avec porc et brie. Really, it all comes down to the food, doesn't it?

Speaking of which...

Mon-Très-All. Day Three.

Montréal, Québec - Très all, yes. Everything. Yes, that's it -- I think Montréal has a little bit of everything. Except these days -- apparently -- sunshine. That's right, it was still wet and cold this morning. And grey. SCS's sinuses continued to stage a revolt most of the day and my back continued to do its best bed-of-nails impression.

I'd have to say that one of the funniest parts of the today's adventures, though, came tonight when we went into Chu-Chai, a high-end vegetarian restaurant. And I, of course, was carrying some greasy smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz's. I tried to explain it away by saying that it was only smoked tofu, but the hippies weren't buying it. So we agreed I'd buy them all a round of green tea and a side of granola, and call it a day.

So, yes, I did make it to the world-famous Schwartz's tonight for some smoked meat. My arteries aren't thanking me for it, but my stomach is. We waited in the line-up for a bit (which is apparently always there, regardless of the time of day) and felt kind of foolish when we figured out that we didn't need to wait for take-out. Two smoked meat for me; a turkey for SCS and an order of fries to share. Mmm, greasy goodness.

The meat didn't quite melt in my mouth like yesterday's at Dunn's, and it was quite a bit fattier. But mighty tasty. Home cut fries. Yum. And only $4.95 for a sandwich. I've been telling my arteries that they should just suck it up and experience the local gastronomical delights. Food, it just seems to be the focus of this blog every once in a while.

It was a day of a lot of walking, and we made it down to Vieux Montréal, where I finally had my first chocolate croissant of the trip. Shocking. Considering I pretty much lived off the things when in France a half-lifetime ago. Actually, this was a croissant filled with almond paste and covered in chocolate. Yes, it was just as horrible as it sounds. The architecture was incredible and SCS and I were particularly amazed when we thought back to just how old some of these buildings are. We also passed Notre Dame, where Céline Dion got married. Thankfully, our ears have been spared. One more day to go.

Mont-rain-al. Day Two.

Mont- réal, Québec - It's wet, it's cold and it's grey. Add to that the fact that SCS and I are both sick (her moreso than I) and that the vertebrae in my back have decided to go all Ralph Macchio on each other, and the first whole day in Montréal hasn't been all sunshine. Did I mention that it's wet?

Actually, it looks like a pretty cool city, and that's not just because I'm seeing most of it refracted several times over in the raindrops plummeting earthward. The spirit of John Bonham using my noggin as a bongo drum.

SCS had her presentation today, so I had a couple of hours to swim through the streets and take in some of the sights for myself. Being that fatty meat products don't do for her what they do for me, it also gave me the chance to gleefully gorge on some Montréal smoked meat at Dunn's. My goal is to make it to Schwartz's -- widely regarded as the best smoked meat in Montréal, if not anywhere outside the Big Apple -- but the hike would have been redundant today considering it's up near where we're staying (and not right downtown, where we were). Still, artery-clogging goodness. Such a boy. Melt-in-your-mouth like chocolate. Okay, not like chocolate, but melt-in-your-mouth, nonetheless. The waitress asked if I wanted the lean meat. Such audacity. Are you kidding? Fries, sure! Swiss cheese? Um, yeah. Coleslaw and a pickle? Is there any other way? (I do need my healthy option, too, you know -- duh!)

Lunch for me was late, and dinner, early, so I wasn't overly hungry when it came time to have a chicken breast, roasted red pepper and brie sandwich on a ciabatta bun at Boccacinos. And yes, more fries. All this after a great breakfast this morning at the B&B, which was comprised of little soufflés, toast with homemade peach preserves and chocolate banana bread. Yeah, it's been a tough day for that stomach of mine.

With the aching back, I had thought a massage might provide some nice relief. I think it was the "body-to-body" part advertised at the place to the right that I thought might get me into a bit of a trouble. Thought the loophole of filling out a job application might help me get away with it, but, well, um, no, apparently not.

The French? Well, it has come back just nicely, thanks. Neat how the human mind works sometimes.

Montréal, Je T'aime. Night One.

Mont- réal, Québec - So, after having spent eight hours painted into a train seat to get here, I finally got my first taste of Montréal tonight. Well, not really a first taste because we had such difficulty deciding where to eat. Not that there weren't plenty of options. No, and they were all full, with line-ups queuing down the street, even at 10:30. It was particularly funny to see people on every corner though, carrying bottles of wine sporting brown paper bag sport coats. In Montréal, you can take your own wine into the restaurants. On our entrée into the city (mmm, entrées), we did see a place called a "Hotdogeria". I'm not kidding. A veritable cornucopia of mystery meats, I am sure. Needless to say, we didn't head there. Also saw a mannequin sporting a sweater with a bump. Had never seen a pregnant mannequin before.

For whatever the reason, I was still surprised to hear just how many people actually converse in French here. With how bilingual the city is, I had somehow expected that there would have been a greater split. Thankfully, mon francais est retournée en force.

Above: If the fact that you sterilize your glasses is your selling point, I think I might just not be visiting your establishment.

Below: However, if you present chocolate you have for sale like this, je retournera d'es que possible.

The buildings here are magnifique. We have a great little B&B and have remarked how neat the architecture of the apartments is around here. Somehow, the facades of each place seems a little different from the one beside, despite them all being attached. Stained glass here, a round porch there. Or a turret. I look forward to getting out to soak in some more of it tomorrow.