The road to Montreal
CENTER TWP — Jean and Don Vaughn of Center Township wanted to experience the 17th century charm of Montreal's Old Port district, but they had to get past some 21st century roadblocks to do it.
Over Easter weekend, the Vaughns decided to spend a weekend getaway in Montreal. It was a snap decision.
“I've always wanted to see Montreal,” said Jean.
It was easy for Don to follow through on their spur-of-the-moment plan.
A retired Coast Guard aviator who's been flying for 62 years, he decided they'd make the trip in his Mooney 201 four-seat airplane, flying from the Franklin airport where he keeps the plane to Plattsburgh, N.Y., near the Canadian border.
Don said they decided not to fly directly to Montreal because of the amount of paperwork it would have taken to get back into this country in this time of heightened security.
“You have to send the immigration people a hard copy of your passenger manifest with passport numbers and your flight plan and E.T.A.,” Don said. “It makes it unhandy.”
Instead they decided to take a bus from Plattsburgh to Montreal.
“You could take the train into Montreal, it's only an hour away, but we didn't want to because of customs delays,” said Jean. But they still got stuck in a bureacratic mess.
“When we got to the Canadian border, everybody had to leave the bus and go through customs.” Jean said. “We were stuck at customs for three hours because four people didn't have the right papers.”
The Vaughns found their destination to be worth the delay.“Montreal is considered the most European city outside of Europe,” Jean said.“We heard they were not nice to Americans,” she said. “We found that to be the complete opposite. Everybody speaks English. They were very friendly, very warm, very helpful with tourists. The people in our hotel couldn't have been nicer.”The Vaughns stayed at the St. Sulpice Hotel near the Notre-Dame Basilica and a block from the Old Port district.“The Notre-Dame Basilica is the oldest church in Montreal (built in 1672), and we saw it on the bus tour we took,” said Jean, “But we didn't go in. It just wasn't on our agenda.”What they wanted to see was the Old Port district and Rue de Paul street, its shopping area. “It's lined with restaurants, boutiques and souvenir shops,” Jean said.Old Port stretches along the St. Lawrence River and had been the center of the social and economic life of the city since Montreal was founded as a fur trading post in 1611.Shipping has been moved further east to the present Port of Montreal site, leaving the riverside area of Old Port as a recreational and historical area.“I liked the atmosphere of Old Port, the cobblestone streets, the centuries-old buildings. There's not so much hustle and bustle,” said Jean.“City Hall reminded me of the city hall in Paris, the Hotel de Ville. I think it's modeled after that. They call it the Hotel Deville in Montreal also,” she added.The Vaughns arrived on a Thursday. Friday they went walking in the Old Port area and Saturday, they took a bus tour of the city.“We always do a bus trip to see what we would want to see in more depth,” said Jean.“We went on a bus tour around the city. They are still proud that the 1976 Olympics were held there. They took us to the Olympic Village,” she said.
The old athletes' dormitories and apartments have been turned into condos, she said, but the biggest tourist attraction is the Tower of Montreal, incorporated into the base of Olympic Stadium. It is the tallest inclined tower in the world at 574 feet. There is an observatory an the top.As for Olympic Stadium itself, after the games, it became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and Canadian football teams. However, since the Expos' departure in 2004, the stadium has had no main tenant, and it has a history of financial and structural problems.Other locations included in the Vaughns' bus tour were the Molson brewery, Cirque du Soleil and the Domino's sugar refinery.Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a “dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.” Based in Montreal's inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in 1984 by two former street performersThe Vaughns were too early to catch the troupe's latest show, Amaluna, which began its run April 25th in Montreal.In addition to great views, Montreal has great meals to recommend it, said Jean.“The food is scrumptious. We did not have a bad meal or a bad cup of coffee in Montreal,” she added.The Vaughns especially liked the Vieux Port Steakhouse, 39 Rue Saint Paul.“We had the best steak we have had in years,” said Jean.She said the restaurant's stone walls, wooden floors and attentive staff made the meal very enjoyable.She also found that sports can provide a common ground.
“I went into a sports store to get a Montreal hockey shirt for my neighbor boy who was looking after our cat,” Jean said. “I got to talking about hockey and talking about Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. Sidney Crosby is from Montreal and even though he is with Pittsburgh now, they still follow him and love him.”She said while they did take in the sights in Montreal, including a trip to St. Catherine Street in the downtown which is still home to many of the city's prominent department stores, “mainly we were people-watching.”“We're seasoned travelers. We're past all that souvenir stuff,” she said.The Vaughns arrived in Montreal on a Thursday and planned to stay until Monday, but worsening weather made them decide to cut their trip short and return on Sunday.That was their decision, but their airplane had other ideas. Don said they took a bus back to Plattsburgh on Sunday, but mechanical problems with the plane forced them to stay overnight. They had to fly back on Monday in the bad weather they had hoped to avoid.“It was difficult to fly, lots of turbulence, 35 knots of wind, We both had on seatbelts with harnesses, I told her to strap in,” Don said. “At times we both hit our heads.”The winds were so strong the Vaughns had to land in Bradford to refuel. Don said it took an hour and 45 minutes to fly up to Plattsburgh and three-and-a-half hours to fly back to Franklin.Still, despite the bumpy flight home, the Vaughns said they enjoyed their weekend in Montreal.“We wanted a quiet weekend at a nice hotel. We didn't plan to do much,” said Don.
