YUL

Quick Tips:

Tipping: 10 to 15% percent is customary for waiters, bartenders, and taxi drivers, calculated from the pre-tax total.

The months of May and October are the most pleasant to visit. October is quite beautiful with the change of color of the leaves for fall. Voltage is 110VAC, using the same plugs as for the U.S.

The current laws require public signs are only in French; however, English is frequently available and spoken.

Best Way To Get Around:

From Dorval Airport, go to the middle island, take bus #204 eastbound; get off at the Rond Point Dorval terminus (the terminus underpass we walked during weekday rush hour, where #211 stops); take bus #211 eastbound to the Lionel Groulx subway station; and determine which Metro you need to take you to your destination. Cost for adult .50. Be sure to get a transfer to continue your journey from the driver on the bus. Surrender your transfer when you enter the Metro, then get another transfer after entering from the self-dispensing ticket transfer before descending to the platforms.

Public transit is very good, while driving or taxi are alternatives.

The rooms are clean and comfortable with a hairdryer, voicemail, ironing board and iron, air conditioning, TV, mini-coffee maker, and ice-makers in lobby and seventh floor. The bed was comfortable to sleep in. There was a drinks dispenser in lobby, and there is a restaurant and bar on premises, though prices are on the high side. Expect to pay around $10 for breakfast and $7 dollars for a large beer. There is a dollar charge for each local call and a dataport in the room.

There is an Italian restaurant called Il Cavaliere.

Doors are locked late in the night, so buzz the night clerk for entrance.

Email: info@lordberri.com

The Metro Berri-UQAM subway station is 200m.

There are big facilities for meetings and luncheons.

The room itself is quite nice and is large, spacious, and clean. The bathroom is likewise bright, clean, and spacious, with handheld shower with a verticle adjustable mount. There is a coffee maker, a mini-bar, (which requires a key for access) high-speed internet, and a view of the city.

It's definitely a nice hotel, but pricey and not really conveniently close to things.

Get there from the Metro Bonaventure station.

This place is a dive. It still has the original everything, except the prices are updated. There are no refills on coffee and their soda size is really small, perhaps six ounces with ice, for the price charged-skip ordering a soda here. The attitude is free. It's worth a visit for the old decor, the food is good, and service is fair.

Hours: Sunday to Wednesday 7:30am to 2am, Thursday 7:30am to 3am, Friday to Saturday 7:30am to 4am

Major credit cards accepted.

Licensed.

Ordering their Rib Steak included a liver steak; Combo is steak and smoked meat. There's also a combo chicken selection. Each of these includes dill pickle, coleslaw salad, French fries, a couple of cut-up pieces of a frankfurter. The food portions are huge, so you won't go away hungry.

People are lined up outside on this very popular place, on the left of the entrance to dine-in, on the right of the entrance side are take-out. All the people in your group must be already there to be seated. Sharing tables are a given unless you have six in your party to fill up. Catering service available.

Hours: Sunday-Thursday 9am-12:30am, Friday 9am-1:30am, Saturday 9am-2:30am

Email info@schwartzsdeli.com

I wouldn't recommend their poutine with smoked meat, as the gravy and cheese flavors mixed in with the smoked meat are very filling. Nor would I recommend their super sandwich, with a large amount of French fries, coleslaw, and pickle; it's just too much food. Go for the small-size sandwich and share an order of poutine. It is fully licensed and open 24 hours.

Breakfast, available anytime for under five dollars, is a deal. I wanted two eggs and two meat choices--one that I was curious about, since it is a meat spread in two very small little tubs, but it was okay on toast instead of the jam. The selection of two eggs and two meat choices wasn't available, so I asked for one egg with two meat choices and add one egg, which is cheaper than two eggs with one meat choice, add another meat choice. This is the best value for a meal here. Eggs benedict isn't on their regular menu.

Sunday brunch is available for $13.95 for the buffet on Sunday 11am-3pm. But I'm more interested in a wider selection of food choices, so I chose the buffet for all I could eat. There's a version of eggs benedict here, fruits, eggs, French toast, pancakes, several meats, including the meat spread, salmon, and several dessert choices. One serving of orange juice and coffee--I requested tea--is included on the buffet.

We could hear dance music below from Le Tube in the section we were sitting in at night.

A version of eggs benedict is available using ham instead of Canadian bacon or back bacon. Eggs Florentine is also available. Our waitperson didn't hear our order correctly but was good at correcting it.

Looks like this place would be serving more alcohol at night than food in the daytime.

Breakfast served Monday-Friday 8am-11:30am, weekends/holidays 10am-3pm; Monday-Wednesday till 10pm, Thursday-Saturday till 1am, Sunday till 5pm

Email marsvenus@sympatico.ca

It took some effort to find someone and took awhile to have it corrected. But in the end as the titles rolled by, it was out of focus.

This is a common problem, not just with this establishment. Most modern movie complexes don't have someone to check that the image is sharply focused on the screen. What amazes me is that people are paying good money and accept a blurry picture on the screen without complaining to management to correct the problem.

