General Questions about Montreal??

Question

At the end of Feb., a few of my girlfriends and I are going to Montreal for a week! :) So excited.... Anyways, there were just a few random things I was wondering about and so hopefully someone can help me out a little bit?

First off (and this is probably really stupid), are there fast-food restaurants in Montreal? Like....McDonalds or Pizza Hut or anything like that?

Secondly, how much is gas running these days up there?

Third, none of us know any French whatsoever. Is this something we should maybe look into....like perhaps learn a few key phrases? And if so, which ones???


And lastly, are things (food, clothing, etc) more expensive than in America? We understand the conversion rate of the dollar, but are prices generally the same?

Answer 1

(1) Re: Fast Food: Read AND ACCEPT Kent_Shak's comment, except there are three fast foods you should do while you are here: (i) a Tim Horton's. World famous Canadian coffee shop icon, 3 times better (with 5 times more varied menu) than Dunkin Donuts, (ii) a famous Montreal bagel place, like Fairmont's. Montreal bagels also world famous, smaller but tastier than New York's, and (iii) one of our great "smoked meat/viande fumee" places. Montreal smoked meat also world famous, like N.Y. pastrami but leaner and more delicate in flavour; a great sandwich is also cheaper (than anything like it in the States) -- but if you like spicy brown mustard be sure to bring your own. For some crazy reason almost all smoked meat places have only sweet yellow; other than that only dijon and occasionally hot English is generally available here (and as noted only sweet yellow at smoked meat places).

The Barbeque here absolutely sucks, and if you wish to become gazillionaires come up here and open an authentic Memphis/K.C./Carolina place!! I am serious!

(2) Gas today is 94.5¢ per litre (a little over $3US per gallon). NOTE: In the Montreal way of things gas usually goes up 10-15% every Wednesday or Thursday, and the price declines the same in steps on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Almost no competition between gas stations (although there can be a couple of pennies per litre deviation from one area of the metropolitan city to another). Price is 4-8¢ per litre lower on the Mohawk Indian (Indians are called "First Nations" in Canadian English, by the way) reserve, located just over the bridge from Montreal's southwest side. Such price manipulations would be illegal in the States. NOTE: Montreal city has a very good public transportation system.

(3) You will not need to know French but it is always good, and polite, if you are in the French districts, - which by the way are much more interesting and exciting and charming and sexy and I advise you to stay in one and not in the more English west side, which tends to be overrun by noisy American kids over the weekends who come up just to get drunk and get laid (including American women -- there is a certain amount of observable F sex tourism here) to say first in French: "Pardon me. I am American and my French is horrible." ("Pardonnez-mois. Je suis amériçaine et m française, c'est terrible."). Montreal is also an international immigrant city.

(4) Raw foods: most fruits and veggies a bit cheaper, processed foods much more expensive. Dairy and regular chicken much more expensive; other birds (duck, pheasant, quail, etc) about the same or cheaper. Beef can be considerably cheaper (as I write this one chain selling prime rib roasts for equivalent $US 3.50/lb) but US Customs will not allow you to bring home. Nor will they allow you any of the wonderful fresh bison, elk, caribou, etc. Restaurants: Few medium-priced "family" and "American moderate" restaurants" here and what there are a a bit more expensive with unimaginative menus except for some in ethnic areas. On other hand to eat really great restaurant fare is quite a bit cheaper than at most American cities but be careful not to eat French in tourist traps. Retail off-sale alcohol like in most of Canada much more expensive (although Québec beer prices are the cheapest in Canada by far) but for on-sale most restaurants and bars do not mark up as much as they do in the USA so sometimes the prices there are quite comparable. Clothes more expensive and subject to the 14% sales tax, but several real fashionable clothes places here. Same for most hard goods. But for our high taxes we get our free health care.

OTHER THINGS: As suggested in (3) Montreal is a very, very libertine, tolerant place, much like western central Europe and Scandinavia (our laws are similar), and female "playing" - especially by Francophones - more accepted than in the USA if you are into brief wild hookups (in February it can be very cold otherwise!). Most committed couples in Quebec do not get formally married. And it is Montreal, not San Francisco, that has the largest population percentage in North America of a mainstreamed gay population and all that brings to a great city, but unlike S.F. it is never in one's face. On the other hand Montreal is full of wonderful museums.

