attention montrealers
Mar. 29th, 2006 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rezendiI should probably create a "Montreal" filter, but eh, too much like work.
A friend of mine writes:
I have some exciting news - I just got a job working for the travel channel doing a series of city guides. My first stop is Montreal. We're looking for interesting - off the beaten path type things about the city - restaurants, nature, museums, etc. Any suggestions?
Yes, here's your chance to shape a TV travel guide to your city. Whadday'all reckon?
eta: in case anyone reads back to this post,
1. Food etc.
There are a bunch of fantastic markets, in particular the fairly
massive Marche Jean-Talon, which is one of many places where you can
pick up Forbidden Cheese (cheese from unpasteurized milk; popular in
France, illegal in the USA, very tasty).
The French influence also shows in all the artisan chocolatiers in
town. In particular, a little place called Les Chocolats de Chloe (375
Roy Est) makes chocolate before your eyes, which ought to make for nice
visuals.
The pre-eminent local dish is "poutine", which is basically a big bowl
of fries, cheese curds, and gravy, with other stuff on top. Yes,
really. And yet somehow Montreal is a city full of slender, attractive
people. No one can explain this. Anyway, a friend of mine calls La
Banquise (994 Rachel Est) "the best 24-hour poutine place in the
history of the human race." OK, there may not be many other contenders,
but it's good stuff.
Also, just a couple blocks from me, a longstanding local landmark is
Schwartz's Diner, which has 1940s decor, surly service, long lines out
front at all hours of the day, and the finest Montreal smoked meat
(another local delicacy) in the world.
There are a ridiculous number of great restaurants. The French
influence again. Toque is acclaimed as the best in town. And Restaurant
Emile Bertrand makes their own spruce beer from a recipe that's
hundreds of years old.
2. Nature/outdoors etc.
There's an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, conveniently
connected to the city by Metro (subway), which features a big
open-space green park, a huge roller-coaster amusement park, and one of
North America's two Formula 1 racing tracks. The coolest thing about
the track is that for the rest of the year, it's open to the public to
use (for free) for cycling and rollerblading. You could probably do
some fun intercutting of stock Montreal F1 footage with the show's
host/hostess blading along the same track. There's a big kayak pool
right next to the F1 track, too, and a (dull) casino in the middle.
Every Sunday in the summer, there's a techno event on the island -
Pique-Nique Electronique - where a few thousand people and a half-dozen
DJs get together and dance through the afternoon below this big
abstract-art sculpture, with a view of the downtown across the river.
Not sure if it starts by early May though.
There are zillions of parks. In particular, Mount Royal, the big hill
that dominates the city, is a single large park (designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park). A cross
atop the mountain marks where the first French expedition erected a
cross some 450 years ago. And at the Belvedere, a grand old building
most of the way up, a big viewing platform shows a spectacular panorama
of the downtown and the river.
And the Botanical Gardens are _stunning_ and huge. Next door is an
Insectarium, which serves up deep-fried bugs to diners one week a year
(not while you're there, I don't think.)
3. Museums etc.
Vieux-Montreal, the old city, is kind of a museum itself, all
cobblestones and majestic old buildings (Montreal is older than
Boston). I'm fond of the Museum of the City of Montreal. The art
museums aren't up to much though. There's a pretty spectacular
cathedral, if you're into that sort of thing.
Oh, and right downtown is the pier that Cirque du Soleil uses to
preview their new shows - they're based in Montreal. Though I think
that only happens odd-numbered years. Also, Cirque has an open house
one weekend a year, and they have occasional circus workshops, and
garage sales where they get rid of old masks, props, costumes, etc. See
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/company/behind/creastudio.htm
Definitely worth mentioning/showing is the Oratoire St-Joseph, the
largest dome of its type in the world outside the Vatican, on the
slopes of the mountain.
Right, and the Biodome - right beneath the huge urban-decay Olympic
Stadium, this dome (which was the bicycle track for the '76 Olympics)
has been turned into a great zoo/natural history museum, with huge
rooms full of different biospheres - a jungle with vines and trees and
sloths and alligators, a local room with beavers swimming around, an
Antarctic chamber full of penguins, and so forth.
