Montreal!

Opinions:

The top of the mountain is so pretty
Everyone everywhere is insanely well-dressed
Poutine is NOT something you need to eat every day, also it is p good but not mind blowing
The bagels are p great but not mind blowing but I love a bagel so I love them
People are so thoughtful and polite! The bodega cashier offered us a tray of cookies when we bought a Kit Kat! The barista gave us small chocolates with our coffee!
Transit riders are also weirdly polite. People wait in a single file line for the bus and people give their seats to the elderly

ha i have heard people being surprised by the single file line for buses... it's insane to me that people do it any other way elsewhere!

if ur still looking for something to do i'm going to this crazypants show tomorrow night https://www.facebook.com/events/1008873839164941/

oh man youre staying on my block. the guy at that *ahem* depanneur has really nice shirts

Lmao I saw Guerilla Toss in a basement like 3 years ago and it sounded like a group of toddlers having a collective temper tantrum and banging on things and shrieking, which I know is v "old man yells at cloud" but I am largely down w noise music and they just sounded like a bad parody of a noise band, or what a Mom would image noise music to be like. Everyone loves them though and people keep telling me they're so great. Where is the venue?

6502 parc corner beaubien

interesting... i like gay disco and watched 30 seconds of a live set on youtube and it seemed pretty fun

I'm in mile end for the first time in months and a) I miss the mile end and b) my cab home is gonna be $$$ D:

yeah guerilla toss sucked

buck goots was pretty cool though

Omg is winking a ~thing~ here or what??? Like the handsome flight attendant that just returned my head nod with a wink, was he being flirty or just Canadian? The guy at the counter at Patati Patata was also being v winky and also other ppl too.

I mean either way it is completely endearing and it makes me strive to up my winking game!

welcome to flirty montreal

what did you get at Patati Patata? need details

in the event of Harper's demise tonight, is there a party place where I can celebrate with strangers?

no idea if they'll be showing the live results (i sure fucking hope so) but in general ilx should come to my pub quiz night sometime :O
y3 old3 0rch4rd downtown near the bell centre, mondays 830, i ask questions and people have fun

what did you get at Patati Patata? need details

The cutest petit burger with bacon and cheese, poutine, glass of Blonde, and three winks

expressing my profound approval with some winking at u

xxposts Will, i'd be happy to come by. im a grumpy's trivia man myself.

is grumpy's on sundays? I keep meaning to check it out someday! hasn't the same person been running it for like ever? i can't even imagine. i've been doing it for like a year and a half and i have already written like ~2600 questions.

I can verify that the Patati Patata guys are just winky guys, regardless of gender or any other factors. The staff at my local pub also wink at me regularly, which I've come to appreciate.

I've been in Quebec almost eight years and I've also noticed it but not investigated it too thoroughly. It seems, as far as I can tell, to be a genuine and almost conspiratorial show of amitié. Whenever my favourite bartenders wink at me, they seem to be saying "you're a cool dude" or "we're the same, you and I" or "I gotcha covered, good customer."

Non-local anglos (e.g. Concordia students from Toronto who end up working in bars or something) don't wink. It's a "local" and predominately franco thing, as far as I can tell, though local anglos and longterm resident anglos may also wink. I've been here long enough and am integrated enough into local franco and anglo groups that I probably just wink constantly now.

Oh, I know a guy from France who also winks but he has also been here for quite a few years so this may be a false positive.

i want to go back to dep le pick-up :(

i need to decide this weekend if i'm going March 31-April 4; where can i find out what's going on then (besides Jays-Boston at Big O)? Urge or discourage.

or i could wait til June

i'd wait til june imo, strong contender the best month in the city

no exhibition baseball thoough

and really i am looking to change apartments here on July 1 (as i have for about 5 years running)

if you do come in march mtl ilx should crew up and get trashed w morbs at the big o B-)

early april definitely not this city at its best

Aw I'm not going to be here on those March/April dates. But baseball is important to you, follow your baseball shaped heart!
I need to get down to NYC again one of these days soon.

going to be in town again the first week of june, thinking about staying a little longer than usual and doing some wandering

anyone going to be around and want to meet up? (other than the usual suspects, hi rrrobyn!)

Yeah I'll be around but nobody likes me because one time in 2008 I said that Montreal's hot dogs weren't good and someone got mad about it.

you got a lot of nerve showing up in this thread, weinertraitor

i'll also be around!

still not sure what my plans are, trying to communicate with my montreal music festival posse friends to see if they're interested in sharing an airbnb but they're being wieners

i'll be around, i think u can send me a ilxmail or bump this thread

cool, clear off your couch, i'll be over

how hard is it for someone with v mediocre french to find a job for the summer in mtl?

What kind of job - like, dishwashing? Would be very, very hard to get a retail or service job. It's easy to live here speaking little French, but can be difficult to find work. (Hence the reason there are so many freelancers/artists.)

yeah like bartending or something. i can speak enough french to like take orders or w/e but im def not fluent

ya u can work it imo

I knew a guy who got a job as a pool boy there in the summers

retail is def. possible but I would target specific neighborhoods

@flopson can i ilxmail u?

ya!

Oh ok if you have french (albeit not fluency) yeah there are jobs! Summer here is busy.

are u canadian? bartender jobs are often highly coveted (and hard to get) because tips mean $$$.

flopson thanx i msg'd you

i have a fair amount of serving xp but was worried i just flat out couldnt get hired if i wasnt fluent. ive got a very cheap place to live so i dont need to make crazy money so i can work at a slower/less cool/less remunerative place. i just want some kind of income while im living there

i can ask around too! when?

does anyone have a spare room i could crash in this wknd? will buy you whiskey/beer

Gonna be in Montreal for a couple of nights this June. I haven't been to the city in maybe 30 years, my wife has never been. Our only confirmed commitment is dinner at Joe Beef one night. So ... any new/good/updated recommendations of where to stay (leaning toward AirBnB) and what to do? I'd be happy just eating the entire trip, but I think I'd get bonus points with my wife if I planned more than just meals. (Though meal recommendations are appreciated, too!).

best thing to do in montreal is just to walk around imo. walk up the mountain then through golden square mile/mcgill and upper westmount (murray hill park is nice), walk through the plateau (the square formed by mont royal, esplanade, st denis, and duluth is hard to beat, and you could dip further south on st lau) or the mile end (just don't take one of those walking tours lol), walk along the canal... on a sunny day may/june is the best time of the year imo

i don't eat out much and i'm stingy but here are my fav restos. but there are better recommendations from ppl who eat out more + better than me upthread

mile end/outremont: lawrence/larrys (british), lester's (smoked meat), damas (syrian), guillaume (bread)

plateau: nourry's (iranian sandwich + soup, in the lobby of an old converted industrial loft bldg), romados (portuguese chicken, huge lineup), patati patata (tiny burger joint)

downtown: cuisine szechuan

little italy: espresso @ cafe italia and pastry from alati caserta. there are also a bunch of great vietnamese places in the adjacent neighborhood, pho tay ho is the most popular

ndg: chalet bbq (roast chicken), hwang kum (korean)

sud-ouest: AA (poutine, in st-henri), lotus bleu (super cheap authentic chinese)

quite far afield but Pushap (near metro Namur) is one of my favourite restaurants in the city, vegetarian indian with great selection of sweets. you can also stop at the Orange Julep while you're there, and if you really feel like "slumming it" go to a movie at the charmingly creepy dollar cinema in the dilapidated (virtually abandoned, really) decarie square mall