Law & Society Blog

After an eye-opening trip to Toronto earlier this year, we just got back from Montreal. How can one not like a city where the neighborhood parking lot advertises its ISO 9001 certification …

… and the local theater stages Descartes’ “Discourse on Method.”
Other random observations:

• Canadian immigration officials actually welcome you to their country. What a radical concept. Passing through US immigration on the way back had the (now) familiar 1980s USSR look & feel.
• Thanks to Michele and Al Kinik from An Endless Banquet, we found Cluny, a cafe that serves seriously impressive sandwiches in a cool steampunk setting.
  
  If only we had such a place in Midtown Manhattan. No, strike that, if we did, it would be mobbed 24/7 and the staff would be so snooty that I couldn’t have more than two beers for fear of losing my temper.
• The tasting menu at Toqué! is good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Toronto’s Splendido.
• In sharp contrast, the home-made ravioli at L’Express are hallucinant. (Note to self: Don’t ask for poutine in a French restaurant. Bad form.)
• Hotel Gault is a great place to stay if you like minimalist decor.
• Starbucks employees join the pro-union picketers in front of their shop and then run back in to serve their customers.
• People are polite in a slightly unreal way. Drivers don’t honk. Cabs give way to unarmed pedestrians (don’t try that at home). Waiters don’t roll their eyes when explaining the menu. Furniture shop owners follow up on a request to ship stuff to NY promptly and by email. Scary looking, beefy guys tip their hat and apologize for stepping in your way on the sidewalk.

Technorati Tags: canada, travel, montreal, cluny

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