AC20/19 Singapore to Vancouver Nonstop on Air Canada, and a Solar Eclipse in Montreal

[yflyer]

I downed my coffee, then left the lounge and headed to the gate for AC306 to Montreal.



This flight was operated by Airbus A330, rego C-GHLM. This was a 22 year old plane, in Star Alliance Livery.



Although this was a fairly old plane, the interiors looked to have been recently refurbished.

I was flying Premium Economy today. PEY was laid out 2-3-2.



The seats looked wide and comfortable...



Seat pitch looked decent.



Recline was good, and the seat even had a calf rest...



...and footrest...



There was A/C power and USB.



Another USB, and even a USB-C port, under the screen...



The IFE system and program selection was similar to the system on my SIN-YVR sector, with the addition of live Canadian TV channels.



Our 4 and a half hour flight from Vancouver to Montreal would take us right across Canada...



On this flight PEY pax could use the bathrooms ahead of the PEY cabin.

[yflyer]

After take-off, hot towels were handed out.



This was followed by beverage service, with a good selection of complimentary wine, beer and spirits available.



The beverage menu was available online.



Options included Clamato...



I asked for Vodka and Clamato...effectively this was a Bloody Mary...



This was served in a proper glass, and tasted wonderful.

Next was meal service. Prior to take-off the cabin crew had come round to take orders for the choice of main course (Just a choice of 2 items), or to confirm pre-orders. I had opted for the risotto, and this was seved on a single tray, together with sald and dessert, with proper ceramic tableware and metal cutlery.



This was a very good meal. To me, this felt more like domestic business class than premium economy. Thumbs up!



Cabin ambience in PEY was very good.



Mid way through the flight, snacks were offered.



I thought the cabin crew on this flight were excellent. Young, cheerful and eager to please.

We would be arriving in Montreal more-or-less on time, at about 7.15pm



It was dusk as we made our final approach into Montreal...



On the ground at YUL.



From there it was a short Uber ride to my hotel, the DoubleTree Hilton Montreal.

I thought my AC PEY flight fron Vancouver to Montreal was excellent. It felt more like domestic business than PEY, with very good catering and excellent cabin crew, not to mention a very strong PEY hard product.

If you need to get from Singapore to Montreal (Or any other destination in Canada), a one stop option on Air Canada via Vancouver looks to be a very convenient way to do it. The flights I took were very good, and the connection process was quite straightforward.

Next up, Montreal!

[yflyer]

I stayed at several hotels in Montreal. My first hotel was the DoubleTree Hilton Montreal.



This was a modern hotel in a great location in downtown Montreal, directly opposite the Opera House and Concert Hall, and just a 15 min walk away from Montreal's old town and the St Lawrence River. It was also located above a busy shopping mall.



The hotel's reception was on the 6th floor.



As I checked in at 8.15pm, I noticed, through full length glass windows by the reception, that the property had an indoor swimming pool, which was surprisingly busy at that hour in the evening.



My room was on the 18th floor.



This was a new and very spacious room...



...with some very nice decorative touches...



The long desk was slightly narrow, but perfectly adequate for laptop or iPad use...



An open wardrobe...



Nespresso machine, kettle and empty minibar fridge (Just the way I like it -- I can put my own stuff in, rather than have to deal with overpriced minibar items).



The bathroom design was clean and uncluttered...



...with a very spacious shower stall...



Note the clock built into the mirror...



Intriguingly, my room also came with a pair of binoculars.



But it was night time when I checked in, so I couldn't really see much out the window.

I'll find out tomorrow morning, I thought to myself...

[yflyer]

When I checked into the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was an Executive Lounge in the hotel (Not all DoubleTree's have one), and not only that, there was happy hour free flow of wine and beer until 9.30pm. Brilliant!

In the USA, many of the hotel exec lounges I visited invariably had honour bars where any liquor was chargeable, and I was expecting the same in Canada, so it was a welcome surprise to learn that no such rules applied here, and that wine/beer were available on a complimentary basis.

The lounge was not busy at 8.30pm on a Saturday night.



It looked to be past the lounge timing for hors d'oeuvres and hot food, but thankfully the hot main dishes were still laid out for self service.

Today's mains were chicken teriyaki and rice pilaf.