Hope that helps.
is what I sent her. (And I pointed her to this post.)
A friend of mine writes:
I have some exciting news - I just got a job working for the travel channel doing a series of city guides. My first stop is Montreal. We're looking for interesting - off the beaten path type things about the city - restaurants, nature, museums, etc. Any suggestions?
Yes, here's your chance to shape a TV travel guide to your city. Whadday'all reckon?
eta: in case anyone reads back to this post,
1. Food etc.
There are a bunch of fantastic markets, in particular the fairly
massive Marche Jean-Talon, which is one of many places where you can
pick up Forbidden Cheese (cheese from unpasteurized milk; popular in
France, illegal in the USA, very tasty).
The French influence also shows in all the artisan chocolatiers in
town. In particular, a little place called Les Chocolats de Chloe (375
Roy Est) makes chocolate before your eyes, which ought to make for nice
visuals.
The pre-eminent local dish is "poutine", which is basically a big bowl
of fries, cheese curds, and gravy, with other stuff on top. Yes,
really. And yet somehow Montreal is a city full of slender, attractive
people. No one can explain this. Anyway, a friend of mine calls La
Banquise (994 Rachel Est) "the best 24-hour poutine place in the
history of the human race." OK, there may not be many other contenders,
but it's good stuff.
Also, just a couple blocks from me, a longstanding local landmark is
Schwartz's Diner, which has 1940s decor, surly service, long lines out
front at all hours of the day, and the finest Montreal smoked meat
(another local delicacy) in the world.
There are a ridiculous number of great restaurants. The French
influence again. Toque is acclaimed as the best in town. And Restaurant
Emile Bertrand makes their own spruce beer from a recipe that's
hundreds of years old.
2. Nature/outdoors etc.
There's an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, conveniently
connected to the city by Metro (subway), which features a big
open-space green park, a huge roller-coaster amusement park, and one of
North America's two Formula 1 racing tracks. The coolest thing about
the track is that for the rest of the year, it's open to the public to
use (for free) for cycling and rollerblading. You could probably do
some fun intercutting of stock Montreal F1 footage with the show's
host/hostess blading along the same track. There's a big kayak pool
right next to the F1 track, too, and a (dull) casino in the middle.
Every Sunday in the summer, there's a techno event on the island -
Pique-Nique Electronique - where a few thousand people and a half-dozen
DJs get together and dance through the afternoon below this big
abstract-art sculpture, with a view of the downtown across the river.
Not sure if it starts by early May though.
There are zillions of parks. In particular, Mount Royal, the big hill
that dominates the city, is a single large park (designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park). A cross
atop the mountain marks where the first French expedition erected a
cross some 450 years ago. And at the Belvedere, a grand old building
most of the way up, a big viewing platform shows a spectacular panorama
of the downtown and the river.
And the Botanical Gardens are _stunning_ and huge. Next door is an
Insectarium, which serves up deep-fried bugs to diners one week a year
(not while you're there, I don't think.)
3. Museums etc.
Vieux-Montreal, the old city, is kind of a museum itself, all
cobblestones and majestic old buildings (Montreal is older than
Boston). I'm fond of the Museum of the City of Montreal. The art
museums aren't up to much though. There's a pretty spectacular
cathedral, if you're into that sort of thing.
Oh, and right downtown is the pier that Cirque du Soleil uses to
preview their new shows - they're based in Montreal. Though I think
that only happens odd-numbered years. Also, Cirque has an open house
one weekend a year, and they have occasional circus workshops, and
garage sales where they get rid of old masks, props, costumes, etc. See
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/company/behind/creastudio.htm
Definitely worth mentioning/showing is the Oratoire St-Joseph, the
largest dome of its type in the world outside the Vatican, on the
slopes of the mountain.
Right, and the Biodome - right beneath the huge urban-decay Olympic
Stadium, this dome (which was the bicycle track for the '76 Olympics)
has been turned into a great zoo/natural history museum, with huge
rooms full of different biospheres - a jungle with vines and trees and
sloths and alligators, a local room with beavers swimming around, an
Antarctic chamber full of penguins, and so forth.
Hope that helps.
is what I sent her. (And I pointed her to this post.)
