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Sept. 20 – Jean-Talon Market

By Trawlers on September 29, 2025 in The Pearl

“Farmers’ markets remind us of the simple pleasures in life. The joy of fresh food, the beauty of community and the connection we share with the earth.” -Unknown

On Saturday we took the Metro to the Jean-Talon Market located in the heart of Little Italy. It’s one of the largest farmers markets in North America and one of the oldest public markets in Montreal opening its stalls in 1933.

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Sept. 20 – Jean-Talon Market

By Trawlers on September 29, 2025 in The Pearl

“Farmers’ markets remind us of the simple pleasures in life. The joy of fresh food, the beauty of community and the connection we share with the earth.” -Unknown

The market is open year round and offers a vast selection of fresh produce, artisanal products, and gourmet ready-to-eat foods from over 300 vendors, including bakeries, cheese shops, butchers, fishmongers, wine merchants and ethnic food kiosks. There are plenty of specialty little vendors that serve ready to eat things like tacos, poke bowls, fish and chips, classic poutine, crepes, Syrian dishes, smoothies, desserts and an endless array of other delicious items. There’s literally something here for every taste.

We love these types of markets and used to envy people who lived close enough to shop at them every week, but now we live close to this same kind of place. Although our markets aren’t as large and don’t offer the ethnic ready to eat items as this amazing market.

There were beautiful flowers in a lot of the stalls.

This was just a small part of the inside stalls.

A few of the butchers.

This little market had any kind of meat you could think of…including horse meat.

Seafood of all kinds.

There were even more stalls around the sides of the market.

Entertainment

We shared some falafels and a beer for lunch.

Sept. 18-21 Montréal, QC

By Trawlers on September 28, 2025 in The Pearl

“Memories are like seashells we collect along the way.” –Unknown

Today we moved from the 1000 Islands to Montréal. It’s our third time visiting the city. The first time was on our boat in 2012 and the second visit was on our way to Québec City in 2018. We tried to visit a few different places on this trip. Our first stop was Mount Royal Park. The park is known to locals as “the mountain,” and is a beloved landmark and beautiful park that overlooks the city and the St. Lawrence River. Filled with walking trails, ponds and wonderful viewing points of the city below. The triple-peaked mountain inspired the renaming of what was then Ville-Marie to Montréal in the 18th century.

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Sept. 16-18 Clayton, NY

By Trawlers on September 23, 2025 in The Pearl

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus

We’ve been to Clayton by car three times and by boat several times in 2012 and 2018. We truly love this little town and enjoy just hanging out taking in the beauty.

Clayton, NY, was established in 1833. It became a major tourist hub in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the arrival of the railroad. This led to the development of grand hotels and a steamship line, making it the gateway to the Thousand Islands resort region. Today, Clayton remains a significant cultural and historical center, known for its Antique Boat Museum, the Thousand Islands Museum and its amazing location on the St. Lawrence River. It’s known as the “Gateway to the Thousand Islands” and with its 15 miles of shoreline it’s a major destination for fishing, boating and sightseeing.

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Sept. 16-18 Clayton, NY

By Trawlers on September 23, 2025 in The Pearl

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus

We’ve been to Clayton by car three times and by boat several times in 2012 and 2018. We truly love this little town and enjoy just hanging out taking in the beauty.

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Sept. 18-21 Montréal, QC

By Trawlers on September 21, 2025 in The Pearl

“Memories are like seashells we collect along the way.” –Unknown

Views from Mount Royal Park. Looking towards Old Montreal and the St. Lawerence River.

From the viewing area we walked up the hill to the Mount Royal Cross.

The rest of our trip was spent exploring Old Montréal. It’s the oldest neighborhood in Montréal, known for its European charm, cobblestone streets and 17th- and 18th-century architecture. Even though it’s the main tourist drawl to Montreal it’s a fun place to explore. Filled with beautiful old buildings and four hundred years of history.

Montréal was established in 1642 in what is now the province of Quebec. It was founded as a French missionary colony and through the years it held a strategic location on the St. Lawrence River for trade, industry and culture.

Place Jacques-Cartier is a public square in the heart of Old Montréal where visitors can find restaurants, cafés, flower stalls and street artists and performers.

Nelson Monument at the west end of Place Jacques-Cartier.

The cobblestone streets are beautiful and filled with wonderful cafés and restaurants.

This is the marina we stayed at in 2012. Our slip was right side the large boat in the center of this photo.

