Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

i figured i'd go to montreal. supposed to have a good food scene. which province or city has the best poutine?


i know toronto is sometimes called one those "a most visit" city, but everyone from canadia i've met seems to be pretty bleh about it.

Crown Royal is pretty good. The Northern Rye Harvest wrought the ire of Scotland when it won "Whisky of the Year" a few years ago.

Canadians tend to see Toronto as a very Americanized city. Like, you'd be better off going to Minneapolis or Chicago or something. Really, every province in Canada is like its own miniature country.

Here's a helpful guide:

My takes as a non-Canadian who visits a lot (Vancouver is close to me, I'm in Toronto/Ontario often for work)

10000% Montreal for good food generally (smoked meeeeeat!), and poutine specifically. Good public transportation, lots of personality (closest thing there is to a European city in North America, IMO), lots going on (world class Jazz and comedy festivals every summer, for instance). Hang out on one of the many terrasses (patios) with some beers in the summer, walk/bike on the namesake Mount Royale), eat a ton. Good times. Welcoming to non-French speakers too (Shopkeepers when you enter: "Bonjour, Hi!" to figure out how to speak to you), you can go to Quebec City if you want some Francophone snobbery ;) Maybe don't go in the winter (but the system of underground tunnels is pretty cool, though due to necessity to not f'ing freeze!)

Toronto is ugly and boring AF, mostly spread out and needs a car (and traffic sucks), and is totally skippable. If you have to be there, there are decent ways to kill time: Kensington Market and the Distillery District are kinda cool, if you wanna go to hipster-town can go to Queen Street West. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit though. The d-bag wannabe New York Finance bro in Jess's picture in the above post is right on for Toronto vibe.

If you're ever way out west, Vancouver is great too. Phenomenal Asian food, good downtown core area, Stanley Park is fantastic, great outdoor activities.

We all kind of embrace our stereotypes.

Here's the intro to a show that takes place in Saskatchewan. The song by Northey Valenzuela opens with "You can tell me that your dog ran away... then tell me that it took three days", a joke making fun of how far away the horizon line is lol



Though the above picture is kind of old and I'm almost wondering if we should replace the picture of British Columbia for Biblical plagues. Last summer they shot way past any historical heat records, combined with draught led to one of the worst years of wildfires ever. And when the rain finally did come, it came down so hard it led to even more death and devastation. And it's only a matter of time before "the big one" hits.

looks like i was right. montreal is the place to go. maybe i'll stop in manitoba just to help shovel some snow before i move on. i do hear vancouver's high asian population means authentic food tour through a large china town. should be fun.

New York city is ALWAYS worth visiting. More so if you can spend LOTS of money.

And if you can't its museums are pretty reasonable.

Seattle but only in the summer. Japanese tourists love Seattle's sushi. It has other attractions too.

i figured i'd have to go to seattle. i have friends in los angles so i know i'm gonna have to go there, but i'm not sure how much of the west coast i'm gonna spend time in.


*edit* also, i need to go to East Wenatchee so i can pick up like 30 cases of snowdrift cider


*double edit* i think new york will have to be it's own thing. i'll start with a week and see if i wanna stay longer. depends on what i end up doing long term.

is this an update from your date?

this is why i'm not going to virginia.

What are you implying people do with their one-eyed trouser snake in VA?

Their cousins. They do their cousins.

Montreal would be best bet for good poutine but only if you know some French or French friends. They hate English speakers.

Toronto is very much just a European style Tokyo without the exclusionist ideals

Yeah, the Province of Québec doesn't recognize English as an official language, so you might get lost.

all of the stuff i've looked in to on the montreal food scene says that's just a meme. actually, the bourdain montreal episode is pretty amazing. they actually talk about the french speaking thing lol.

I agree with New York! I was there a couple years back for New Year's Eve...avoided Times Square for three reasons: (1) too many people (2) no bathrooms (2) no booze. Ended up ringing in the New Year at Stonewall with Anita Mann giving me a lapdance lol. Fun Times. I also loved climbing the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Bowling Green & Wall Street, Katz Deli!, and noshing on knishes with mustard and sauerkraut in Central Park (I hate hot dogs).

I do miss traveling these past 2 years. I finally booked a trip for August of this year, just 5 months away! I land in London on August 21st, then begin a 9 day coach tour through the Cotswalds and up into York, the on to Edinburgh for a couple of days, then down to Liverpool for a 'Beatles' Experience (whatever that means). Next we travel to Cardiff, then back into England with Bath, Stonehenge and London experiences. Then...we have tickets to see ABBA on 9/1, or rather, their ABBAtars.

^

band maid is coming to us as part of their world tour. they have shows the day before AND after my birthday -.-


maybe i'll see them in seattle

Never saw any Montreal memes, was just going from my experience in Montreal and an English speaking let’s play YouTuber who has lived there 30+ years and *** about some day to day life encounters.

typical... the day it came out...

Eh, so Occarina of Time Song of Storms is a time paradoxal song.

Voice acting in triangle strategy a little cringy so far. Hate the obsession with olde English.

I think there is a spy among us, captain!