recommendations wanted
Hi,
I’ll be in Canada for 2 weeks, starting on Dec 24. My list of places to visit are Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. As I see
the weather is really cold and coming from Mexico I’m sure I’ll need a lot of warm clothes. Anyway, I’m almost done gathering winter clothes, the only thing left are snow boots. Here they’re very expensive and hard to find so I’ll wait and buy them there.
What should I look for in those cities? What are the things you won’t miss if you were there for the first time?
Thanks,
Loauc.
If you want a canadian bacon and pineapple pizza, and you only ask for bacon and pineapple, it will be breakfast bacon and pineapple.
Ask for ham and pineapple!
Oh, and they call canadian geese…just geese.
PB
Holy mackeral (my new catch phrase I picked up from my grandpa), I’ll be in Cananda at the same time. Well, I know Montreal and Quebec City very well.
A few things you have to do in Montreal:
Got to St. Catharine’s St and China town. You can start at the one end of St. Catherines, walk all the way down to China town, and then walk from CHina town to the old port. You can see an awful lot in a day just by taking this little bit of a day hike. Get to know the metro well and leave the car at where ever you are staying. You have to see SuperSexe on St. Catherine just because the place is such a gaudy awful eyesore.
Then for day number two, take a trip down St. Laurant. St Laurant has a zillion little ethnic shops, their little Italy, and some amazing little pedestrian malls tht branch off of it.
Montreal is an excellent food city. Restaurants and food to hit in Montreal:
Go to either Ruban’s or Schwartz’s for a smoked meat sandwich which is a Montreal trademark. If they give you a choice as to how much fat on the meat, don’t get it too lean or it will be dry. At Schwartz’s especially, there will be lines in the street, so be sure to go there at an off time (not right at lunch or dinner). But Ruban’s has massive strawberry cheese cakes…
Check out Basha on St Catherines. It is a Lebanese restaurant that you will hardly be able to walk out of and it is cheap.
Get a shish taouk from one of the zillion little shish taouk places.
Khyber Pass is an excellent Afghani restaurant in a pedestrian mall off of St. Laurant. How often do you get a chance to eat Afghani and this good?
Tabaq is probably the best Pakistani restaurant in North America. I don’t remember what street it is on, but look it up. Try the goat. Can’t find Tabaq, try Sana. It is nearly as good as tabaq, but Tabaq is king.
On Rue de Park try Milos for some excellent Greek.
Then on St. Laurant, stop into whatever tickles your fancy. It is hard to find a bad restaurant in Montreal.
Quebec City: Quebec City is a very historical town. A lot of what you will want to see is in the old town. You can easily spend a day or two in the old town. Check out the Plains of Abraham and Chateau Frontenac, also be sure to get a ride on the sleds in front of the Chateau. One hint, be discreet, but you can take the elevator in the Chateau to the 17th floor and see the entire city out of the windows at the end of the hall. It is breath taking, but be careful not to get nabbed by a maid for being where you shouldn’t.
Also, take a drive along the St Lawrence and see some of the water falls. There are observation decks and the water falls freeze at this time of year creating huge ice flows. It is really cool. There are also old churches and land marks to see on along the river. There is a road at the bottom of the cliffs of the old city (Boul Champlaine) that you can drive east on and see all of this.
Quebec City has absolutely excellent French restaurants that are reasonably priced (at least to an American). My suggestion would be Chez Rablais in the old town. Be sure to get a reservation. I would recommend ordering their Table d’ote for two. It is a five or so course meal with wine included for two people and is usually about $80CAN. It is absolutely excellent and you will not find a better price for a French meal of this caliber with out going to France.
Also, you have to try Qubecois junk food. A few points of interest:
Poutine is a typical Quebec junk food made from curd cheese (think queso fresco), french fries, and gravy. Chez Ashton has the best poutine. There is a Chez Aston in the old town.
Find a Metro grocery store and check out their store brand potato chips. No where else will you find ketchup, All Dressed, and a few other odd ball types.
Tortillone is a Quebec junk food chesse that comes sort of pickled. It is salty and wonderful.
Creton is a pork pate that you find at breakfast a lot of times. Try it.
If shopping is your thing, check out the Place Laurie which is (or used to be) the largest mall on the continent if not world.
At any restaurant in Montreal or Quebec, ask if they have a Table d’ote. Many places will. A table d’ote is usually a full meal with desert, drinks, etc. at a reduced price. Table d’otes are a great way to eat very well at a reasonable price. I don’t know how it is in Mexico, but in the US free drink refills for soda are customary. Not so in Quebec, so don’t be thrown off by this.
As for Cananda in general, try a St Hubert. It is a common chicken place in eastern Canada and it is good!