Old Port of Montréal (Vieux-Port) is a historic waterfront area along the St. Lawrence River offers a park-lined boardwalk, the Montréal Science Centre, the iconic Clock Tower, marinas and the La Grande Roue de Montréal (ferris wheel).

The La Grande Roue de Montréal was built in 2017 as part of the city’s 375th-anniversary celebrations.

Voiles en Voiles (Sails in Sails) a pirate-themed amusement park with rope courses, climbing walls, inflatables, water games at the Old Port. The dome in the back is the Bonsecours Market.

All our meals in Montreal were wonderful. Here are our three dinners we enjoyed. The first night we ate with a view at Terrasse Perché. We had a late lunch so we ate light this evening.

Place Jacques-Cartier and the La Grande Roue de Montréal.

Montreal City Hall

The second evening we ate at the Vieux-Port Steakhouse.

We enjoyed lobster linguini and salmon. They brought Stan a free dessert since we were still celebrating his birthday.

Our last meal was at a French restaurant named La Sauvagine. What a wonderful experience.

The table next to us was having a Steak Flambé. We enjoyed the show. We had two small plates….escargot and shrimp. Stan also had a wonderful salmon dish served with shrimp.

Fall Has Arrived

By Trawlers on September 17, 2025 in The Pearl

“A lie doesn’t become truth wrong doesn’t become right and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by a majority.”– Booker T Washington

Cooler nights, crisp mornings and golden afternoons mean one thing…fall has arrived. The leaves are beginning to change from green to hues of red, orange and gold. It’s time to open the windows and take in the wonderful smells of fall. It also means it’s Stan’s birthday and time for us to take a fall trip. This year we are spending a few days in the 1000 Islands and then moving on to Montreal for a little visit.

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Fall Has Arrived

By Trawlers on September 17, 2025 in The Pearl

“A lie doesn’t become truth wrong doesn’t become right and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by a majority.”– Booker T Washington

The 1000 Islands is one of our favorite places to visit whether by land or by water. Clayton is a great little town and we always enjoy our time there.

Fall also means road side stands with fall veggies and lots of pumpkins. It’s an awesome time of year and we love it.

Aug. 26-30 Fun at the Lake

By Trawlers on September 1, 2025 in The Pearl

“There is something more beautiful than a beautiful thing and that is a beautiful thing which has a beautiful reflection on the water.” -Mehmet Murat Ildan

It doesn’t feel like we’ve spent much time on the boat this year, but the weather has finally cooled off and we enjoyed a great week at the lake on The Pearl. We spent time hiking, picnicking and visiting some of our favorite places. You can tell there’s a touch of fall in the air…days are getting a little shorter and the nights are very cool. Leaves will be turning soon.

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Aug. 26-30 Fun at the Lake

By Trawlers on August 31, 2025 in The Pearl

“There is something more beautiful than a beautiful thing and that is a beautiful thing which has a beautiful reflection on the water.” -Mehmet Murat Ildan

We started our week off by visiting Sheldrake Winery…our favorite place to sit and enjoy an afternoon. This time we shared one of their Riesling glazed turkey sandwiches and a bottle of their dry rieslings. We enjoy looking for beach glass and fossils when we are there.

On another day we drove over to Skaneateles. We did a little hike in the Skaneateles Conservation Area. We hiked to Guppy Falls. There wasn’t a lot of water in the creek, but it was a beautiful day with a touch of fall in the air and the woods were pretty.

Looking down to the waterfall.

The trail then leads up to the top of the falls where we could get down to the creek and take a better look at the creek.

We found all kinds of moss and mushrooms along the trail.

Skaneateles is a cute little town that sits at the north end of the Finger Lake with the same name. We like wandering around this little village going through their shops and watching the activities on the lake.

We brought a picnic with us and sat by the lake. A few ducks came to visit…and beg.

On our way home from Skaneateles we stopped Goose Watch Winery. We haven’t visited here in years. It was such a beautiful day we just had to sit on the deck and enjoy a glass of wine. This is one of only a handful of wineries on Cayuga Lake that has a dock for visitors to come by boat.

Hard to beat a view like this on such a great afternoon.

The Boatyard Grill is our favorite place to eat in Ithaca. We can take our little boat up to their dock, sit on their lawn and enjoy a drink and then enjoy their wonderful food. It all makes for a great evening. These pictures are from several visits.