Montréal dans les blogs!!

[Kilgore Trout]

reading all of these blog posts makes me kind of depressed. most tourists have such a superficial relationship with the city... reading all of these entries, you'd think montreal is a small town that begins with horse-drawn carriages and ends with the notre-dame basilica.

[mtlurb]

as opposed to?

[ToxiK]

reading all of these blog posts makes me kind of depressed. most tourists have such a superficial relationship with the city... reading all of these entries, you'd think montreal is a small town that begins with horse-drawn carriages and ends with the notre-dame basilica.

 

The Old Montreal is a favorite of the tourists and I can see why. What else would you like the tourists to see?

[Kilgore Trout]

The Old Montreal is a favorite of the tourists and I can see why. What else would you like the tourists to see?

 

uh... everything else? i don't have a problem with the fact that tourists visit old montreal. but it would be nice to hear from some travellers who really make an effort to get to know the city beyond the phony façade of place jacques-cartier.

 

i want to hear an insightful outsider's view of where we live, not the same blather about cobblestones, churches, carriages and croissants.

[Habsfan]

uh... everything else? i don't have a problem with the fact that tourists visit old montreal. but it would be nice to hear from some travellers who really make an effort to get to know the city beyond the phony façade of place jacques-cartier.

 

i want to hear an insightful outsider's view of where we live, not the same blather about cobblestones, churches, carriages and croissants.

 

The problem with tourists is that they are not in the city for a very long period of time. They want to see many things in a very SHORT period of time, therefore, they want to see what everyone talks about. Mainly Old Montreal, the underground network, The Mountain. Besides that, they aren'T here long enough to start walking all the neighborhoods of ROsemont or NDG.

[mtlurb]

Montreal is very concentrated hotel wise, I never heard of a tourist booking a hotel room in Laval (silly example), and driving all around the GMA to see whats it all about.

 

99% of them will book downtown and will go as far as their feet or tour bus will bring them...

[mtlurb]

Montravels in Montreal

 

 

We're in Montreal for a long weekend. Montreal is a lovely mix of

European and North American city life, full of cafes, ethnic

restaurants, mixed languages, and wanderlust-inspiring parks. Okay,

more European than North American (though we could get the American League Baseball Championships on tv to see how the Red Sox/Indians series wound up). We get up here every few years and

always have a great time. However, there is one aspect of Montreal

which gets me every time: French (the language).

 

I'm generally adept at languages. Tourist-level language comes

quickly and easily, and I tend to remember basic phrases for a long

time. French, however, has a bizarre opposite effect. I can't recall

basic French phrases. Even worse, when someone speaks French to me, I

lose the ability to speak at all, even in English! This happens all

the time: some addresses me in French and my mind goes totally blank.

Waitstaff will say something (to clarify my badly slaughtered attempt

to order) and I'll just stare at them trying to figure out how to talk

again. Shriram has seen this often enough to believe me, and we are

slowly learning that letting him order for us both spares much family

embarrassment.

 

From a scientific perspective, I find this fascinating though.

Experience has led me to believe that I have a default "stammering"

language: when in a foreign language situation, my brain defaults to

the current "stammering" language. For a long time, that language was

Chinsese (which I majored in as an undergrad). That's been replaced

by German due to my many conferences there over the years. How is it

then that one language (and only that one language so far) causes me

to lose language ability entirely? Surely there's an interesting

explanation for this -- pointers to any relevant theories?

 

Fortunately, the language of cycling is nonverbal, so I've been able

to get around quite handily on two wheels this weekend. Montreal is

often hailed as a great city for bicycling. Last time we were here,

we brought our bikes and rode the Lacine canal route, which runs along

the St. Lawrence River. Or so we hear. The day we did the ride was

so foggy that we never saw the water, even though we rode alongside

it, over it, and around it for several hours. Still, the biking

infrastructure seemed good enough that we brought the bikes again for

this trip. We spent yesterday on and around Mt Royal, the main

vantage point over the city.

