shaya

Thanks everyone for your fine tips. We drove to Montreal from Virginia, arriving Wednesday afternoon. The Hotel Intercontinental was really nice - staff were helpful, bed was comfy and the location was convenient.

We were headed for Olive & Gourmando, which is just down the street but they only accept cash. Instead, we ended up at a deli catty-corner to that. The food was okay - people were very friendly.

We went to the Jazz Festival that evening - it was drizzling but still fun. We only attended the free shows - we heard tickets to Dylan were going for $180! The rain kept the crowds down and it was pleasant.

The next morning we slept in. My husband went to the underground shopping area beneath the hotel and brought back a lovely breakfast of coffee, muffins, yogurt and granola. Very convenient in the rain!

That day we spent a good about of time at the Notre Dame cathedral - it is splendid! We took a walking tour of Old Montreal that was fun - a little less in depth than I had hoped. Our tourguide, Carole, spoke more than I was interested about which movies had been filmed where (and yes she mentioned Brad Pitt!!). I felt her knowledge of history / architecture was a little thin. Still it was a pleasant way to get our bearings. Note: if you take the walking tour do NOT visit the cathedral before the tour - you just end up paying twice! Instead, they will let you back in after the tour to explore more.

We had lunch in Old Montreal. We found the food overpriced at all the little cafes around the main square but were pretty hungry so we bit the bullet. The buildings were gorgeous in this area, and there are pretty public spaces but overall it seemed chock full of crappy tourist shops. There were some neat galleries, beautiful boutique hotels and lots of pretty scenes of flowers and cobblestones.

We rested at the hotel for a bit then went to the underground malls. Surprisingly, these are pretty much just like malls here ;-). The shops seemed oriented to the adolescent set, every shop was having a half price sale and I still didn't buy anything!

We tried to go to Ben's for dinner - it appears to have gone out of business. Instead we ended up at a chain restuarant just off St. Catherine's Street with exceptionally poor service. It seemed we always had one extreme or the other - great or awful!

We went back to the jazz festival that evening which was more crowded by now. The set up is really phenomenal - they have four of five stages and use 2 or 3 at a time so that the other stages are set up for the next hours performances. We saw Canadian, French, American, and Arabic groups. The best named group was "God Made Me Funky" - very fun as you can imagine. There are a TON of free shows but they get you at the souvenir tents. T-shirts are beautifully and fashionably made - and cost around $45!! They sell a wide variety of clothes, CDs, pins, etc.

The next AM I got up early to see the BodyWorld exhibit at the Old Port. I then met up with my husband at Olive & Gourmando for a nice lunch (cash in hand now!). We took a cab up to Mount Royal park and walked from Maison Smith to the Chalet - a short, easy walk. There are spectacular views from the chalet. I expected it to be a bit more like Central Park than it was. It was more natural, like a state park maybe. I read that they didn't follow Ohmstead's design but they didn't say why not - anyone have insight?

We then walked down to McGill University which is such a beautiful campus! We continued on to St. Laurent street and poked around a few shops - found a pretty little fountain square there were we sat awhile - all that walking was exhausting. We took the Metro home - very convenient - and then back again later in the evening to have dinner at Schwartz's Hbrew Deli. We loved this place - the best meal we had! The smoked meat was, obviously, great but also try the coleslaw! The part I will probably always remember is standing in line on the sidewalk, talking to the guys ahead of us. As they were seated, the waiter asked us to wait just a minute whie he got the next table ready. Out of nowhere a couple standing behind us in line opened the door and walked in and took the table. I suppose I thought maybe they were meeting people inside. The lady behind us asked, in a great French Canadian accent, why they had done that. I replied I did not know. She raised her index finger and said "If we do not know then we ask!" as she marched in and confronted the couple. I couldn't hear it all but heard that they had cut in front of 2 other couples. The waiter moved them somewhere in the back of the restaurant and sat us. I loved that woman - what a firecracker. She was obviously a regular there - she came by later to tell us how much she loved that waiter - that he was the best.

After dinner we took the Metro to Olympic Stadium for a U20 world cup game between Poland and S. Korea - I had never been to a game before. It was really exciting, fast paced with a very involved crowd.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
1. We should have used our car more. (a) Montreal is a rather spread out city, in comparison to a city like San Francisco and (b) we ain't as spry as we used to be. We enjoyed things more once we started using the Metro (which surprisingly 2 different concierges told us to avoid ?!) but that was $2.50 apiece per ride. Looking back we should have just driven out to Mount Royal and to St. Laurent, etc. We spent a lot of time walking through unremarkable downtowny areas.

2. I found the shopping in Montreal kind of limited. Definitely for a young, hip (and skinny!) crowd. I never found my imagined mecca of inexpensive artsy jewelry, cool junky antique stores, etc. I am sure it is there somewhere!

3. Food was a little expensive. Ben's was great. So was Olive & Gourmando and Eggstrodinaire (sp?) had a good breakfast! They were all reasonably priced too!

4. It was difficult to find late (after 7p) dining - a lot of places close at 4pm!

5. Drivers in Quebec LOVE to tailgate. And speedlimits are apparently ignored on a regular basis. I mean the sign would say 80 kph, we'd be going maybe 90 kph and get passes by people going 110 to 120 kph. Man this trip made me feel old!

toedtoes

Great report Shaya!!

I'm headed there next month so I'll let you know if I find the "mecca of inexpensive artsy jewelry, cool junky antique stores, etc." I'm hoping to find the same thing.

