trip to Montreal
My wife Z and I are visiting our friends Ev & Vi for nine days.
So oftenpast trips to Montreal
I’ve been to Montreal several times now. The first was in the summer of 2010. I had just finished middle school and my family was moving from the suburbs of New York to something like a suburb of Victoria, BC. We’d travelled from New York to Cooperstown, then to Ottawa, then to Montreal. On the other side of the world, in South Africa, the World Cup was underway. We watched most games but we missed the infamous knockout game between Ghana and Uruguay because we were driving in some sunny Canadian countryside. We listened to the drama unfold over the radio.
On our last day in Montreal, before flying to the West Coast, we watched the World Cup final in our hotel rooms. I was rooting for Netherlands from the beginning and they made it all the way to final and then lost to Spain in extra time. I watched it with my family at the hotel we were staying at. I remember the sick feeling of disappointment when that goal went in and hearing my dad cheer in the adjoining room. I’m not sure why he was cheering for Spain.
Six years later in the summer I turned twenty I visited Montreal again, this time without family and just two of my friends. We took a redeye and dallied in sleepy stupor while we waited for our Airbnb in the Plateau to be ready for checkin. We explored the city and drank beer on the balcony in the muggy heat of August and heard the electricity crackle on the cables hanging over the street. Frank Ocean had dropped Blonde one week earlier and it seemed like every boutique we visited was playing it.
Another eight years later in 2022 I visited Montreal again, this time to visit my sister who’d moved there to study law at McGill. It was November but the World Cup was happening again because it was in Qatar, where summers are very hot. My sister was recovering from a cold or a flu of some sort and soon I caught it too. I was bedridden for days and I lay aching and sweating, watching the World Cup on my laptop. Luis Chávez scored one of the best free kicks I’ve ever seen, I don’t remember much else.
Today is July 9 2026 and tomorrow my wife and I will fly to Montreal while Spain duel Belgium in the World Cup quarterfinals. This World Cup I’ve followed more closely than most others. I’ve watched most of the games and even attended one in Seattle. The last time I watched so many World Cup games was sixteen years ago, in 2010, when my parents were organizing our move from the American East Coast to the Canadian West. Now I’m in charge of planning my travels and somehow managed to book our return flight on the day of the final. If the game goes to penalties like it did last year, I might have to watch it on my phone while we board the plane.
I find myself in Montreal when there’s a World Cup going on.
Friday 07/10/2026 – Vancouver → Montreal
- get Lyft to YVR, breakfast, free upgrade, takeoff @ 12pm
- read 1st chapter of Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
- read five short stories by Shirley Jackson
- get picked up w/ Z by Ev @ new Mtl airport
- eat dinner @ Ev & Vi’s apt w/ Z and Ev
- walk east along St Denis, pop into Champs w/ Z and Ev
- drinks @ Big in Japan w/ Z and Ev
Saturday 07/11/2026 – Montreal
- sleep in w/ Z
- make coffee, start reading Investigations of a Dog by Kafka, read Prologue of The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- brunch @ Bar Sparrow w/ Z and Ev
- solo coffee @ Cafe Eclair
- solo bike to Bar L’Barouf to meet my friend Hik for the World Cup match but he wasn’t there and it was full
- sit at the bar of small Bar Le Pastel to watch England vs Norway, Vi joined me
- get chicken sandwiches from Portugalia, then meet Z, Ev, Vi, & Vi’s friends @ Bar Frappe for Switzerland vs Argentina
- leave w/ Z @ halftime to rest @ Ev and Vi’s apt and watch rest of the game
Sunday 07/12/2026 – Verdun & Montreal
- make coffee, have breakfast @ Ev and Vi’s apt
- drive to Verdun to play volleyball w/ Ev’s friends
- swim @ Natatorium de Verdun, free public outdoor pool
- walk in pedestrian zone in Verdun town centre
- get cortado from Lili et Oli and sabich pita sandwich from Falafel Yoni