There was beer in the fridge...



...and red/white wine in an automatic dispenser...



At that point I had not yet decided on whether or not to head out for dinner, but I made a snap decision to just eat in the lounge.

I poured myself a glass of Pinot Grigio...



...and helped myself to the chicken teriyaki. Nothing fancy but perfectly sufficient for dinner...



I sampled some of the other wines, and ended the evening with a can of Pale Ale...

[yflyer]

It was bright and sunny the next morning. I was really lucky with the weather the week I was there. Skies were blue, and the weather was unseasonally wam (8 degrees C above the average for that time of year).

I woke up to an excellent view out the window of the Opera House and surrounding landmarks. No wonder the hotel came with a pair of bino's!



It had snowed heavily the previous week, and there were still some patches of snow at street level.



In the distance, to the west, the Cross on top of Mount Royal was visible....



And far below...the Opera House, and Concert Hall, both centres of the music scene in Montreal.



The musical theme extended to the lifts in the hotel, with one of the lifts decorated with pictures of conductor Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.



There was a concert by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra taking place later in the week, but alas I had work commitments that evening, and could not attend. An evening at the Montreal Symphony would have to wait until a future trip.

[yflyer]

To shake off my jetlag, and also to orientate myself to a new city, I headed out for a morning run.

From the hotel, I first checked out the Opera House...



...and then the Concert Hall...



...before jogging through the quiet streets of Montreal on a Sunday morning...



...past an ice-skating rink...



...and also Chinatown. I never knew until that point in time that Montreal had such a charming Chinatown...



I continued to the Montreal City Hall...



..then headed through Place Jacques-Cartier...



...towards the bank of the St Lawrence River.



I ran along the riverbank, towards to the historic Clock Tower.



In the distance, the Jacques-Cartier Bridge...with its light green trusses. Was it possible to run over that bridge, I wondered? (Regulars on SQTalk will know I have a thing about running across bridges...).

From the clock tower, I turned around and headed southeast along the streets of the old town, along the riverside...



There were some beautiful buildings along the way...



...including Bonsecours Market...

[yflyer]

Montreal was a very runnable city...



I ran past Place Jacques Cartier again. The old town reminded me of Europe. I had to remind myself I was in Canada, and not in France or some other city in Europe.

[yflyer]

Along the bank of the St Lawrence River, I chanced upon this gigantic pair of sunglasses fixed into the pavement.



There was a total solar eclipse taking place the next day, on Monday afternoon. Cirque du Soleil and the Montreal Science Centre were partnering to organise a public viewing at the Montreal Science Centre, located right by the St Lawrence River.

Complimentary eclipse sunglasses were to be given out, and large crowds were expected the next day.



I continued my run along the bank of the St Lawrence River...



...past the Old Port...



... and the McAllister Tug, and Grain Silo #5, now disused...



...and the Lachine Canal...



From there, I headed back into the city...



...past the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal...



Totally by chance, I came across this sculpture...



Had I done my research, I would have realized that this was one of 2 sculptures, titled "The English Pug and the French Poodle", and I would have gone looking for the English Pug, but as I had come across this totally by chance, all I saw was the Lady with the French Poodle, before heading along my way.

[yflyer]

I headed past the the Basilica-Catedral de Marie-Reine du Monde...



...and then (also totally by chance) to another famous art installation, the Ring, which was exactly as advertised: a gigantic ring seemingly suspended in mid-air...



I continued past Montreal Eaton Center...



...and Promenade Fleuve-Montagne and Phillips Square...



...before arriving back at the Doubletree Hilton.

What a wonderful route, and a great intro to the city of Montreal, with a total distance of about 10km.

[yflyer]

After a hot shower in the hotel, I headed out for lunch.

I headed back to the Old Town to meet a colleague, who had also arrived in Montreal the day before.



The streets were busier than before, when I was out for my morning run.

Everyone seemed to be out this Sunday afternoon, enjoying the clear blue skies and sunny weather.



For lunch, I decided to try that classic Quebecois dish, Poutine...



Montreal Poutine Resto Bar had both indoor and outdoor seating...



We decided to eat outdoors, in the courtyard...



Many different styles of Poutine were on offer...



