Montréal dans les blogs!!

[mtlurb]

^^ la suite:

you would never find someone with a suit and sport shoes in Montreal.

 

 

aaaaaaaaakkkkh y a des gens qui s'habillent vraiment comme ça? (À part les bums comme dans Dave Chapelle?)

[yarabundi]

Intéressant ce point de vue. Merci !!

[yarabundi]

Sur ce site : http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/montreal_walking_tour.htm

rien d'extraordinaire, si ce n'était de la photo du guide vers la fin.

Beau bonhomme !!

[brad-514]

Sur ce site : http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/montreal_walking_tour.htm

rien d'extraordinaire, si ce n'était de la photo du guide vers la fin.

Beau bonhomme !!

 

Haha c'est toi yara? le premier pas vers la celebrite!

(where is the 'beer' smiley when you need it?)

[iamthewalrus]

aaaaaaaaakkkkh y a des gens qui s'habillent vraiment comme ça? (À part les bums comme dans Dave Chapelle?)

 

oupss.....oui, moi je fite la dedans....à part au travail....mais en chemin je met mes stan smith au moins 2-3 jours semaines.....ouais, c'est pas chick....ma mère aurait honte de moi....mais c'est tellement plus confortable et l'hiver ça tue des souliers

[mtlurb]

Who visits Montreal in January?

 

January 27, 2008 by Jen

 

Well, we did. We just got back from a fantastic trip to Montreal, and despite a surge of super-cold weather near the end, it was a perfectly lovely weekend. Though we were there to see the sights with friends and had a 15-month old in tow, we managed to eat our way through the city with no problem whatsoever (big surprise, right?) Montreal is a great mid-sized city with good public transportation, so even with the wind whipping and the temperature dropping, we felt as though we were able to see a good deal of the city and get a sense that people cope with winter there the same way they do here in Minneapolis - by saying #@%* the cold, I’m going out anyways.

 

We had a great stay at Les Bons Matins, a great little auberge located on a quiet street downtown. Despite some initial mix-ups on our reservation, the staff there did a great job too accommodate us with our many needs (not easy with the aforementioned little one and four adults with particular tastes.) We ended up with 2 of their suites, with our friends Mike and Shelley (and little Lenin) in a garden level unit and Brent and I directly above them. The decor is bright and sunny, and features art throughout by the owner’s brother. The care in all of the details - from a guest fridge stocked with bottled water and sodas, to the fresh cookies in all the kitchenettes each night - was delightful. I forget, after months of business travel to big chains, what’s its like not to be charged $8 for a bottle of water in your room.

 

The breakfasts, included with the rooms, was superb. Each morning we started with an appetizer (at breakfast!!) of small waffles or french toast, with a dollop of lemon or passion fruit mousse. This was accompanied by fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee, to quote Shelley, “only the French can do.” There was a small menu of hot items including eggs, smoked salmon, eggs benedict, and various accompaniments. All of this was served in a cafe of warm yellow walls and checkered-tile floors, where each morning we would come in from our suites next door, and sit amongst other travelers dressed in turtlenecks and norwegian sweaters, everyone equipping themselves for the day ahead with warm pastry and coffee.

 

We managed to seek out a few star meals outside the auberge as well. We sought out Shwartzman’s deli and braved the packed diner setting despite the nasty looks generated by trying to get the stroller in through the door and past the deli line. (I was chewed out by a weathered-looking woman trying to get her coleslaw, but as it was entirely in Quebequois French, I prefer to think she was shouting “Thank goodness you are here with that wonderful stroller! Perhaps you can help me out to my car with my 7 kilos of meat?”) Being someone who loves their deli, I was curious to know how the Montreal smoked meat would stack up to, say, a New York Pastrami, and I have to admit that it did so admirably. Perfectly seasoned and with just the right amount of fat, the meat and the soft white bread it arrived upon was a perfect lunch. After devouring each of our sandwiches, we spied a neighboring table get plates of meat and a stack of white bread on the side - a great option for those who want to be in control of their own bread-to-meat ratio.

 

Brent and I had two very good dinners, one at a bistro on Rue St. Denis called L’Express. The highlight was the Pork Rillettes (see here for my earlier encounter with this amazing method of serving meats.) The version at L’Express came with a small jar of wonderfully delicate dijon mustard and an enourmous jar of cornichons for self-service. The duck and steak frites were also excellent. Best of all, though, was the setting. It was classic brasserie, loud and intimate all at the same time, with tables wedged close enough together that you can smell the food on your neighbor’s plate.

 

On our last night, we braved the fourteen-below weather and went back to Old Montreal where we had been shopping a few days earlier. We had spotted a restaurant called Merchant Boeuf, which a friend had recommended. The night we were there the place was jammed with locals, for a “menu gourmande” that several affiliated restaurants we’re hosting. This fixed-price meal was almost too good to be true, with a starter, choice of entree (including a mega-burger and a whole roasted chicken presented table side mounted on the beer can it was roasted on), and dessert for $15CAN. Such a deal - Brent had the menu with the burger and declared it one of the best he’s had, complete with bacon and cheese. I ordered off the a la carte menu, since I was craving the onion gratin soup, but we both wished that one of us had ordered that chicken, once we saw them coming out to the tables around us. I can only imagine the kitchen in the back - they must have had hundreds of them roasting back there.

 

http://savoirflair.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/who-visits-montreal-in-january/

[mtlurb]

From http://www.transitmiami.com/2008/04/urban-spotlight-montreal.html

 

 

Urban Spotlight: Montreal

 

 

 

 

Montreal...what a great city.

