Montreal!

Love both Alep!

Yeah the Aleps are dope

def agree w/ flopson re: the restaurants and especially the groceries. i try to buy groceries near work on the way home, otherwise it's the shitty iga for me. at least in the summer/fall my work does one of those weekly produce things. Gotta disagree on the apt quality though, some of them are definitely holes yes but I would say among my pals there's like a 50/50 split of nice places vs. not so nice places (as compared to about 0/100 for my Plateau friends and myself when I lived there). If you look long enough you'll find a nice place (especially in the stretch btwn home depot and tobacco lofts, below the highway and above notre dame -- it seems less easy once you get west of courcelle).

st henri is kinda ugly though, doesn't really have that over little italy.

is royale really the best bbq in the city? moreso than black strap? i've only eaten at strap 2ce and royale 1ce and... I can't choose. yet. but also i was with someone who didn't eat red meat wheni went to royale so i didn't get to have the brisket, which i am still sour about!

:( I want to go to Alep :(

Hey I want to go Montreal in mid-late August. I'll be driving there! What things shall I do? Should I get a haircut first?

i don't know what to suggest when people come to town. it's nice to just mooch around & get bagels & eat at kazu if you want a meal & just yomp about i think. there's a mountain. i would be pro- august-fappin', though think i might be tied up w/visitors in aug

there are a lot of super picturesque barber shops btw, so you could save a haircut for when you're here. the only thing that could fuck this up is if you lack french & are afraid to instruct in english.

Hey I want to go Montreal in mid-late August. I'll be driving there! What things shall I do? Should I get a haircut first?

― J'ackHughes (admrl), Wednesday, June 19, 2013 11:20 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

when? i'm away 22-31. you shouldnt come then.

i am fucking ready for vacation

I was planning on getting a haircut (& dye) in Mtl tbh, maybe better wait til TO.

"Bleu. Eh, et snippe... içi?"

It is our 10th wedding anniversary in late August and Montreal seemed suitable, mais je parle Francais comme une vache Espagnole. Which is to say, I get by ok.

you'll be fine.

Maybe we go early August? I dunno. How is driving over the border from the United States (just to the South of Canada)?

driving to South Canada is pretty easy, there's a busy border crossing but a much less busy one close by, i'll try and find out where it is

(just to the South of Canada)

lol

it's fine. getting back into the States is tough but into Canada's pretty breezy ime

I'm sure I've told in these parts how I tried to cross the Niagara border with fellow ILXer Chuck Tatum and forgot my passport. Now I am dinged every time I pass through Canada and detained. And they are always horrible to me - I thought Canadians were meant to be like super nice! Not border guards

border guards have infinite power over you basically so they are more likely to feel like gods and thus be bad

I'm pretty sure I hear them call themselves "border gods" when they talk about their jobs

everyone just assumes it was a slight mispronunciation

but i know what they said

considering a visit around July 23ish

would people be up for a FAP on the 3rd or 4th of July?

(is there anything exciting I should stay into the weekend for? otherwise planning on moving on to TO for w/e bcz a friend has just moved there and is working already)

[mh come up early!]

thunderstorms bring no relief here, huh

Loooved swimming at Parc Jarry on that one sunny day though

So far I'm impressed with the pools in this city

would people be up for a FAP on the 3rd or 4th of July?

(is there anything exciting I should stay into the weekend for? otherwise planning on moving on to TO for w/e bcz a friend has just moved there and is working already)

[mh come up early!]

― pink, fleshy, and gleeful (sic), Friday, June 21, 2013 8:24 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i would like to meet montreal ilxors and other ilxors. we don't have specific plans for any of the days we're there, but meeting during the day or for dinner would make things a lot easier for us than some night-time bar activity.

i might be super busy but i also might be able to hang on the 3rd/4th, my ilxmail mail works last time i checked

day or dinner suits me fine

n/a, sorry, i've been super busy and not looking at ilx!
i'll fb a link to my things to do column for the upcoming week when it's posted on thursday
jazz fest does start on friday though... lots of free outdoor stuff. only caveat is that it's downtown and it can get crowded later in the day. depends on how you're feeling about people and "jazz" i suppose.
here's hoping it doesn't thunderstorm and rain while you're here as much as it's been doing lately.

also, i am into going for dinner! :)

that's cool - we don't have much of an agenda at all other than having fun and being on vacation. thanks!

It is our 10th wedding anniversary in late August and Montreal seemed suitable, mais je parle Francais comme une vache Espagnole. Which is to say, I get by ok.

― J'ackHughes (admrl), Wednesday, June 19, 2013 2:03 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Montreal must be a popular anniversary destination--the bf and I have been making it the destination for our anniversary trip (late June/early July) for a few years now but he's got a summer job this year that makes it impossible. I'm secretly more bummed about this than I'm letting on.

i love how many gardens planted lilies, here

96% sure I won't be in Montreal until a bit or a bunch later now - realised it'd be 4th July and that might be amusing to stay in USA for...

but you'll miss canada day (july 1)

(there isn't much canada day stuff in montreal)

due to the anti-Anglo moving day conspiracy, I hear

(joeks)

we're here. just wandered around rue st-denis and ate pizza and had our credit card rejected at the grocery store five minutes after it worked fine at the pizza place. serious tourism begins tomorrow.

I got hella lost driving thru Montreal a couple weeks ago

p sure you live in america, you were real lost

It's an island, just take any road for long enough and you'll get out or end up in the water

i might be in montreal on the 4th

we fappin or what

yes! will ilxmail you flops when i know for sure

we ate at petit alep tonight, it was really good

yes!!

are you having a good time?

sorry the weather has been shitty... this is usually the good time of year, weather-wise, but this has been a bummer summer.

what are you doing next? need any suggestions or anything?

we are having a great time! weather has been pretty good imo, yeah it's been cloudy but it hasn't been rainy or sweltering so that's ok with me. the main touristy things we haven't done yet are go up mount royal (because of the cloudiness) and parc jean drapeau (also because of the cloudiness), also we have tickets to the insectarium but haven't done that yet.

i guess we mainly need suggestions of less touristy things to do, like neighborhoods that you can walk around and see cool things and then find a good restaurant to eat at.

obv there's tons of that right around where we're staying but it was also fun going over to wherever the marche jean talon and petit alep are and just walking around

have you done the jean-talon market then a picnic in jarry park thing yet?

oh. there ya go.

i would also suggest a stroll around the parc lafontaine environs.

have you done old port? you can walk around there and get a lobster roll out of a shipping container at muvbox!