If I think of anything else, I’ll post it. but this should keep you busy. Can you tell my mind is on food a lot? But with all the streets I listed above, you can wander for days and see all sorts of cool and new things. Wander and explore.
Toronto? The Hockey Hall of Fame, of course! 
http://www.hhof.com/index.htm
Atta boy Tom! Can’t forget the Hall.
As for other things to do in Toronto (The Big Smoke), check out the Toronto Raptors for some basketball or hit Yonge St. for some shopping - after all, it’s the longest street in the world!
Have fun!!!
Thank you guys for the nice suggestions, I will print this thread so I can have it for reference.
Bubba: I’d already sent you an email, maybe we can find some place to meet each other. It would be great to meet another ntracker. I don’t know if the Send Mail function in your profile routes the mail to an active account, anyway PM me if you are inclined.
Regards,
Loauc
I’m told canadian girls are hot…
I'm told canadian girls are hot...
Roughly 98.6 or they'd be dead!!!
Seriously - Tronoto, Quebec - they're all great cities but it is the wrong time of year to visit them. Go during Winter Carnival, in February, and you'll have some fun!
Mike
PS - In Ottawa, it was -46 degrees with the wind chill Monday. When it get this cold, the tires on your car freeze!
Roughly 98.6 or they'd be dead!!!
Seriously - Tronoto, Quebec - they're all great cities but it is the wrong time of year to visit them. Go during Winter Carnival, in February, and you'll have some fun!
Mike
PS - In Ottawa, it was -46 degrees with the wind chill Monday. When it get this cold, the tires on your car freeze!
| Quote (Willy @ Dec. 21 2004,14:37) |
| I'm told canadian girls are hot... |
I got me one. Seriously, Montreal is unreal for the female persuasion. There is this unspoken competition to show ones tail feathers. Not that they are lude or running around naked, but the culture is very much of making sure one is well groomed before walking out the door. When Kristi moved here she said she felt very odd that there was no competition. She talked about how women here will go to the grocery in sweat pants and men in under shirts where as in Montreal one always wants to look their best.
Seriously - Tronoto, Quebec - they're all great cities but it is the wrong time of year to visit them. Go during Winter Carnival, in February, and you'll have some fun!
Baloney, you'll have fun anyway. I promise.
I just got my hair cut, I guess that’s enough.
| Quote (Bubbagump @ Dec. 21 2004,15:45) |
| I got me one. Seriously, Montreal is unreal for the female persuasion. There is this unspoken competition to show ones tail feathers. Not that they are lude or running around naked, but the culture is very much of making sure one is well groomed before walking out the door. When Kristi moved here she said she felt very odd that there was no competition. She talked about how women here will go to the grocery in sweat pants and men in under shirts where as in Montreal one always wants to look their best. Seriously - Tronoto, Quebec - they're all great cities but it is the wrong time of year to visit them. Go during Winter Carnival, in February, and you'll have some fun! |
Baloney, you'll have fun anyway. I promise.
As Bubba knows, I got me one too...
Louac, you'll need more than your hair cut for the "girls of Montreal". They get dressed up just to go to the corner store.
And don't listen to Mr. TokerCosmicSoulCharlie. We don't have Winter Carnival in Toronto
and contrary to popular belief, there are a ton of things to do, even without hockey... 
Have a great time!
its been a while,to say the least,but i got to spend a lotta time up there with band, iturned 21 at montreal,normm silvers mustache club was the place,i got locked in that night,couldnt get outa the bar cause i was talkin to GF stateside…got off phone an bam,there i was,in,for the night,i dont know if its changed much but i felt that we {americans}were not accepted everyhwere we went,like i mean getting served ata restauraunt kinda thing,they dug our rock an roll,{teen angel band} but they didnt dig the yanks too much im thinkin,so,be carefull,maybe try a lil humble,an dont go to long an mquades thinin you’ll pick up a cheap strat,my axe was stolin in toronto and in 76 i paid 650 for a 3 year old new tele thinline,but,as sometimes it goes,that was an omen,cause now i play fender guitars instead of les [pauls today,ps,i almost got married there too ,so be carefull of them warm big brown eyes,lol,have fun!
Thanks, first I went to Toronto. Now Im in Montreal and everything has been great so far. Tried a lot of different dishes I cant recall the names but nice nice.
Thank you for your kind recommendations,
Loauc.
Well, you need to tell me all about where you went and what you saw once you get back. I am always looking for the next great thing in Montreal to try. Though I will tell you, avoid the Sengalese restaurant on St Viateur in the Mile End area. Tried it last night and it was awful despite having really good reviews. Terribly slow and neglectful service, the food was nothing much more than my mom’s pot roast and my mom’s pot roast is pretty boring, the prices were high, poor portions… It was called Keur Fatou. Avoid it…