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  • Québec Cheeses (15)

    Local cheeses, all purchased from Montréal. Related: the [l:albums/travel/montreal/poutine Poutine!] pages contain information about fresh cheese curds. Cheese Shops

    • [l:node/1154 Fromagerie Atwater]
    • [l:node/144 Fromagerie Hamel]
    • [l:node/1162 La Maison du cheddar]
    • In a pinch and after-hours - grocery stores such as IGA, Provigo, Metro, Super C, etc. There is bound to be a good place to buy cheese from where ever you stay in Montreal.
    Note that the US has some very strange, bizarre, and restrictive food import policies - see [l:travel/montreal/schwartzs-jewish-deli#comment-5229 Meat, Cheese and US Border Crossings comment] for details.

  • Jazz Fest (29)

    Summer Jazz Festival. More than just jazz. More details at: [l:travel/montreal/montreal-jazz-festival]

    • 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival (6)

      Writeup, along with some video clips also available: [l:blog/2012-07-06/montreal-jazz-festival-2012]

    • 2013 Montreal Jazz Festival (13)

      Pictures and video clips of some of the final four days at the 34th Edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival which ran from 2013-June 28 through July 7. Also included are some pictures from other events going on at the same time. The best shows for me were as usual at either the Blues stage, or the Tropiques/Groove stages next to it: [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/fatoumata-diawara] [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/the-harpoonist-the-axe-murderer] [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/anthony-joseph-the-spasm-band] The pictures below have more info and some video snippet links too. There is also a [l:http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkd3PNh_1yPTqRqrVEGJaa-9tn8C4xyhN playlist of all snippets on YouTube]. And a few more photos, including full size photos, are at the [l:https://picasaweb.google.com/104075696510996624769/2013MontrealJazzFestival?authuser=0&feat=directlink Google Picasa Album] July 9th saw the start of another festival: [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/festival-de-percussions-longueuil-2013 Details on Festival de Percussions Longueuil 2013] opening show. [l:http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx Official Montreal Jazz Festival] site. [l:http://montrealcompletementcirque.com/en/ Montreal Completement Cirque] site. [l:http://internationaldesfeuxloto-quebec.com/en/ International Fireworks Festival] site. [l:http://www.percussions.ca/ Festival de Percussions Longueuil 2013] site.

  • Poutine! (11)

    A dish unique to Quebec. [l:http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20130531-how-the-quebecois-came-to-love-poutine BBC article: How the Quebecois came to love poutine]. Fries, Gravy, and fresh Cheddar Cheese Curds (fromage en grains) make poutine! An exclamation point seems necessary for this dish. The process of making cheese from milk goes through a step that results in curds. These are small chunks of solid cheese that are not yet pressed into molds for the final aging process. Fresh cheese curds only last a day or two, therefore are only available in places where a lot of cheese is manufactured. Cheddar cheese curds are available widely in Montreal, and it is the key ingredient of poutine. Fresh cheese curds are easy to recognize - they will make a squeaking sound when you eat them. From fast food joints to celebrated chefs, there is no shortage of places to get poutine in Montreal. [l:http://www.montrealpoutine.com/ Montreal Poutine] has good information on all poutine places in that city. Poutine fries should at least start crispy, and have sufficient amount of gravy to smother the fries. The run-down looking Poutine Lafleur has pretty good poutine. This is the standalone place on Rue Wellington and not the chain of the same name. Maamm Bolduc was not as good - not enough gravy or cheese - but many consider it one of the best, so worth checking out. Many places that claim to be famous, or are very old diners that should probably have good poutine, do not. French fries may be limp and not crisp, sauce may be tasteless, and they dish may not be warm enough. So for a short visit, just try the known-to-be-good places, do not experiment. La Cantine, closed in 2012. This bistro on Mont Royal had excellent poutine, in very nice surroundings. The fries stay nice and crispy to the last bite. There is a photo provided below, which now serves as a memory only! Surprisingly, some fast food joints have good poutine too - such as La Belle Province. And Frite Alors! has amazing fries, and good poutine too. 2013: Schwartz's has gotten onto the poutine act: [l:albums/travel/montreal/schwartzs-hebrew-delicatessen/schwartzs-poutine]. It is essentially fine as a novelty item, but the basic poutine elsewhere, and the smoked-meat sandwiches at Schwartz's, are both best eaten without anything else added to either dish.

  • STM - Métro and Bus (8)

    Montreal subway and bus system. External link: Photographer [l:https://instagram.com/explore/tags/mtlmetroproject/ Chris Forsyth's #mtlmetroproject]

  • Le Petit Alep (10)

    Great good, awesome ambiance. Near Jean Talon metro station.

  • Marché Adonis (4)

    Excellent middle-eastern grocery store - large selection of fruits, ready-made food, feta cheeses, tzatziki, and sweets. They now have a home page: [l:http://www.adonisproducts.com/pages/accueil_en.asp adonisproducts.com] DISCLAIMER: please note that this web page has no association with the Marché Adonis business. And this site is not in Quebec, so English readers are the majority here, and French may not be understood by most. Thank you!

