Jim and Kim's Travels: April 2026

Who wants to go see Lady Gaga in Montreal? Me, me!! And next thing Nancy was coming, and then Nancy's daughter, Tricia, and then Camino gal, Lynne. It was going to be a great concert!

In the Fredericton airport...Lynne is up for all occasions. She came on the Camino walk knowing only me, and this time, she met Nancy a few days before and Tricia at the airport.

Hoping the weather was going to be better in Montreal, but it wasn't in the forecast.

Big snacks on board...the pretzels were delicious!

The clouds always look so peaceful...

Breaking through the clouds above Montreal and the mighty St. Lawrence River...

The high-rises on the river really stood out...

And landing...not going to lie. It was cold!

I wasn't sure if the driver we hired was going to show up, but there he was. He was from Tunisia and spoke Arabic and French with a little English thrown in. Tricia was the most fluent in French, but that didn't stop us from trying.

At the hotel with a nice big balcony and a great view...

Partners in crime...me, Nancy, Tricia and Lynne.

We wandered across the street to Hurley's Irish pub and had a Greek pizza. Lynne and I like olives...Nancy and Tricia, not so much. It was delicious!

Lots of Habs jerseys...it was game day! We decided to walk towards the Bell Centre and see how much tickets would be.

The game wasn't until the evening and it was 3:00 pm. What were people lining up for? This restaurant apparently. Must be good, because it was not warm out.

It was kind of exciting around the arena...scalpers were selling Habs tickets and Lady Gaga tickets for $500 each. No discrimation there! We decided we probably wouldn't be going to the game.

Love the tributes to the old generation of Habs...Rocket Richard.

Guy LaFleur...

Jacques Plante...he was the first goalie to wear a mask in regulation play. I cannot imagine being a goalie without a mask!

Go, Habs, go!

Ooh wait...our first sign that Lady Gaga was indeed going to be here. She had one show on Friday and one on Saturday; they were taking the stage down for the Habs game and then reassembling for her show on Monday. Now we were getting excited!

Lynne took over selfie shots amid much laughing...

Love the old buildings mirrored in the new ones...Montreal is a really nice city.

Windsor Station near the Bell Centre...it was the headquarters of Canadian Pacific Railway from 1889 to 1996 and designated a national historic site in 1975. We were still trying to find a way to get into the underground to get out of the cold. It was Easter Sunday, so it was a no go...

St. George's Anglican Church across the street...I was in lazy photographer mode.

And it was also raining now, but we kept walking.

A protest by Montreal4Palestine was ongoing to bring attention to executions.

We were now on a mission to find sneakers for Tricia's son. They turned out to be unicorns, but that wasn't going to stop us. We checked out every shoe store on St. Catherine's Street, and that's a lot of stores. What else did we have to do?

The old and the new...

Love these ghost signs...Willis & Company was a prominent piano manufacturer in Montreal beginning in 1884 to their closing in 1978.

Because we loved our lunch time server, Elphie, and probably because we were feeling a bit lazy, we headed back to Hurley's pub for supper. Elphie was there, but she wasn't working. All of a sudden she pops up at our table and asks if we do shots. Umm...I guess so?! She appeared with a shot for each of us on the house. She was so sweet. And she can take selfies. How come mine never look like that?

She was jealous that we were going to see Lady Gaga and we plotted how we could get her a ticket, before giving up on that dream. We wrote her messages on a napkin and tucked some money into it and found her before she left. She cried...she melted our hearts. Hard working girl trying to finish school to become an ESL teacher. On another note, that was what was left of my club sandwich after I finished eating. It was huge.

Highly recommend Hurley's...go and see if Elphie is there.

The next morning we were back on our sneaker hunt. We stopped to looked at the expensive bags. Hey! One was missing!

And because we're tourists, who doesn't take a picture in front of the green wall at New Balance. So far, at least 10 stores and no sneakers.

The Ring...it is 30 m in diameter and lit up at night to mirror the lights of the Mount Royal Cross. So much to see...so little time.

We popped into the Eaton Centre because they have...shoe stores!

And popped back out again without our unicorn sneakers. The side of the building looked like sponge toffee.

Lynne was having lunch with her niece so we had lunch at 3 Brasseurs. Mmmm...pear and 4 cheese flatbread.

We gave up on the unicorn sneakers and found a pair for her other son. He wasn't quite as particular. Headed back to the hotel and met up with Lynne and then we walked back to the Eaton Centre for a treat. It was delicious!

Loved this mural in the Eaton Centre with a lot of Montreal landmarks...

This reminded me of my trek around Montreal with Chris, Sylvie and Nika looking for treasures that Chris wanted to find. The milk bottle...

And our lunch at Wilensky...great memories.

It was almost concert time! We were looking forward to the amazing show that she puts on.

But instead, we got this. A card game and a cancelled concert. We couldn't believe it. It was so close to show time when it was cancelled. We really didn't know what to do with ourselves, but definitely no one felt like finishing the game.

Putting on a brave face, we went for dinner. A giant pretzel!

A repeat of what I had for lunch. The sharing version this time.

We're smiling...what choice did we have, but we were pretty disappointed.

Even dessert couldn't cure it...

Lynne, the banker, sorting out our expenses...

This cracked me up! The previous night while we were waiting for Nancy and Tricia in the lobby, we decided to hide...behind a chair. Let's just say we weren't hidden. Later in the day Lynne and I were chatting with a lady in the lobby when we see these two peeking out. A much better hiding spot!