Montreal Trip - Day 3 (15 July)

For breakfast/lunch, we absolutely had to have some of the famous St Viateur bagels that we all kept hearing about. Just as we stepped outside to hail a taxi, it started pouring rain. We didn't bother to find out the exact address of the place since we had all assumed that there is only one St Viateur Bagel. We had also checked with the concierge and confirmed that this place was on Rue St Viateur. The driver took us to Rue St Viateur but we realized there were only bakery shops in which you just stop in and buy bagels. There seemed to be some cafes but none called St Viateur Bagel!!

Normally, we would have climbed out the assess the situation, but it was raining and we were panicking. The taxi driver randomly asked one of the bagel shop owners whether such a place exists and the shop owner directed us to St Viateur Bagel and Cafe. As it turns out, St Viateur Bagel has two cafe locations and one shop location. Keiko, Erica, and I ended up at the Mont Royal location. I text messaged Kinh and Dominique to get their butts over to the Mont Royal cafe. As soon as Kinh and Dominique arrive, the rain let up. Go figure.

The atmosphere in the cafe was cozy and it was such a nice feeling being inside looking out on the cloudy/rainy sky. I couldn't resist ordering a hot chocolate to rid myself of that crappy-weather-induced-bad-mood. I ordered a poppyseed bagel with pesto cream cheese. Mmm... I could have had another one... or two... or three.

After satisfying our stomachs, we went shopping to satisfy our retail cravings. Let me tell you, there were some mad sales going on Rue Ste Catherine. I think we probably would have kept on shopping forever had we not made reservations for traditional afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal. We sat outside by a cute little pond. Dominique and Erica ordered the (I think it's called) Royal Sapphire tea, Keiko ordered the house blend tea, and Kinh the peppermint tea. I ordered my favorite, earl grey.

The food looked so tiny and beautiful. The tiered plates definitely heighten the visual experience.

The scones were absolutely delicious with the thick cream and jam.

There were four different little tea sandwiches, including egg salad, smoked salmon, dill-cucumber, and chicken with mustard. Bite-size pieces of heavenly goodness.


The bottom tier was a plateful of delicious cookies and cakes. My favorite was the cantelope-orange colored macaroon(?) sandwich cookie at the bottom of the picture below. My friends and I were debating whether this is called a macaroon or not. While some though that a macaroon is made out of coconut, others thought a macaroon doesn't necessarily have to contain coconut but always contains egg whites like meringue. Here's the wikipedia.com entry on macaroons. What ever it's call, I couldn't get enough of it!


I loved the variety of different sandwiches and sweets. I honestly didn't think I would get filled up on this, but I was really full by the time we left. We all speculated that it must have been the combination of drinking a whole pot of tea and taking our time eating. I think some of us wanted to do some more shopping after tea, but almost all of the stores were closed by that time. We went back to the hotel to relax and start thinking about dinner.

Another recommendation from Dominique's friend was to go see L'International des Feux Loto-Québec, the international fireworks competition that takes place in Montreal annually. On this particular night, we saw a fireworks show by the Canadian firm Concept Fiatlux. Afterwards, we walked north on St Denis and had some Indian food. I have absolutely no idea what the place was called but the food was great. We had a feast! I must say that it was the perfect last dinner for our trip because we were able to talk, laugh, and be merry. Good times, girls!!

So, where are we going next year???