  • Marché Jean-Talon (8)

    The Jean-Talon market is a couple of blocks east of the intersection of Jean-Talon and St-Laurent, near the the Jean-Talon metro station. Newly refurbished in 2005, visit this place for fresh fruit, groceries, cheeses, bread, fish, desserts. Great food available in the market itself, additionally, surrounding area is Little Italy, which has many good restaurants.

  • Schwartz's - Hebrew Delicatessen (12)

    Absolutely the most addictive food in the world, the best smoked-meat in the world.

Rue Jeanne-Mance Construction

Sun, 2009–May–31
Rue Jeanne-Mance Construction

"... A first step toward completing the Quartier des spectacles, Place du Quartier des spectacles is a public space that covers an area of 7,500 square metres dedicated to festivals. It is bounded by Rue Jeanne-Mance to the east, Rue Balmoral to the west, Rue Sainte-Catherine to the south and Boulevard de Maisonneuve to the north."

This picture is of Rue Jeanne-Mance in May 2009, in the midst of all the construction. This is great - the city is spending $120 million over four years to make it even better for tourists who visit Montreal during the festivals - Jazz Fest being the biggest, and in some years, they even have things going on in the dreaded cold of Winter around New Year!

Chez Schwartz's à côté - inside

Wed, 2009–Feb–04
Chez Schwartz's à côté - inside

Inside of the new (2008) Chez Schwartz’s à côté ("Schwartz's Next Door"). It is for takeout only, but does have a small seating area which is first come first served.
This place is only open during summer rush hours, it seems.

Chez Schwartz's à côté

Wed, 2009–Feb–04
Chez Schwartz's à côté

2008 saw the opening of a new take-out counter.
(à côté de == next to)

While it is for takeout only, they do have a small seating area which is first come first served.
This place is only open during summer rush hours, it seems.

OPUS card and À la carte tickets

Wed, 2009–Feb–04
OPUS card and À la carte tickets

New tickets as of 2008.

It costs CAD$7 to buy the OPUS Card. It is a micro-chip based card, and it is necessary if you wish to buy weekly or monthly passes. OPUS can store multiple single tickets on it also.
The à la carte tickets are paper-based with a magnetic strip. These have no additional cost other than amount of fare.

There are some minor disadvantages with the OPUS card for tourists:
1) Unlike other cities (Boston for example), Montreal is charging a fee to buy the OPUS card.
2) The OPUS card has an expiry date - which is four years. This means that every four years a new card has to be obtained. If your old card has not expired for less than 6 months, you can get a replacement for free at the Berri-UQAM office.
3) Unlike many other cities' cards, the OPUS card does not store cash, so it cannot be used for multiple passengers.

For tourists visiting for multiple weeks, there is no choice but to get a OPUS card since the weekly pass (Mon-Sun validity) will not be available in paper-ticket form. Monthly pass is also only available on OPUS.
For tourists who need only 1 or 3 days passes, or only evening/weekend tickets, there is no need to get OPUS card and you can just buy paper tickets.

One problem for US tourists is that credit cards will not work in the automated machines. While the STM web site claims credit cards are allowed, a bunch of cards I tried were all denied. It was later confirmed in a newspaper report that STM has disabled use of non-Canadian credit cards.

On the bus, only coins are accepted, and only single tickets can be bought.

One very good about about STM fares is that they have many weeknight and weekend options, which are all incredible deals for tourists. These don't require a OPUS card, and can be purchased as paper tickets at the same price.

(click here for the entire post)

Gibeau Orange Julep - Contraption

Sat, 2008–Sep–06
Gibeau Orange Julep - Contraption

The Orange Juice is delivered from the tap connected to the yellow cylinder, which has two pipes coming into it. Very strange contraption.

Gibeau Orange Julep

Sat, 2008–Sep–06
Gibeau Orange Julep

The dome as seen from the street.
Some notes in the Montreal Restaurants List posting.

Spray Painted Paintings

Thu, 2008–Sep–04
Spray Painted Paintings

Quite skillful street artist, using spray paint to create paintings.

Marché Jean-Talon - Fruits Vendor

Thu, 2008–Sep–04
Marché Jean-Talon - Fruits Vendor

Excellent fruit at this (and other vendors). Jean Talon market has much larger selection and quantity of fruits, vegetables, dining choices, oils, cheeses, meat, etc, as compared to the Atwater Market.

Inside a Bus

Sat, 2007–Dec–29
Inside a Bus

Hauling Snow

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
Hauling Snow

After an heavy snowfall, large 10-12 wheelers are filled with snow to be hauled away. Snow shovelers prepare the snow stack, then the pair shown above kicks in. The machine on the right pulls the snow from the ground and throws it into the truck from the top. Both machines slowly move along the street. Process repeated many times, all over the city. Fantastic sight to watch these huge machines at work, on nearly empty streets at night.