On the rooftop of the Hotel Place D'ArmesFriday evening, we were desperate for a drink. The meetings we were in were far from over and we needed to come back at 9 pm for the final plenary. We were told there was a an interesting rooftop bar that was THE place to be seen on Thursday and Friday nights and it was in a hotel a few steps away from the Palais de congres.
Tucked away in Old Montreal is the quaint Hotel Place d'Armes, a boutique hotel housed in old historic buildings. We walked towards it, not knowing what to expect. Getting in through the first door we see which led to a restaurant, I approached the waiter to ask how to get to the rooftop. He promptly points us to the lift and tells us to go to the 7th Floor.
We get off on a small hallway, with a door to our left, and a steel staircase on the side of the wall. There was a wooden terrace after the first set of steps which had two tables and some funky looking chairs, but it was empty. Steve and Julia were quite skeptical about the whole thing now, but I carried on, walked a little further and saw another set of stairs, climbed, and was greeted by a most wonderful sight: the orange setting sun in the horizon, silhouetted between two buildings, the mountain in the distance, and tables filled with people having a drink, chatting and just chilling out after a long week... It was a lovely find. I did not have my camera so missed another photo opportunity (Ok, David, I do get your point now!).
It was not high enough to have the whole city spread in front of us, but the view was still quite breathtaking, and the place felt like an oasis in the midst of the bustling city. Exactly just what we needed at that time. While my friend Steve was saying it was too "cosmopolitan" for him, it was just his old fashioned, hippy comment about the well dressed people around us. Not that we were looking bad ourselves.
The mojitos and the beer helped a lot in getting our groove back. I leaned over the railing and looked down, and saw horse carriages waiting for their fare, across the Notre Dame cathedral. I have always dreamed of getting on one of these, and made Steve promise he would take me... of course he could not refuse! It is so nice to have friends that you can bully to do things like these!
It was nice to hang out, and this new discovery was even better. This goes on my list of favourite haunts from now on....
We were so caught up chatting that we did not realise that time just flew. As I peeked at my wrist watch, it was almost 9 pm, and we needed to get back to work!
My day ended at midnight.
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