We started with drinks. My colleague had a beer. As anything alcoholic at that hour would have ruined my jetlag mitigation strategy, I decided on Canada Dry Ginger Ale.



Not long after, our Poutine arrived. What a huge dish of artery clogging goodness: Fries and cheese curd drenched in gravy.



I found this dish quite delicious, although it was impossible for me to finish the whole thing.

The hot dogs here were also good value, and also very tasty.



The bar looked very enticing...



I returned that evening for a Margarita at the bar.

[yflyer]

That evening, I dined at The Keg Steakhouse...



...which had a very impressive selection of steaks and prime rib on the menu.



As for prices, the exchange rate is SGD $1 = CAD $1. Anyone visiting from Singapore would find these prices to be very good value, especially considering the quality and quantity!

I ordered the prime rib, which was absolutely delicious.



There was a lot of other good food in Montreal.

Later on in the week, I needed a Chinese food fix, so I headed to Chinatown for lunch...


...and indulged in a very satisfying bowl of fish boiled with Szechuan flower peppers and pickled vegetables...


To be continued...

[SQ218]

wow Satay on AC flight. Had to look again twice if you took the wrong flight LOL

Thanks for sharing yflyer.

[yflyer]

wow Satay on AC flight. Had to look again twice if you took the wrong flight LOL

Thanks for sharing yflyer.

I was pleasantly surprised to see satay on the menu too! Not as good as SQ satay though :-)

Thanks for reading, SQ218! More to come!

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

The next hotel I stayed at was the Hotel Nelligan...



This was a elegant boutique hotel in the heart of Montreal's old town...



The intimate lobby exuded old world charm and luxury...



The rooms were large...



...and full of character...



...very far removed from the cookie cutter rooms found in modern hotel chains.



There was a full length mirror...



...and a very comfortable lounger...



The spacious bathrooms look to have been very recently remodelled...



...with fittings that were a combination of the traditional...



,,,and modern...



Service in the hotel was top notch, with warm, friendly staff.

Location-wise, it was great to be right in the old town, close to the St Lawrence River and many of the city's attractions. I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel.

[yflyer]

There was a lot of excitement in the air on Monday, 8 April. This was the day of the total solar ecipse.



Whereas the day before, the city centre was fairly quiet, today, it seemed like tens of thousands of locals and visitors had descended upon the prime viewing locations for the eclipse.

One of these locations was the Montreal Science Center, located by the St Lawrence River, not far from the old town and the Hotel Nelligan. I took a stroll from the hotel to the Science Center to view the eclipse.



The Montreal Science Center and the Cirque du Soleil had announced that they were giving away 20,000 pairs of eclipse viewing glasses, and the lines to pick up these glasses stretched endlessly along the riverfront.



I tried to join the line, but was simply unable to find where the ends of the snaking lines were.

Amazingly, the lines were incredibly orderly, with none of the pushing, shoving and nastiness you would probably find in other cities in the world. Canadians were such laid back, relaxed, folks. I was very impressed at how orderly the lines were and how unstressed and pleasant everyone was.



The experience of a total eclipse varied greatly depending on where you were, and there was also a large element of luck involved.

Only a few cities in the world were in right place to view this eclipse, among them a few cities in Mexico, Texas, as well as a few cities on the US Eastern Seaboard, before passing over parts of Canada.

And not just that: the weather had to be good -- if there were clouds in the sky, well, you would miss all the action. The folks at Niagara Falls, Ontario, were in the path of totality, but it was cloudy there so their experience was not ideal.

Today, Montreal had struck the eclipse lottery.

Most of the city of Montreal lay in the so-called path of totality: a very narrow area where the moon would totally obscure the sun, and where the effects of the eclipse would be the most dramatic.




It was a clear, sunny and just a light scattering of clouds that did not obscure the view of the sun.



While the eclipse itself would last 2 hours, starting from 2.14pm, the big moment was 3.20pm for the moment ot totality.



The atmosphere was festive and electric as the moment approached.



To prevent eye damage, the eclipse had to be viewed through special glasses. It was also almost impossible to take good pictures of the eclipse.




I tried snapping pics placing the glasses over my iPhone with largely poor results, although one fluke picture (below) turned out ok.



But you really had to experience it first hand. Pictures did not do it justice.