 

Today, I ventured along the lines marked as some sort of bicycle route

on the tourist map. Biking lanes here are fairly sophisticated. The

biking lanes run between the sidewalk and parking on the side of the

road, sometimes separated from the cars by short concrete walls.

Biking routes are well-marked, and clear marking indicate when biking

lanes will cross one another. I usually don't like city riding, but

the lanes here are quite enjoyable.

 

A short spin in the bike lanes highlights, however, that cars and

bikes follow two different road protocols. Cars behave as cars

usually do: traffic lights, signaled turns, and the usual degree of

city aggression. Cyclists, in contrast, follow Indian road culture

(as I described in my earlier Indian travelogue): traffic lights are

suggestions at best, and plowing through perpendicular-moving traffic

is par for the course. Even as a pedestrian, I've felt more at risk

from the cyclists than from the taxi drivers (which I'd heard warnings

about on local cycling pages). The craziest cyclists are invariably

riding helmetless (as are most cyclists here). Casual observation

suggests that helmet wearers are much more likely to be men than

women, and spandex seems reserved for touring cyclists rather than

weekday riders. Quite a change from home, where most cyclists are

exercising rather than commuting and seem aware that they are

violating car-based road protocols, rather than asserting a vehicular

counterculture.

 

Vegetarian visitors should check out Cafe Lola Rosa, on Milton street

near McGill. We had two delightful meals at this little veggie cafe

on this trip, as well as a fine Tibetian meal at Shambala on

St. Denis. Montreal is very veggie friendly, though with less

elegance than veggie restaurants in France. Dishes here are both

North-American- and French-inspired, but generally fairly light yet

filling. Attempts to locate fine croissant on this trip didn't work

out too well, but that gives a goal for the next time we make it up

this way.

[mtlurb]

Montréal Markets: Marché Jean-Talon

 

Ok, well it's been a month since we returned from Quebec. I had meant to start posting about the trip sooner, but then... what with my trip to Thailand and... well, in the circumstances, the delay is forgivable.

The intervening month also made it more fun to re-live the trip as we went through our 500-or-so photos. I've decided to start with what, I think it's fair to say, was our favourite part of Montréal: Marché Jean-Talon.

We really liked Montréal. It had a great pulse to it. There was always life on the streets. Colour, noise and people spilled out of shops, dining rooms and parks. And nowhere demonstrated this joie de vivre like Jean-Talon markets.

Located in the Little Italy district, Marché Jean Talon is Montréal's and perhaps even North America's, largest open air market with over 300 stalls in the summer months. It is open year-round despite the blistering winters however there are of course fewer stalls and they are located indoors.

The Market is spread over several blocks and contains acres of farm-fresh produce and specialty stores that drew us in and dazzled with the beautiful colours, the sounds of hawkers and the lure of smells that wafted from every direction.

The place is mecca for food and foodies.

 

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The surrounding stores include patisseries, chocolatiers, poissoneries, chacuteries, baristas, frommageries, Moroccan and Italian delis...the list goes on. There are also several great restaurants nearby.

Around lunchtime, we'd often find that we'd gravitated towards the markets... which was lucky. Sometimes we'd make our own feast comprised of the local produce. Sometimes, though, it would be too much to resist the delicious smells wafting from the shops lining the market - like this Moroccan deli which barbecued delicious chickens over smoking coals and sold us spicy lamb kofta baguettes.

There are several picnic tables provided (although it can be hard to get a seat on weekends) that are perfectly situated for DIY lunches and people watching..and there is so much to look at.

The Little Italy district is a fascinating one with an eclectic mix of characters like some Italian boys we met straight out of the Sopranos who were peddling crates of Mama-Mia wine grapes to the wine-making locals. The boss was fascinated by our Australian accents and told Pauly to go get us a bunch of grapes: an offer we couldn't refuse.

