Montreal

We recently spent a fun long weekend visiting friends Sammy, Lucia, Dave, and Cheryl, in Montreal, Canada. We had a first hand opportunity to learn about French Canadian culture and the language. We didn’t come across any particularly old taverns, though we did stop in for a cocktail and an appetizer at reputedly the oldest bar in Montreal, though it was more of a high end restaurant than a bar. However, our splendid hosts did give us the opportunity for some excellent bar hopping. The first of two particularly interesting watering holes was the North Star Bar, which featured a wide array of classic pinball and video games. Later on in the evening we were lucky to come across Grumpy’s Bar. This was a real find! The cozy seating, friendly staff, and bass fiddle/guitar duo on stage pumping out some outstanding bluesy music, made it a sweet stop. Their music was quite reminiscent of the Soggy Bottom Boys from the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

During our long funducational weekend we also checked out the wonderful views of the city from Montreal’s expansive Mount Royal Park, plus we were also treated by our hosts to a relaxing cruise on the St. Lawrence River. Besides sightseeing we had a terrific time playing card games with Sammy, Lucia, and their son, Julian. The fun weekend was capped off with a home cooked exquisite Carbonara dinner from chef, Sammy. Montreal is about an 11 hour drive from Annapolis, so if you get the chance we’d highly encourage you to check it out.

BONUS: On 26 August we went to Irv Koch’s 100th birthday celebration. You’ll remember Irv, the sole proprietor of Irv’s Basement Bar, from our earlier article about his ultimate dive bar (September 2nd, 2021). On his centennial birthday, Irv was crazy busy serving the overflow crowd that came out to celebrate at Maryland’s last of the basement bars. He was featured on local television the day before the event which brought out loads of devoted regulars, as well as, first timers. Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Irv! And we all wish you many many more!!!

P.S. After taking some time to explore outside our country’s borders this summer we plan to get back to our quest of visiting the oldest bars in each of our fifty states. In our next article we hope to tell you about states #31 and #32. Until then…au revoir and cheers!