Planes, Trains, and Ottawa Meals - Day 8

Today was our last half-day in Montreal.

We started the day with more Montreal bagels.

Then we went to Mont-Royal park where at the top there is a great view of the Montreal skyline. It was hot so we finished quickly and drove to a place to look at planes which Marcus was happy about. It was the closest we've ever seen planes and it was loud.

For lunch, we planned to go to a Chinese and dumpling food place.but it was closed because of some kitchen malfunction. Sadly, we had already paid for parking. We ended up leaving anyway to go to Sammi and Soupe Dumpling again. It is in Royal Mount mall, which got us confused from the park this morning. It took us some time to find it but it was just as good as we remember. We got the cucumbers, cold peanut butter noodles, 2 orders of the juicy pork, 1 order of shrimp and scallops, and pan fried pork and chive dumplings. It ended up being just the right amount of food.

We went to look at the mall for a bit before the drive.

In the mall, there is a store called Sukoshi Mart. The same store is in Cross Iron in Calgary and Amelia loved that store because they sell BTS goodies.

She ended up getting things as expected. Even Rita got one thing too.

Then it was time to go to Ottawa.

Steve and Amelia dropped Rita and Marcus off at the Via Rail train station. Marcus also loves trains so Rita decided to take him on a train date.

Steve and Amelia got gas and got some coffee from Tim's with some rush hour traffic but otherwise fast on the road.

On the other hand, Rita and Marcus's train got delayed for 30 mins and then for another 20 mins. Amelia and Steve were already half-way there. Boarding the train was surprisingly quick and then they were finally moving...but slowly, at 20 km/h. Even worse, their window was blocked. They got to temporarily move to an empty seat until the passengers got on. It was not their lucky day.

The train was actually pretty clean, spacious, and a fairly smooth ride. Rita and Marcus were at the front car so they heard constant honking for every level crossing. Once it got moving, it finally hit a top speed 163 km/hr. As a comparison, the fastest train Marcus has been on was at 290 km/hr (see our Japan blog entries).

Meanwhile, Amelia and Steve arrived in Ottawa and checked in at our hotel suite (it is a hotel with multiple rooms and a small kitchen).

It is a very spacious room with even two TVs.

Then they went out to eat at a place called Shawarma Palace, which was recommended by Bryan! Apparently Ottawa has really good Mediterranean food. This location is in a mall in the food court which works out since we needed to be fast and it was close to the train station.

It was a bit pricey for a food court but they gave you such a big portion that we could both share it no problem.

It was so delicious and we agreed it was the best shawarma we've ever had. We definitely recommend.

Then we were off to pick up Rita and Marcus at the train station when they finally arrived. It was pretty busy there and we had loop around again to pick them up.

Then we headed back to our hotel to watch TV. That is the end of our first day in Ottawa.