 

I spent the last several days there on a mini-vacation doing some urban exploration and enjoying the sites and culture that make the city so pleasant. Despite temperatures that were muy frio (Highs 25-32, Lows 8-20), it still was a great experience walking around the city thanks to fine urban design, livable streets, and thriving public spaces.

 

With that said, I'd like to walk you through (pun intended) some of my observations and experiences that both illuminate Montreal's successes and Miami's potential.

 

Transit System

 

Montreal's subway system was very clean, efficient, and took us most places we wanted to go. I took a couple trips on the "Green line" that runs between Angrignon and Honore-Beaugrand. Levels of service were high based on my experience, whereas I never waited more than five minutes for a train even on Saturday and Sunday. At $2.75 per one-way trip, the fares were a little steep, though I'm assuming that would be mitigated if I had bought a 3-day unlimited or monthly unlimited ride pass.

 

Though it's not transit per se, I was thrilled to see separated bike lanes at least a few major boulevards. Not only are they protected from traffic, they're bidirectional unlike most Class II striped bike lanes and even some Class I separated lanes, like on 9th Ave in Manhattan.

 

Parks and Public Spaces

 

Ah, my favorite part. I'm a firm believer that it's the quality of a city's public spaces that make it a truly great place to live, which is why Montreal scores so high on my livability scale. The city is loaded with really nice parks and plazas that serve as social and civic gathering magnets. As far as plazas go, Place Jacques Cartier and Place d'Armes were my favorites, though several others could easily make the cut.

 

 

 

However, my runaway favorite public space in Montreal is the city's namesake park, Mont Royal. When I first heard about Montreal's "mountain", I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. I figured it was a series of rolling hills at best, with just enough of an incline to force cyclists into a medium-to-low gear.

 

Was I ever mistaken.

 

Looking from downtown, which the park roughly abuts, it actually appears that the city abruptly stops up against a mountain on one side. To add to the effect, several bouts of snowfall from a long Canadian winter remained draped across Mont Royal's landscape not unlike that of a small snowcapped mountain in Vermont or Upstate New York.

 

After scaling steep blocks just to reach the foot of the park, you're faced with the task of climbing an even steeper mini-mountain -- with a foot of snow on the ground.

 

 

The park is beautiful. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. If you want to climb it, you can either follow winding paths at a moderate grade, or you can take the shortcut and go straight up. About halfway up the views of the downtown skyline are already spectacular, but at the top you have incredible panoramic vistas of most of the city and the St. Lawrence River.

 

It didn't matter that it was 32 degrees out with a foot of snow on the ground the weekend before April -- the park was packed with joggers, walkers, sightseers, and even cross country skiers.

 

Sadly, Miami doesn't really have a grand park that is centrally located and easily accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians. I consider Crandon Park to be pretty great, but it's an isolated island and not a centrally located grand urban park. The beaches of South Beach and North Beach are adjacent to high density areas and are high quality public spaces, but they are in a different category and serve different purposes than a centrally located urban park. Museum Park has the potential to be great, but it's limited size and extreme easterly location may keep it from fulfilling that role.

 

Urban Design

 

Montreal's urban design was of high quality. The density of most neighborhoods is relatively high thanks to rowhouses and apartment buildings that helped define street space. Downtown was full of high-rises, but most of them were designed well to fit with human scale and the pedestrian realm. The architecture of both old and modern buildings was of high quality. Moreover, most streets were well in tact and had not given way to curb cut mutilation and excessive off-street parking.

 

 

Depending on where you are, certain neighborhoods have a "Brooklyn" feel to them, while others have more of a "Philly" feel.

 

Even the newly developed neighborhoods on the fringe of the city consisted of modern-looking rowhouses and apartment buildings, which was very encouraging to see. Overall, the streets were very clean and comfortable as well. Interestingly, the streets were pretty quiet with automobile traffic, drivers drove safely and courteously, and very little congestion was present.

 

What's the lesson for Miami? Montreal serves as just one more example of a major city full of neighborhoods with medium-to-high density that is extraordinarily livable. Because buildings are built right up to the sidewalk and are often attached, they do a great job defining street space and making the pedestrian experience a pleasant one. You can walk all day in Montreal, in inclement weather no less, and not get tired or anxious because space is well defined and you always feel like you're somewhere. Without these characteristics in most of Greater Miami, it often feels like even short walks take forever and go from nowhere to nowhere. Miami 21 will probably be our best opportunity this century to improve this condition.

 

Stay tuned for additional lessons from Montreal.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Ryan Sharp at 2:00 AM

[peekay]

drivers drove safely and courteously

 

because of all the potholes!

[mtlurb]

hehehe... well we drive better than in Cancun, thats a given

[MartinMtl]

"(...)Looking from downtown, which the park roughly abuts, it actually appears that the city abruptly stops up against a mountain on one side. To add to the effect, several bouts of snowfall from a long Canadian winter remained draped across Mont Royal's landscape not unlike that of a small snowcapped mountain in Vermont or Upstate New York."(...)

 

Ça c'est vrai quand même. On a la meme impression sur le Plateau, en particulier dans l'axe de la rue Rachel: le Mont-Royal devient un immense mur vert adossé à la ville. C'est impressionnant et ça définit beaucoup notre relation avec le parc. Quand je vais dans d'autres grandes villes, en particulier Toronto, il me manque toujours la présence d'une élévation comme le Mont-Royal. Je "cherche" la montagne.