Shark Tale was light entertainment with rap music, which if I knew ahead of time, wouldn't have bother going to watch it.

It's all just an act, but what a show. Oh, la la.

Phone: (514) 521-1355

Phone: (514) 866-4963

Monday to Friday 9am-5pm; Sunday 1pm-5pm; closed Fridays during summer

Phone: (514) 398-4086

Jean-Claude Casadesus, a conductor, also performed at a first-rate level with his world-class orchestra, having started his career as a percussionist and learning his way up the career path.

Phone: (514) 842-9951, Fax: (514) 842-0728

There are four floors to view, but the upper two floors were not open to the public. There's a permanent collection and a temporary exhibit. Bags must be checked near where admission is purchased, where you receive a ticket and a visual tag to put on your clothing, indicating you paid Photography is not permitted. Security people are moving about throughout. There's a small, quiet reading room where you may rest. The artwork varies, including photography, mixed media--works made from various materials--and paintings.

Metro Place-des-Arts station

Bus numbers 15, 129, 80 and 55.

Hours Tuesday, Thursday, Friday-Sunday 11am-6pm; Wednesday 11am-9pm

Closed Mondays, December 25, and January 1.

Phone: (514) 847-6226 Fax: (514) 847-6291

Monday-Friday 10am-9pm Saturday 9am-5pm Sunday 10am-5pm; Tunnel hours Monday-Friday 6am-1am Saturday-Sunday 7am-1am

Metro McGill station

Phone: (514) 288-3710

There's a 45-foot swimming pool, Jacuzzi, dry and steam saunas, bistro, and a video TV lounge.

The basic room is about enough space for one bunk bed, with space to walk in and out. There is one clothing hook and one bed sheet folded in room for you to make the bed with one flat pillow. There's no inner locker to secure your stuff other than keeping the door locked. A locker can lock up your clothes and valuables. This situation leaves you exposed. I should have settled for a locker instead.

On the third floor the restroom facilities were out of order, while the second floor had only one of two shower stalls working while the urinals were out of order.

After a few rounds walking around, I settled for watching some TV and falling asleep on the couch, which was more comfortable than falling asleep in the room.

Phone: (514) 871-8341

Later on we visited, but we didn't care for the music nor felt like dancing to any of it and left promptly.

It appeals to a large crowd, but was a disappointing experience when we did finally showed up, not really relating to the music from the baby boom generation with Motown, where singing means being able to carry a melody with lyrics. Each generation doesn't care for the predecessor's and comes up with a different tune, calling it their own while, at the same time, not appealing to the previous generation.

Remember the Beatles when they first appeared in America on "The Ed Sullivan Show" February 1964 with a new look, what was considered long hair at the time, and a new sound that took America by storm, with record sales to teenagers on 45-rpm vinyl singles? The new young generation loved it while the prior generation may not have cared for it. History keeps repeating itself.

Email: info@barletube.com

Phone: (514) 523-4679

Commuter train services are run by AMT (Agence métropolitaine de transport).

We were able to use the STM to get from the airport to our hotel and back to the airport.

Some of the stations are connected on the green-and-orange metro lines via thriving underground shopping malls. Each metro station is decorated differently.

The fares are $2.50 cash, a six-ticket strip is $11, tourist day pass is $8, and the three-consecutive-day pass is $16. There are reduced fares for students and seniors upon presenting their reduced-fare access card.

From Dorval Airport, take bus no. 204 eastbound, get off at the Rond Point Dorval terminus, take bus no. 211 eastbound to the Lionel Groulx subway station (terminus underpass we walked weekday rush hour where the no. 211 stops); and determine which Metro you need to take you to your destination. The cost is $2.50. Be sure to get a transfer to continue your journey on the bus when you pay. Keep your transfer until you enter the Metro, when you feed your bus transfer through the turnstile, and then get another transfer after entering from the self-dispensing ticket transfer before descending to the platforms. Transfers from the metro are good only on the bus until the time expires when you exit the metro system.

Mirabel proved to be unsuccessful, due to being further away from Montréal than passengers wanted to travel, and the airlines eventually pulled out of serving that airport. Dorval was still being remodeled, and exiting from the gate was a long walk through immigration and customs--allow 30 minutes if walking briskly. This is one airport where I recommend checking your bags prior to your arrival, as your luggage will be at the customs area before you will unless you need the exercise.

You may use public transportation to reach Montreál. From Dorval Airport, go to the middle island, take bus #204 eastbound, get off at the Rond Point Dorval terminus (we walked the terminus underpass on a weekday rush hour to where #211 stops), take bus #211 eastbound to the Lionel Groulx subway station, and determine which Metro you need to take you to your destination. Cost for adults is $2.50. Be sure to get a transfer, in order to continue your journey, from the driver on the bus. Surrender your transfer when you enter the Metro, and then, after entering, get another transfer from the self-dispensing ticket transfer machine before descending to the platforms.