The train ride from New York Penn to Montreal on Amtrak’s Adirondack is a perfect private car trip: eleven hours of beautiful New York scenery followed by two nights of subterranean intrigue while parked at a station track at Gare Centrale–literally in the center of a vast underground city that sprawls out for blocks in all directions.
Here’s some photos from last weekend (originally posted November 13, 2013).
Parked for the weekend at Gare Central, Montreal QC.
Parked at Gare Centrale.
Provisioning for Sunday meals en-route to NYP. We had baked chicken and Risotto Piedmontese.
View of New York Penn Station upon our return.
Here’s a few reasons to come out of the tunnel:
Atwater Market— The smaller of the two city markets, it’s the better one to go to for deals on cheeses and prepared, ready-to-cook meats.
Broue Pub Bruhaha— It’s a neighborhood spot, the kind of place you’d go for hockey night. They usually have six in-house beers on tap, along with around 20 “invited” locally brewed beers. Order the fried duck legs or the Pizza Alsacienne (lardons, caramelized onions, creme fraiche, and local cheeses).
Blackstrap BBQ— located in Verdun (up until the 2000s, Verdun was a separate city to the immediate south of Montreal, and prior to the merger, a dry town) the restaurant scene is growing rapidly there. An unusual quirk of Verdun is that most restaurants have liquor licenses that restrict them to serving locally-produced beer.
Do you have any pictures of the underground city? I’m very intrigued. I also love the idea of only being able to serve locally produced beer…if you’re going to become a “wet” town, support the local economy!
Comment by Andrea — November 16, 2013 @ 5:16 am
The underground city is called the Reso (like in reseau, the French word for network). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%89SO
Over a hundred buildings are connected, including some hotels–the W Hotel has a secret passage that guests can get an access card for. It’s possible to stay a week in Montreal and never go outside.
Comment by Tom — November 16, 2013 @ 8:37 am
Tom,
What a neat experience! An underground city sounds way cool and thank you for the wikipedia link giving me more information. I hope there are no earthquakes in the foreseeable future in this city. 😉
Comment by JohnD. — November 20, 2013 @ 8:41 pm
The geology of Quebec isn’t known for earthquakes. Not something I ever really worry about on trips, however a moderate earthquake will shut the rails down while the railroads conduct bridge and track inspections. Things like this can lead to being delayed in a strange city for a day or two.
Comment by Tom — November 20, 2013 @ 9:04 pm
As always, it seems that you enjoyed your travel. The post very informative even to people who are not enthusiasts of trains! In addition, the posts shows has got your love for trains written all over!
Comment by mutumathilange — December 4, 2013 @ 1:17 pm
Ah, I guess you noticed.
Comment by Tom — December 4, 2013 @ 2:13 pm
What a wonderful page… I would love to hear more about the Underground City Reso.
Comment by KYRA E STEWART — September 8, 2017 @ 7:41 pm
Here’s the most current map:
http://montrealvisitorsguide.com/the-underground-city-map/
You have to remember that is just a network of connected office building basements– some have shopping malls and restaurants, others are just areas you can walk through. After 8 pm at night, many of the buildings will pull down their gates and passageways get shut off. A good portion of the system is not open on Sunday.
Comment by Tom — September 8, 2017 @ 9:25 pm
This is great Tom! I’ve never really though about train travel much so I am excited to look into this subject more!
Comment by Thien Pham — September 10, 2017 @ 8:50 pm
Thanks, Thien. I wind up in Montreal at least once a year. It’s a beautiful place.
Comment by Tom — September 10, 2017 @ 10:57 pm