Answer 2

1. Here is my question: I have to think this would be less annoying if it were about a sport that I like.. Where you live how many times a day do you get into a conversation about hockey? I would say 1-2 a week. I like football and the cowboys so I don't mind the football talk. I do however prefer the hockey talk 2. Of the people you talk to aboot hockey what percentage of them would you say that you know more then? I'm in Texas so I would say I know 97% more. I have a friend that played for the Texas Brahams and he knew his stuff. 3. Who was your goto person for hockey questions when you were starting out as a fan (no using someone from the intereweb i mean someone you know) My dad I guess. 4. Who took you to your first game? MY DAD:) 5. Were you an instant fan or did the sport grow on you? If it did grow on you what was the turning point when you realized the game is great? I was ana instant fan. I wanted the skates (roller because ponds don't freeze here) and sticks. BQ* Name something that comes up in converstations regualarly that you have to bite your toung every time it comes up not to jump down someones throght? work and work ethics. Some people make claims that they can't back up and it pisses me off.

Answer 3

Loads of fast food. But I concur with the idea that you're doing yourself a disservice if you eat it while there; Montréal has great restaurants. I'm in Ottawa, and we sometimes drive to Mtl just to eat.

This place

http://www.peelpub.com/

has incredibly cheap, and fairly good food if cost is the concern. It's also pretty English. Note the $2.99 spaghetti, $3.99 grilled veggie wrap, etc. Cheap beer, too.

You can get by quite nicely without knowing any French, and most Francophones will talk to you in English anyway the moment you open your mouth and give yourself away as an Anglophone, but learning a few polite words won't hurt -- 'merci,' (thank you) 'bon soir,' (good night), 's'il vous plait' (please), etc.

As for prices: that's all over the place, and it also depends on where in the US you're from. Don't plan on buying CDs, for one; they're almost always more expensive in Canada. Clothes...well, it depends on where you shop. 'Duh' -- sorry; I realise that's a bit too simple. But if you go to H&M (http://www.hm.com/ca_fr/), things will be cheap; privately-owned boutiques are going to be a bit pricey.

Chain stores like the Gap are usually similar to what you find in the States.

Having lived in the States (sorry for assuming -- just seems logical given the balance of the population on Yahoo! Answers) -- you guys have amazing clothing sales that we don't quite see as much of. And a lot of crap stores selling dreadful stuff for, well, very little money. Canada tends to be a bit more middle-class; you don't see so many bargain-discount-clearance-etc crazy cheap sale stores. But the quality's a bit better when you do find a good sale, if that helps any.

Food is a bit like that sometimes, too.

But it's not wildly different overall.

Check out:

http://www.luckymag.com/cityguides/montreal

And

http://www.louloumagazine.com/english/index.jsp

('Canada's shopping magazine...')

This place

http://stores.roots.ca/store.php?sID=151

might be fun for a tourist. Very Canadian, and fairly cheap.

Answer 4

there are plenty of fast-food chains, but you do yourself a great disservice if that's all you do. there is amazing ethnic diversity to Montreal restaurants.

I don't recall the exact gas price (it's been a couple months since I was up there), but it's not that much higher than US prices these days (the kilo vs gallo translation always throws me off)

You can get by fine in Montreal without French. They're used to US visitors. Rural Quebec is a different story.

Things are slightly more expensive, but generally not outrageously so.

Montreal is a wonderful city (although Feb isn't the best time to enjoy it). Have a wonderful trip, and dress warmly!

Answer 5

Almost everything that a tourist needs to know about Montreal is here: http://www.montreal.com/tourism/general.html#Around
Since you're asking, we have the same fast food restaurants here, except Taco Bell (but you'll find it in Toronto).
Tourists do not need to speak french at all, everybody in sales speaks english.
Prices are about the same as in US, except we use Canadian dollars.
Here is a link for the gas price. Take a look before coming here, prices can change everyday.
http://www.essencemontreal.com/index.asp?l=e
February is a pretty cold month, so don't forget to bring appropriate clothes with you. Well... except if you intend to spend all your time in the hotel room! ☺
Have a nice trip!