Montreal!

this is our first attempt at doing a real vacation (i.e. going somewhere interesting for fun, not to visit extended relatives) since having a kid but it does kind of suck because we can't really go out too late at night or just chill out in bars or coffee shops for a super-long time. but that's more for the parenting thread than this one.

she has a passport, she went to france with her mom last year. i, on the other hand, probably need a new passport.

ya well the reason i mentioned jazz & comedy fest is they have a lot of daytime/early evening, stroller-friendly outdoor stuff.

i had the time of my life at the jazz fest as a kid. now, einh

cool well i think we're planning on that first week in july to take advantage of our july 4 holiday so we'll be up there with the rest of the tourists. looking forward to it!

how many days you thinking?

i think 4-5 days in montreal. we're driving up from chicago and will probably stay in toronto overnight on the way up and down, with maybe an extra day there too to see the toronto sights.

As far as stuff to do with a 3 year old goes, the Biodome, Insectarium and botanical garden is a lot of fun. The planetarium is also going to be open by then (right next to the biodome), though that might be for kids who are a little older.

my son, who was 3 last summer didn't really enjoy going to the various festivals, mostly because he does not enjoy huge crowds.

He liked going up mount royal and walking in the old port (he likes boats)

biodome is the most fun thing in the world for a kid

I don't know if there's anything going on in the days you'll be in Montreal, but Piknic Electronik can be a fun family thing to do also.

yeah, if I could only recommend one thing for a 3 year old it would definitely be the biodome. Lots of animals, but relatively small so it only takes a couple of hours to visit. Perfect for kids that age.

xp

never been to biodome :S

sorry to keep reviving with touristy questions, and i know this is the montreal thread so people may be biased, but: should plan a day to spend in toronto on the way home or use that day in montreal instead? the difference is between 4 or 5 full days in montreal

Depends on how much you want to be in Toronto for that day, obviously. Perhaps there is some Igloofest events you want to see, but apart from that it feels like the dead of winter (to me, at least).

Oh wait, this will be the summer and with your kid. Nvm. Montreal is truly amazing in the summer, you'll find stuff to do for 5 days,

Yeah one day in Toronto... There's stuff to do but... I dunno

zing

Montreal in summer deserves your extra day more than toronto does imo.

i agree with these suggestions about jazz fest and biodome/insectarium/botanical gardens. parc jean drapeau is also great (also where the buckminster-fuller-designed biosphere is, and piknic electronik sunday-afternoon electro-danceparty too). i will likely be writing about summertime family things to do for tourism montreal in, like, May, so... stay tuned? probably mostly about kid-friendly stuff at festivals, parks, outdoors, museums activities, etc. The Montreal Circus Festival (Montreal Completement Cirque) will also be on in July and that's pretty kid friendly!

also i have been making a blog about montreal in summer as seen via g00glemaps http://summerstreetview.tumblr.com/

This is amazing

in my 10 or so years of on-again off-again blogging, i have never loved blogging more

Toronto is a city that reveals itself to you slowly

Great blog rrrobyn, ;_; at Lhasa de Sela Park is it actually called that? That is a nice park

re-naming it was a proposal last year - it's not official, probably nowhere near official yet really... i just edited that to make it more clear because i feel like this blog is also kind of a time capsule of sorts. there's a lot to write about it, brewing in my head. but posting pictures is so far more fun.

i agree with these suggestions about jazz fest and biodome/insectarium/botanical gardens. parc jean drapeau is also great (also where the buckminster-fuller-designed biosphere is, and piknic electronik sunday-afternoon electro-danceparty too). i will likely be writing about summertime family things to do for tourism montreal in, like, May, so... stay tuned? probably mostly about kid-friendly stuff at festivals, parks, outdoors, museums activities, etc. The Montreal Circus Festival (Montreal Completement Cirque) will also be on in July and that's pretty kid friendly!

― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, February 4, 2013 10:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all of this is awesome stuff i never ever do :/

here's my fave

http://summerstreetview.tumblr.com/image/41443063374

rrrobyn your streetview blog is the best

I don't know if anyone here has seen Warm Bodies, but Montreal was such a lovely post-apocalyptic ruin in this.

i haven't seen it yet but i did some freelance transcribing of interviews with actors, director, producers, etc and copyediting of production notes! i should see it; i like post-apocalyptic ruin

thanks for the blog <3
that pic is one of my faves too. it's like can you even believe that that's there on streetview if you get the angle right? yep.

another idea i think is good for people visiting Montreal is to have a picnic in Jeanne-Mance Park one sunny afternoon. i would totally come and picnic with you guys, n/a!

yeah that is crooooooosh

we're going to take s1ocki around the city with us and allow him to experience his childhood ... for the first time

yeah let's hang out, dudes

we're going to skip toronto, fuck toronto

i was trying to convince my wife that we should take a vacation from vegetarianism while we're in montreal but it devolved into a discussion about whether gravy has blood in it

haha.

there's plenty of veggies... but it would be a good place for a lil vacay.

you definitely have to go by marché jean-talon BTW.

i genuinely wonder if wilensky's would be a little kid's fave restaurant of all time

well it's mine so

i have just never seen a little kid in there, and i feel like it'd be so awesome to see a kid lose their mind about the soda & sandwiches <3

...or are kids these days too overstimulated to enjoy wilensky's?

Really? I've never eaten at Wilensky's and it's on my corner
*goes to have lunch at Wilensky's*
I love living here, by the way, in case you were wondering,

kids have baloney apps now theyd rather play on.

i am vegetarian & feel pretty deprived when i walk past wilensky's. like walking past nice quietly majestic barber shops when you cut your own hair, the sadness of feeling ineligible. i could go get an egg sandwich & a coffee there but i feel like you need to be at least seventy five years old to make that order.

i've ordered an egg sandwich there, back in my veggie days! get a pickle and an egg cream with it and you'l be fine.

Fermé pour vacances ;_;

:(

ha i never knew you were a vegetarian, was your switch back to full menu eligibility the opening of the foodie floodgates?

i used to go eat whatever you could get vegetarian at katz's, sometime, & it would baffle the counter staff. nothin? not even ham? how'd you get your b12?. actually kind of into the egg sandwich & coffee deal, now. i will take a newspaper. when it's open again.

i was! in fact i'm working on a comic about how i stopped being a vegetarian now!

haha, i would like to see that. i have a lot of affection for lapsed vegetarians because i feel like the period afterwards is always so grateful & enthusiastic. my friend started eating fish & it's like a whole freed prisoner thing, just constantly renewed wonder at how bright life can be. vegetarianism has its own stockholm syndrome thing, like you are condemned to spending time with mushrooms & slow-cooked onions but you learn to love those things as a result of your captivity.

i still like mushrooms and slow-cooked onions :D

vege-paté, alfalfa sprouts, and baby carrots dipped in hummus, now that's another story.

ha ha, you know one of the things i am really enjoying about montreal is its broad range of sprouts. in grocery stores, in those green plastic trays. i think they have a lot at PA on Parc. there are so many! asparagus pea shoots, sunflower seed sprouts. am really into the baby onion sprouts, they have this deep-purple poppy seed stem, it's alluring:

http://www.jungleseeds.com/images/OnionSprouts.jpg

but i am also sort of aware that this could be a barren arena in which to seek pleasure.

I have pretty good childhood memories of Wilensky's and Deli Lester and then I became a boring vegetarian.