Marc's Guide to Montreal

My friend Marc used to live in Montreal and he sent me this great list of things to do/see during the summit (remember this is Marc writing, not me):

Great location you got! Right downtown. I suggest you limit your outings to three parts of town: downtown, le plateau Mont-Royal, and Vieux-Montreal.

Downtown

Downtown you will not be bored by walking around Sainte-Catherine St.; stay off René-Levesques, where your hotel is, it's the financial district and restaurants/bars are generally not great there. I always like just to walk around and explore cities. I suggest you go check our McGill University: it's a really nice and old campus. Corner Ste-Cath. and Saint-Denis is pretty cool. You have to walk around on Saint-Denis, north of Saint-Cath. You will find good restaurants around there, corner Ontario and Rachel especially (but go with suggestions, if you can).

Speaking of restaurants, I was really poor when I lived there, so you will get the poor man's suggestions:

• for Montreal bagels (they are awesome-- better than New York, if you ask me): La maison du bagel, Fairmont bagel, Saint-Viateur bagel (plateau)
• for Montreal smoked meats (mmm): Schwartz's or Dunn's (downtown)
• good sushi place on Du Parc and Bernard
• if you feel fancy (and rich): L'Express is very French (great food, terrible service), and Toqué! is one of the best restaurants in Canada ($$$$$)

Other than that you should ask around: people are always really proud of giving suggestions in Montreal and there's TONS of great affordable food (lots of bring-your-own-wine, with no corkage fee). However, stick to the Frech-influenced cuisine, it's what Montreal has best to offer.

Le Plateau Mont-Royal

OK, plateau. It's a 20-30 minute walk, but there's a bunch of metro stations and busses (or cheap cab rides, if no traffic). You have to go there, no question. You go North on either Saint-Denis, Saint-Urbain, or Saint-Laurent up to about Mont-Royal Street. It's my favorite part of town (and where I used to live). Lots of great bars and restaurants. Prince-Arthur street is cute and great for shopping. My favorite bars there all closed, unfotunately, but there are a bunch of great new ones.

Bars: for dancing or hanging out 'Le Living' (on Saint-Denis and Rachel, I think) is kind of cool and the Saint-Sulpice (Saint-Denis, just north of Sainte-Cath.) is a huge and kind of cool too in a way.

You will find pubs and bistros just about everywhere, with lots of original beers (my favorite is "Belle Gueule Rousse"). One of the new hot places is Casa Del Popolo, never been there but I heard it's happening.

Vieux-Montreal

As for the Vieux-Montreal, it's such a short walk from where you are that you should check it out. It's best in the summer, but you will enyou just walking around 250-300 yr-old buildings. You basically just have to go south on Saint-Denis and you're there. You can walk around Saint-Paul, Saint-Jean, and Notre-Dame streets. It's a cool little area, but a bit expensive for food and drinks (plateau and downtown are WAY better).

Oh, almost forgot, for a french-neogoth experience try Les Foufounes Électrique (the electrical buns).

Don't forget: Stay off Crescent street!