Preparing for Montreal & Quebec
Lady and I have settled on our wedding plans now. Getting hitched at Davio's and headed to Montreal and Quebec for the honeymoon the week and change afterward. We headed over to the Barnes & Noble in West Philly (i.e. the UPenn bookstore) to check out some guidebooks. You can see in the photo above, we grabbed every single book off of the rack.
We settled on the Frommer's Montréal & Québec City 2010 book after paging through them all for a little while on a nice big seat upstairs. I previously bought a Montreal Moleskine to be able to keep note of our travels in Montreal in one spot. Too bad there's not one for Quebec too, I would've gotten that too. Oh Moleskine, I'll buy just about anything you put in front of my face.
I haven't been to either city in 17 years or so and Kate hasn't been there in a good while. Anybody out there travel through either city recently and have some advice? A favorite spot to eat, an off the beaten path cool thing you discovered, spots to avoid, your take on Montreal's bagel which I'm excited and worried to try… Lemme know!
Explore posts in the same categories: Lady, Me, Travel
February 20th, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
First, avoid, avoid, avoid Montreal in March. It's f-ing cold & not fun.
Anyway, as for places to visit, i really enjoyed this Spanish paella place that also had a flamenco show…It was very small, but the paella was delicious and the dancers were great. Now, if i could only remember where it was (it was close to UQAM, I think it's Rue St. Denis). I wish we had a Spanish restaurant like that here, it was the best restaurant that i visited in my stay there (sadly most of the others were sandwich places and bars that my friend Ari liked)
BTW, don't forget to hit the famous poutine place by McGill U…I think it was on Sherbrooke. Overpriced, too fatty, artery clogging, but apparently you just "have to" do it (according to my old Canadian coworker).
February 20th, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
Yup, definitely Casa Galicia on Rue St. Denis. Ah, wish I could have some paella right now…
February 20th, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
Montreal is one of my favorite cities. You'll have a great time. There are at least 2 things you have to eat. First, a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz's:
http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/
Next, pick up a strange and exotic "Montreal Bagel." There are a many famous spots. This is the one I remember:
http://www.stviateurbagel.com/main/
For non-Jewish food related things, I'll defer to other posters. When there, I usually just wander around all day and night and have a great time doing it. This photoblog can help you get in the right state of mind:
http://www.j-roumagnac.net/
February 21st, 2010 @ 8:25 am
Schwartz's Deli looks like a tourist trap, but it's definitely worth going to. They offer the option of fat or lean, but you also get 1/2 and 1/2.
Du Dieu Ciel is one of my favorite brewpubs.
The Ecodome or whatever it's called at Olympic Stadium is definitely worth a visit, and just a block or so from a subway stop.
Walking to the top of Mout Royal to see the cross is worth doing, a nice woodsy hike in the city.
February 28th, 2010 @ 6:44 pm
There is a really good Banh Mi place in chinatown. Can't remember the name bc it was in chinese. But its on the same side as Pho Bang and there is usually a line and the place runs out of banh mi later in the day. Better than any of the NY ones. FYI, the pho is horrendous there so don't even think about trying it. Don't have much else to offer, since I went for a bachelor party, so if you guys want to visit some stripclubs, I can help you out there.
March 7th, 2010 @ 10:30 am
Congrats man!
March 11th, 2010 @ 5:04 pm
Spouse and I loved Quebec City, although we're saving Montreal for the next time we get a jones to be in Europe but don't have the time. great scene, fun wandering, and an amazing tasting dinner at the fancy restaurant that they're known for (whose name has no bits in my mental RAM). enjoy!!