Bucket List Montreal

 Montreal has long been in my bucket list since I was a young kid. My aunt's niece came to visit us in San Francisco and the young kid in me that thought of her as the older cool girl and she lived in Montreal. 35 or so years later, I made my first trip to Montreal. In my mind, Montreal was glamourous and romantic and in reality, I'd say that Montreal was not that which isn't a bad thing but just different. I spent 3 days there arriving on a red eye flight on Monday morning. AI is a big thing right now and I used it to help me create a walking tour of the city on my first day. I didn't give it mileage parameters and so I clocked over 27,000 steps on my first day. I check into my hotel and this is how my time was spent:

Day 1 in Montreal, I checked in and dropped my bags off at the Hyatt Centric Montreal and then set off on foot with umbrella in hand because of the cloudy weather. Thankfully, rain held off. I passed by the Notre Dame Basilica, the Place a'Armes. I walked Rue Saint-Paul and made my first purchase.. my beloved Lucia Douglas Pine infuser. I can't get any shop in Canada to ship it due to current customs and taxes and so I bought every single unit the shop had! I then set off to Chinatown which was really cute by the way. No shortage of casual restaurants. I walked what felt like all of Saint Laurent from Chinatown into the Mile End neighborhood. I had to make a visit the Fairmount Bagels and was luckily a timely visit as their sesame bagels were coming out of their wood fired oven. It was the best bagel I've had and especially for $1.04 USD. I couldn't believe how cheap in general I felt Montreal was. I visited more shops around the area along with a stop at the rival bagel shop St Viateur. While both bagels were fresh out of the wood fired oven, I preferred Fairmount as the ones at St Viateur were a bit under cooked.  I covered the neighborhoods of Mont Royal and the surrounding areas as well as the Market Jean Talon. 

Day 2 in Montreal, I revisited the Mont Royal neighborhood and this time I veered off the main streets and explored the more quaint neighborhood side streets. The staircase architecture, the life in front of every building's lawns, a mix of grunge and layered complexity. I see why people like Montreal. After that, I walked up to Mount Royal via the Outremont neighborhood which was the cutest and aesthetically, very much my jam! I walked by the old money area of Montreal at the base of Mount Royal before ascending for about 20 minutes up to the view point where there was an abundant area for sitting and resting. Next up, I stopped by the Marche Atwater market. I was debating whether to go or not but it was one of those I might regret it if I didn't and so I went. It was a much smaller and quainter version of Market Jean Talon. It was mainly artisan shops whereas Jean Talon was groceries and market foods. I did come upon a nice gentleman who owned a fruit stand who proceeded to provide me with a mini lesson on Canadian geography! I walked by the canal to take in the atmosphere before heading back towards Chinatown for dinner. Across from my dinner spot, Sammi Dumplings where I also went the night prior was a shop selling Chinese dresses. At $20 each, I bought enough for my girls to grow into!

Day 3 in Montreal was met with rain which was fine since I would spend the next handful of hours at the Scandinavie Spa. After the spa, I walked all along the harbor waterfront towards the Five Roses industrial sign but at the end, it didn't seem worth it for the limited view on ground and so I headed back towards the Old Town. Another walk through the Old Town and that would be my time exploring the bucket list Montreal. I will miss the $1 bagels and not having to pay $8 for a matcha latte. I happen to be there during the Japanese Celebration week where the restaurants and eateries that had a focus on Japanese food culture were highlighted. I had a delicious sushi dinner at Nozy for about $25 which would be unheard of in the San Francisco Bay Area. Montreal to me was a mix of grungy, understated and layered. Like any city, it was homeless camps, a street where people with drug addiction issues in need of mental help congregated and I happen to accidentally walk through such a street. Having grown up in San Francisco, my experience had me continue walking through vs turning around to take another route. One of the highlights for me was the many street musician performers I saw along the way mainly in Old Town and the senior citizens in Chinatown doing their daily breath exercises. Until next time, Montreal!

Milano.. Not A Stunning City But..

I just returned from a few days in Milano. At the time when I booked the trip, I had no idea that the 2026 Winter Olympics was taking place in Milan hence lodging logistics was not as straight forward as it normally was but more on that later! My impression of Milan is that while it's not a stunning city, it's one that is rich in culture and traditions. The Milanese stick to their espressos and cappuccinos void of any pressure to offer easily assessable matcha options. It has stunning historic architecture if you have the curiosity to look up and seek it from the modern. 

I arrived on a light rainy mid-morning and while it would have been so easy to hop into a taxi for 30 euros, it was nearly just as easy to follow the signs pointing to the M4 metro into the city center for 2.50 euros. M4, a quick transfer to the M1 and I was minutes away from hotel 1, the Hotel Gran Duca di York. It was a traditional Italian boutique hotel despite the British name with staff that couldn't be more welcoming and warm. It was immaculately clean... not a sign of any dust. Location was on point, just around the corner and 2-3 blocks from the Duomo. I would gladly stay here again. They served breakfast every morning and a decent selection and a sighting of Team USA the day before the opening ceremonies. Otherwise, the Milanese were pretty low key about the Olympics being in town. It wasn't until the day before the opening ceremonies that Olympic structures and banners took over the Duomo plaza.

I spent my days wandering the streets of Milan. I went to my first shopping stop: Flower Mountain. It's a Japanese sneaker company but made in Italy and this is their only physical boutique location. Bonus that it was February and end of season sales were abundant. I continued onto exploring neighborhoods like Brera, strolled through some flea markets, walked through Sforszesco Castle towards Chinatown and the surrounding areas. I explored the Navigli area one early morning which I highly recommend and traced my steps back towards the Duomo. My score of the trip was a last minute ticket to see the Last Supper. Every Wednesday, last minute tickets for the following week are available at 12pm local time which for me was 3am. Because I am normally awake due to what I call mom brain, I was able to snag a ticket. 

After a few nights at Hotel Gran Duca, I packed my carryon and walked a couple of blocks to hotel 2.. my spa hotel.. my staycation within a vacation which was well planned in hindsight given that it turned out to be a very rainy day.. the Park Hyatt Milano. It's a 5 star hotel with 5 star service. As I rounded the corner on this rainy day, the staff approached and whisked away my carryon while another staff member opened up a plastic umbrella bag for my dropping umbrella. I was granted early in (and late check out) and was escorted to my room by Letizia who was a sweetheart. She was delighted to point out the rare view from my view into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. I stepped out to explore the mall a bit and came back to a gold dusted round piece of chocolate and a welcome card from the staff. While I was out for a quick bite at the Starbucks Reserve, the housekeeping staff provided turn down service with also consisted of a few pieces of quality chocolate. This place deserves 5 stars all around! Team China was not slumming it.

As everyone was heading towards the city, I was heading away to hotel 3, the Crowne Plaza Linate. I suspected that the roads would be restricted and getting out of the city to fly home on the day of the opening ceremonies might be tough and so I booked an airport hotel to alleviate any risk. Team Qatar's security was onsite at the hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed my few days of consuming homemade pasta, walking the streets, taking it all in, and getting a Milan grade facial at the Claudalie boutique. Until next time!