Jean-Talon Market is located just east of the intersection of Rue Jean-Talon and Rue St-Laurent. If you are catching the Metro, then the Jean-Talon station is convenient - only a couple of blocks away.

Marché Jean-Talon is a must-see for anyone wanting to taste of Montréal's food culture. Colourful and intoxicating, you won't want to leave.

Marché Jean-Talon:

7070, Henri-Julien St., south of Jean-Talon St.

Website:

http://www.marchespublics-mtl.com/

[mtlurb]

retarded tourists:

 

We're in bloody France!!!!!

 

 

 

Oh my god we have got the wrong bus...but hey no hang on a minute you can't cross the atlantic on a bus!!?? I was confused...everything had suddenly gone french? I thought we were in Canada...but somehow i seemed to be wrong!!!

A building but what is it?

 

Okay so i knew Quebec was french...but what i didn't know was that it was more french than France!!!! I mean hey they don't even speak english here!!!!!!

After arrival we tried to find the hostel in yet more pouring rain. Couldn't find it...probably something to do with all the french? Oh yeah and thanks Lonely Planet for putting it on the wrong side of the raod on your map! Were soaked when we got there...hostel is kinda cute though...if you forgive the frenchness!

a local delicacy, smoked meat sarnies

 

Went wandering in downtown Montreal! It has old buildings!! Real old buildings...not plaques where they once stood!! It reminded me of....now where was it....oh yeah france!!!!! Couldn't resist Burper king for lunch...despite all the cool french cafes! Hey they speak french in them...what do you expect...ordering a burger was hard enough!

Headed back...i was tired just for a change....the lack of sleep on the damn greyhound could have something to do with it....slept for hours!!! (personally i could have slept all night....but then thats just strange old me!)

Got up neil cooked pasta with wierd sauce...i didn't eat it! Problem was you could only cook in kitchen between stupid hours of 5 and 8...which was too early for me...

Neil decided to be nice to me and cheer me up...by taking me out for a beer!

A replica of St Peters Basilica in Rome

 

Found the latin quarter of montreal...and an amazing little street lined with french style bars (even if we did end up in a mexican one)...with tables on the street! Enjoyed a beer and nachos...free nachos...watching the world go by.

A nice way to end a good day...even if it did bloody rain (again).

Next day we went to see if we could find some even older buildings! Headed into old quebec. Was a little wierd at first...it was all deserted. Found the waterfront...the 'happening' place of montreal...er where? Headed back to the main street with its shops....millions of tourist shops...there were some cool ones though...an indian art one (native indians that is!), with its stuffed polar bear...and masks that Tim would have loved! And a cool shop selling all kinds of fur stuff...freaky but cool!

A very odd little church

 

Found a church....our first notre dame church...they all look the same in quebec...just like the one in paris!

Where is starbucks when you need one? Oh yeah they ban anything english or american here...i forgot....ended up in some wierd food court...coffee was okay though.

Were hungry too but the food court wasn't twmpting...the thing to do in Montreal is eat smoked meat, i wasn't sure...but neil was convinced...all tghe cafes looked scary...neil eventually chose one...the one where the owner nearly shoved us in the door...apparantly the owner said we could have it free if we didn't like it....????? We shared a bacon and cheese sarnie and a smoked meat one...both were yummy...not sure how you supposed to eat the smoked meat one? It was more like a stack of meat, with two little bits of bread at the side...was incredible though Neil says!

french cafes in Canada!

 

Wandered some more...was starting to get busy at this point...too many tour buses...so time to find the hostel again...

No sooner were we back than we had to go out again....my poor tired legs! To find greyhound tickets and food! Neil then cooked me amazing steak sanrnies and onion gravy dip....mmmm...i like meat i do! Eat cookies and guess what!? Yep, no brownie points this time....we played cards!

[MTLskyline]

^LMAO... sounds like someone with ADD...

 

Neil said we should have some magic mushrooms, Neil cooked dried cabbage, Montreal is like France, etc...