One word on the metro, you can get a Tourist Card ($9 for 1 day or $17 for 3 days). With the card, you don't have to worry about transfers either. Also, you can get a museum pass that includes 3 days of metro travel. The museum pass is $35 w/o the metro and $45 with the metro pass, so you've reduced your metro fee to $10 for 3 days.

shaya

Toedtoes - The metro card sounds like a good deal! I dodn't get to the Archeology museum which I would have liked to have seen. If we go back I think we'll do more of that.

I thouhgt I had included this in my post but now see that I didn't: Look for a department store called Maxi Acie (sp?) - it seemed like a Canadian Target. They have a brand of clothes called Joe, designed by the guy from Club Monaco. Inexpensive, nice fabrics and definitely european influenced styles. I also got some housewares and cool grocery type items there!

laverendrye

Antique shops in Montreal are concentrated east of Atwater on Notre Dame West, otherwise known as "Antique Alley" There are dozens of shops in that area.

Something to keep for your next trip.

Devonmcj

I enjoyed your report, Shaya, especially the part about the rude couple getting kicked out of their stolen table. We saw the same driving techniques in the Rockies. It made our long drive a little tense at times.

toedtoes

I'll check out the Maxi Acie store. My 11 year old niece has instructed me to bring her home an outfit - I brought one back from my last vacation and she loved all the compliments and being able to tell folks "Oh, you can't get one, my Aunt bought it for me in Canada."

ron

Re Ben's, it closed in December 2006, the owners claiming they could not operate a profitable business in the current economic climate with unionized staff.

Re Notre Dame, it is a basilica, not a cathedral. The catholic cathedral is Mary, Queen of the World (Basilique-Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde).

shaya

Funny, that's what I love about clothes shopping abroad! ;-)
Re: Ben's. I looked that up online since being home - sounds like a shame it is gone. Through the windows we could see the diner atmosphere, the barstools, etc are still in there. Chairs are piled on tables in the corners - it looks like someone could walk in and have it running again in short order.
I was happy to find Schwartz's - the only restaurant on the street we saw a line in front of! Great atmosphere, friendly patrons too.
And you are correct - a basilica, not a cathedral. Regardless, it was beautiful!

mlanoue

Great to read this report, especially since my wife and I just got back two weeks ago and loved it! But, it seemed to us that restaurants didn't even start filling up until after 8 p.m.!

We were staying in an apartment on Square St. Louis, and Prince Arthur Street and St. Denis had a lot to offer. Tons of great book stores and record shops, too. And, the Metro made everything so easy.

Darn, I wish we were still there.

pavfec

Glad you enjoyed Montreal. Just a couple of comments (note: I lived in Montreal for over 5 years):

The store someone mentioned in Maxi - it's a large grocery store that sells clothing as well.

You encountered restaurants that closed at 4:00 pm because you only stayed in the downtown and Old Port areas and those restaurants cater to office workers. If you had gone to the Plateau-Mont Royal neighbourhood (St-Denis St. from Sherbrooke to Laurier) or further down Ste-Catherine St. (west of Guy), you would have found tons of restaurants open.

The worst thing to do would be to take your car in Montreal. The metro and bus network is extensive and the best way to get around. It's unfortunate that you were told not to take it.

In addition to the Atwater area, you can get antique and vintage items in the Village (east of the Latin Quarter, around Ste-Catherine and Beaudry).

traveller69

Correct me if I am wrong you Montrealers but it is my understanding the Schwartz's is the only place that actually smokes the meat (I know there is another place I think on Ile Perot) According to my husband an McGill student many, many years ago Bens was great then but had gone downhill since then. And, I think they got their smoked meat from Schwartz Would you say that is correct? I love Schwartz but when we visit Montreal we have late lunch early dinner there and get seated right away. (I even surprised my husband one year and ordered by Fedex 2 slabs of meat - it is shipped over night) He was thrilled.

shaya

Well, now I know I am not a great last minute traveler. I usually know just what I want to see and where I want to stay.

Pavfec, I was pretty sure that we were just missing what we were looking for. I had an idea in my head of what it would be like and it was so different! The area around McGill showed signs of life but Old Montreal and the Port area didn't seem to have anyone living there really. I do wish I had known more about the city.

We kept looking in our tourbook but it apparently wasn't the best! It really only offered highlight type tours. And because the city is somewhat spread out we didn't stumble into areas the way we could in San Francisco or similar cities.

The Metro did seem very easy to negotiate - I wish we had caught on to that a bit earlier.

I think we were partly thrown off by concentrating on finding a hotel near the Jazz festival and Old Montreal.

The idea of renting an apartment sounds more appealing! Is Square St. Louis between St. Laurent and Sherbrooke, with a fountain?

mlanoue

Square St. Louis is just a block or so north of Sherbrooke and is on the west side of St. Denis. On the west side of the square is the Prince Arthur pedestrian street, which stretches for three or four blocks until you run into St. Laurent. There is a large fountain in the center, a statue on the east side, and an old round concession building on the west side.

The square was an amazing place to be. The houses and buildings surrounding the square were so unique and many of them were quite colorful. Full of trees, it was enjoyable to stroll through even when the weather became incredibly hot the last few days of June. It was full of people all the time. You can't walk through there without seeing at least one person playing a guitar. And amazingly tranquil, too--lots of people reading, laying in the grass, or walking their dogs.

Renting the apartment was great. For one week, we felt as if we really lived there. If we needed some bread or bottles, or anything, really, it was a breeze to walk right down to one of the Depanneurs (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) and pick something up. The metro station was just across St. Denis street.

Of course we only spoke the most basic French, and quickly learned to swallow our pride and ask people if they spoke English. Everybody was very very nice.

It was a great way to really get to know a city.