We did a quick Montreal Weekend for a wedding.
I'd like to share what we did, so others can benefit.
We left 12/2/18 from the Teaneck NJ area to Montreal, (Cot St Luc). We drove from Teaneck to Cot St. Luc after shabbat. It took us about 6 hours. We stopped a few times at one of the Thruway rest stops, for a quick stop. We refueled in Champlain, NY (make sure to get off at exit 42, not 43) to make sure we had a full tank of cheap NY gas instead of insanely expensive Canadian gas. We stopped at Duty free (mostly for the restrooms). If you get off at duty free, you must exit at exit 43 and go straight. If you purchase anything at Duty free, you must go towards the border upon exit.
We we got to the border, we were hassled, because one of our kids birth certificates were from NJ and was a copy. When you make a copy of a NJ Birth Certificate it says, void, so the Canadian guard tried to hassle us but let us through. We got in about 1am.
On this trip the exchange rate was insanely beneficial for people from the USA. $1USD = $1.33CD, and $1CD=$0.75 USD.
We went for breakfast to Expressions. Food is good as usual, but service is slow. We have been here before, and knew what to expect. You need to give an hour minimum to sit down and eat.
We had a bunch of kids with us, and needed to be in the Cote St. Luc area, so we spent a few hours, in the Cavendish Mall or whatever is left of it. There is a food court in the court, in which all the eateries except for one is kosher. There are other kosher places in the mall as well, as well and a dozen or so stores, including a dollar store which the kids love. There is also an IGA Supermarket which a kosher bakery and a giant kosher takeout, butcher, and kosher section. The mall also has a movie theatre, kosher butcher, judaica shop, and more. We like it also because it has a Scotia Bank, which is free for Bank of American bankholders to use their ATM.
We had a wedding in the evening.
In the morning we went to Cote St. Luc Bagels for fresh bagels to go. They are cheap and good. We then went to Outremount to the factories on Casgrain Street, where we got discounted clothing for the kids for pennies on the dollar.
We then stopped at Cheskies for amazing bakery goods, and got sandwiches for supper at Deli 365 right next door, and then in the afternoon drove back to NJ.
Took us about 5:45 back to NJ. Stopped at Canadian Duty free to get a coffee at Starbucks and bathroom break, and then at another Thruway rest stop to get gas. No line at the border.
Happy Chanukkah.
By day we wanted to eat breakfast sitting down. We went