mcoleky

We have our flights to Montreal for mid-September. This will be our first visit to the area and we are very excited. I have downloaded a number of recommendations for restaurants and things to see in both Montreal and Quebec. Everything I have read indicate we would be welcome.

While I rarely discuss politics or religion, I cannot help but wonder if U. S. folks are still as welcome. My wife vetoed my idea of buying eight T-Shirts for each of us that say "Don't blame me, I voted for the other person".

Hopefully, I have not offended anyone by asking the above girl.

melproffit

Canadians are the most laid back folks I have encountered. be polite, treat them how you want to be treated. you'll be fine. besides, most of the folks you will encounter won't know where your from and the rest won't be from Canada

cdnyul

Since you are coming in mid-September, as soon as you arrive, buy a touqe , a lumberjack shirt and carry a can of maple syrup at all times.
Strap a pair of skis on the roof of your car.
This way you can be sure nobody will think you are from the States.
People in Montreal also have problem understanding English words like "hotel" and "beer", so yelling helps.


Enjoy your visit

PS. Be grateful for a smart wife

janisj

You joined Fodors fifteen years ago and this is your first ever post/question??? bizarro . . . .

newtome

mcoleky

I don't know why I have not posted before. Probably because most of our travels have been stateside. I usually depend on the Chowhound forum to find restaurants. We just got back from Cincinnati, OH, where we visited our kids. We tried four new to us restaurants while there. We often go to New Orleans for family and fun, also to Sarasota, FL for the same thing.

I will start paying more attention to Fordor in the future.

xcountry

It is evident from your pleasant posts that you will be accepted just fine.

garyt22

We have found that Montreal service staff are very pleasant... Unless they encounter "the Ugly Americans"... the demanding, nasty tourist types who whine and complain about everything . They then react by pretending to not understand English and turn on the language barrier. .. it's actually amusing... residents may also use this barrier if the tourists make no attempt at nice... have fun

NorenePalmer

If you're sincerely nice and kind, I don't see any reason why others will not reciprocate. One canny wify you got there...

wanderingcanadian

You're going to Montreal and Quebec city?
Montreal is a big city with lots of people, and traffic, the Metropolitan Montreal area has a population of over 4 million people. Don't be an ugly tourist of any kind, things will be different, which is why we travel. Yes some people in Montreal can be a little difficult if you behave as a foreign know it all, but I have seen that happen in other places where the tourists are complaining about things not being like they are at home. Over 60% of people speak both French and English.
It would be helpful to know a few French words, basics like Hello, thank you, you're welcome etc, so Bonjour, Merci,
don't confuse Bienvenue -which is you are welcome to a place, for you're welcome as in a reply to Thank you, the correct informal phrase is 'De rien', equivalent in meaning to 'de nada'- or it's nothing or the phrase used often in England 'Don't mention it'
You can easily Google Quebec French for more ordinary phrases, Salut is an interesting word meaning both Hello and Goodbye, often more used among people who already know each other
This site has some Montreal French terms https://blog.mtl.org/en/fun-french-t...o-use-montreal
There are also some older posts on this Forum
Quebec city is far more dependent on tourism than Montreal, more forgiving of people who have no French and IMHO and very interesting, the only walled city in North America and IMHO an easier place to be a tourist, yes been to both places several times.

TDudette

Hi mcoleky, You don't owe anyone an explanation about your posting history. janisj.

Most people separate travelers from their unfortunate leaders. Maybe wear that tee-shirt underneath your clothes so you can show it if you happen to encounter any problems! LOL.

portobelloB

Hi there,

We were just visiting there last month for six wonderful days and we had no problems. In restaurants/shops I would say a few greetings in French and they would say "English?"
It was only to see what language to converse in but no inquiries about our political views.
Only one person who did discreetly asked us was from our hotel's front desk. He was friendly but curious and we made sure he knew we didn't vote for our leader.

Now when we were in Montenegro last year, (this was right after the shoving incident with their Prime Minister) our friendly guide joked about it. It seems lately when were are traveling abroad we feel the need to apologize so I understand your concerns but you will be just fine. Quebec city is an amazing place to visit and I hope you have a wonderful time there.

mcoleky

Thank you. Btw, we met someone from Toronto when in Nashville, TN this week. We were at a blues & jazz club. He was very friendly and easy to talk to. He was happy that we were going to Montreal and Quebec, and promised that we would love the area.

out_and_about

As a an Alberta resident, it's been very interesting chatting with Americans this summer. We stay mostly in the Alberta Rockies and whether on the trail or at a lodge meal, the conversations with Americans ranged from very apologetic to even unwilling to say where they were from. In the latter case, it was easy to guess they were therefore Americans. We felt badly to think they would feel unwelcome in Canada, and did our best to reverse any such notion. That would include anyone who did vote for Trump, by the way -- it is a person's choice who they vote for and as we all know, it doesn't necessarily turn out well. In any country.

Aramis

Please don't encourage nosey and off-topic replies by feeling you have to reply to them and explain your posting history.

tamtraveler

I was born in Quebec and to be honest they're not at all concerned about U.S politics. Although most french speaking people living in Quebec are friendly, you might be dealing with a strong language barrier as the signage is not bilingual as in other provinces in Canada. Make sure you have a GPS!

Daniel_Williams

Hi,

Many Quebeckers travel regularly or have travelled to the USA. New England and upstate NY are right around the corner; New York City and Florida are popular destinations, in particular. So, many are very familiar with and like going to the USA. No one I know is not aware of US politics and it seems to me that Quebeckers talk about US politics possibly as much as those south of the border. Consequently, I can't imagine you will run across one who is not aware that the USA has different points of view and would make assumptions about individuals. I'll say this-- I'm a dual citizen, US and Canadian, living in Montreal, and the USA part of my identity barely elicits a reaction (a bored and indifferent reaction quite often), if it elicits a reaction at all.

Best wishes, Daniel

annhig

I was in Montreal for a few days at the end of August and I had a great time.

Though I'm a brit I can't imagine that you would have any problems with the locals. They were all very friendly and even allowed me to murder the french language from time to time, though there was no problem with swapping to english, and I had several bi-lingual conversations with people.

I stayed in the old city and loved it there - so many great restaurants and bars with terrific food of every sort you can think of. It's well worth getting to the cathedral early in the morning before the tour groups turn up and I really enjoyed the Chateau Ramzay and the Archeological and historical museum down on the quay; if the weather's nice the Botanical Gardens are terrific. I had 3 nights and 2 ½ days and would have liked at least one or two more nights, but I know that you are going to Quebec City as well which I haven't visited so I can't really help with how to divide your time between the two places.

all i can say is - you are bound to have a good time.

sludick

We've just returned from our almost-3-week vacation in British Columbia. We too had some concerns that we might be taken a bit differently than previous visits - however, everybody was still very friendly and polite. But....any time DH said "We didn't vote for him," the reactions were priceless. We heard "Thank God!" to "That's a relief!" to "Who the h@ll DID?" (the last actually from a gentleman in the RCMP). And, that was always followed with general relaxaation and even friendlier discussion.