- attend Toronto Tempo vs NY WNBA game @ Bell Centre
- bike back to Ev and Vi’s apt and rest there
- solo bike along St Denis, north up past south edge of Parc la Fontaine, then through residential streets
- lay and drowse on picnic bench looking up into trees in quiet corner of Parc des Compagnons-de-Saint-Laurent
- walk to pedestrianized Ave Mont-Royal then bike north a bit and then all the way back south to Ev and Vi’s apt
- pick up beer at Maxi
- eat homemade dinner @ Ev and Vi’s apt w/ the group
- smash and eat traditional chocolate cauldron that Vi brought from back home in Geneva
- watch a chunk of Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom w/ Vince
Monday 07/13/2026 – Montreal
- sleep in while Z and Ev hike Mont Royal
- make coffee, update my World Cup Fantasy team, and continue reading Investigations of a Dog by Kafka
- bike w/ Z down to Old Port and have brunch @ Tommy Cafe
- visit Museum of Archaelogy @ Pointe-à-Callière
- get Lyft back to the apt
- solo bike to McGill area to peruse Word (The) bookshop, then bike back to apt
- walk w/ Ev and Vi to open mic @ Parc Jeanne-Mance
Tuesday 07/14/2026 – Montreal
- go to Bar L’Barouf at opening, 1.5 hours before kickoff but it was full already
- meet my friend Hik @ Bar Le Pastel
- get takeout lunch from Bun Mam Ninh Kieu Vietnamese restaurant
- walk around Plateau looking for another place to watch the game
- return to Bar Le Pastel to watch France 0-2 Spain
- walk in Parc La Fontaine w/ Hik, then solo bike back to the apt
- walk to Schwartz’s Deli and get smoked meat poutine
- meet w/ Z and Ev to bike to Ev’s place in The Village
- hang out w/ Z, Ev, Vi, and three of their friends
- watch Scary Movie 5 then get Lyft back to the apt
- forget to attend Strata meeting on Zoom
Wednesday 07/15/2026 – Montreal
- lunch @ Cafe Santropol and coffee @ Cafe Myriade Mont Royal w/ Z
- watch Argentina 2-1 England @ the apt
- receive my Nexus card via mail
- solo bike to Mile End to get pizza from Fugazzi Pizza
- meet w/ Z and bike back to apt together
- bike downtown w/ Z, Vi, and Eva
- attend a couple shows at African Music Festival at park outside Place des Arts
- walk to L’Express for dinner to celebrate Vi’s birthday
Thursday 07/16/2026 – Montreal
- eat breakfast then stop at Boulangerie Les Co’Pains D’Abord to pick up lunch
- hike Mont St Hilaire and eat lunch at lookout spot
- drive back to Montreal and get ice cream from Iconoglace
- rest, doze, and shower
- meet Ev’s brother J at the apt
- dinner @ Satay Bros w/ the group
- visit J’s apt then drive back to the apt
Friday 07/17/2026 – Montreal
- sleep in, then make coffee and read
- solo bike downtown and visit Museum of Fine Arts
- solo cortado from Cafe Myriade
- solo bike from Griffintown, along canal, through Little Burgundy, down into the centre of Southwest Montreal
- picnic @ “Red chairs on water” park by the canal for Vi’s birthday
- go for drinks and music @ Riverside St. Henri
- get Lyft to Patati Patata near the apt to get poutine before going to bed
Saturday 07/18/2026 – Montreal
- attend Fantasia panel discussion w/ Jane Schoenbrun, Hannah Einbinder, Alice Maio, Louise Weard, and Avalon Fast
- meet w/ my friend Hik and his friend Will
- lunch @ Time Out Market w/ the group
- get coffee from Cafe Olympico w/ Hik and his friend Will
- spend time talking with my friend Hik
- take Lyft back to the apt
- watch England 6-4 France w/ Vi
- read The Secret History
- dinner @ ChuChai w/ Z
- walk home on pedestrianized Ave Duluth and come across a man playing violin beautifully
- read The Secret History until I decided to give up on it
Sunday 07/19/2026 – Montreal → Vancouver
Foolishly, I booked our return flight on the day of the World Cup final. The game is supposed to end one hour and twenty minutes before our departure time. I’m consider going to the airport early to watch the whole game there. Otherwise I will have to watch it elsewhere and hurry to the airport afterwards. If the game is tied after ninety minutes there’ll be another half hour of play and if it is still tied, penalties. In that case, they’ll be happening while we board the plane. I hope I don’t miss anything special and I regret not being able to watch the game with my friends at home.