Day 74 Mont Royal, Schwartz Deli, Old Montreal

I woke up to the smell of bread, coming from the Subway store downstairs from the apartment. After a quick breakfast, I headed up to Mont Royal, the best place to get a view of the city. After catching my breath at the top of the hill, I power walked to Schwartz Deli to meet some of my cycling friends. The deli is famous for its smoked meat, but the line was way too long, so we ordered takeaway and ate our delicious sandwiches in the park instead.

Afterwards we walked down to Old Montreal, which still has cobblestones and plenty of beautiful buildings to admire. I really enjoyed cycling with this awesome group of people and they definitely made my journey a lot more pleasant. It was the end of my journey, but the rest of the gang still had a little longer to go. Three of them were heading to Halifax, 1400km away, while the other two were continuing around the world.

Montreal

On a 15 degree day Australians dress very differently compared to Canadians

Smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz Deli in Montreal

Our last photo, I passed on my high-vis vest to Amy, so she can take it around the world with her.

I headed back to the apartment for a little nap and headed out for an early dinner around the corner. The neighbourhood was full of street art, gardens and nice restaurants, which made it hard to choose a place to eat. I went with Arepera, a Venezuelan place and feasted on salmon and avocado, then found a crepe place for dessert. Later on, I was invited to a housewarming party and we chilled out for the rest of the night.

Salmon and avocado filled arepera (Venezuelan bread made from corn) at Arepera in Montreal

Day 75 Iles-de-Boucherville National Park and Montreal nightlife

My friend, Molly, had the day off and we headed to Iles-de-Boucherville National Park to hike and soak in some sunshine. I helped her with a daily yoga Instagram challenge and I think her headstand worked much better than my shoddy cartwheel attempt.

In the evening, we walked into town and checked out some free events, including an electronic dance music street party, a salsa party and a fashion show for the fetish weekend festivities.

Day 76 Rain and souvenir shopping

For my last day in Montreal, I planned to go to Tam Tams, a free festival every Sunday, complete with a drum circle and markets. But the rainy weather wasn’t ideal, so I went souvenir shopping in Mile End, which included a trip to Fairmont Bagel, for Montreal’s famous baked goods. My Aussie friend took me out for dinner and Sangria to celebrate the end of my trip.

Day 77 Back to Toronto to fly home

I caught the train back to Toronto for my flight home and it was quite relaxing to watch 600km roll by. I wandered around town for a little while, optimistically looking for a giant cardboard box to pack my bike. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any boxes, so I headed to the airport and had my bike shrink wrapped, hoping that it would stay intact for the flight home.

I had my flights changed, due to some storms causing major delays, but long story short, I arrived back in Perth a day later. It was sad to end my tour but I was happy to be home and finally sleep in my own bed again.