I know I promised to discuss Belgian beer in this blog, but I made a trip to Montréal over the weekend and first must report on this great city. I can’t tell you how many times I have been to Montréal on business, but this is the first time I was there for a weekend. We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Montréal, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and just reopened after a four-year, top-to-bottom renovation. During the day we toured Old Montréal and shopped on St. Catherine Street. We saw Cirque du Soleil, with its massive tents set up near the St. Lawrence River.
My family attended a Lady Antebellum concert at the Bell Center about three blocks from the hotel while I had dinner with some clients. We did a lot of walking between the hotel and the Old City and hit some great restaurants while we were there. Daniel Boulud’s Maison Boulud Restaurant and Bar at the Ritz is the hottest ticket in Montréal. The food and staff are fantastic, and the maitre d’ at the restaurant did his best to please his guests.
The restaurant leads to a beautiful garden that officially opened yesterday, Father’s Day. In the center of the garden is a pond, not filled with fish, but with Pekin ducklings. To me, this was the biggest hit of the fantastic hotel. Here we are at the best hotel in Montréal, $200 million has been spend on renovations, everything is perfect, and all I talk about is the ducks. Check out the video on GT’s Facebook page!
I named the main duck, with a shamrock on the back of his head, Maurice. I wondered who the “duckmaster” is, where they go at night and so on. When I met people in the hotel, whether they were 6 or 60 years old, the first thing I asked them: “Have you seen the ducks?” By the end of the trip I hatched a plan to take the ducks with me. Will Air Canada be fooled if they wear dark glasses?
Yes, I was obsessed with the ducklings, but Montréal has always been a favorite city of mine, and it was nice to share it with my family and see a great property like the Ritz to boot! Quack quack!
— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO
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