seat38a

That is true, I totally forgot about the paid guided tours that are offered at the Chateau.

seat38a

Things We Did In Montreal Day 2


The first thing on todays agenda was heading over to Schwartz's for their famous smoked meat sandwiches. We went down to the basement garage and once we were up on the ground level where cell signal was available, I punched up Schwartz's Deli and followed the turn by turn direction. Street parking was not an issue, but I did have some issues figuring out how to pay for parking. I did pay for parking but to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure I paid for the right spot where I parked our rental car. At this point I figured I'd risk it and we headed over to Schwartz's across the street.



There was only a few people waiting ahead of us and after about 5 minutes of waiting we, along with the people ahead of us were seated together. Tables here are communal and definitely not a place for people with social anxiety issues. When it came time to order, I ordered three smoked meat sandwiches, two pickles, coleslaw, french fries and three diet cokes. Had I known how big the pickles were, I would have only ordered one. Sodas arrived first followed shortly behind with our order all served together. I really liked the smoked meat. Unlike pastrami which I think is way too "cured" flavored, the Montreal style smoked meat tasted way milder but still well seasoned. The sandwiches already came with mustard on it. At first we didn't think we would be able to finish the overstuffed smoked meat sandwiches but we managed to finish everything. The coleslaw was so good that my mom ordered another one. When it came time to pay, my dad took out his credit card but our waiter told us that they were cash only. So I handed my dad the CAD I had to pay for lunch.

As we headed out of Schwartz's Deli, we noticed that a line had formed along the wall of the restaurant. We lucked out big time by arriving when we did. From what I have read and seen on TV, the wait here at Schwartz's Deli can easily be 1 hour plus. We walked back to our rental car and the first thing I did was check to see if there were any parking tickets on the windshield. Either we lucked out or I paid the parking meter correctly. I still don't know which one it was.


The next place on our agenda was Mount Royal. According to couple of articles I read online said that Mount Royal was not to be missed when visiting Montreal. I punched up Belvédère Camillien-Houd into Google Maps and followed the direction given my the app. Well, at first the directions took me into some neighborhood on Mount Royal and ended on a dead end street. I checked and found different address for Belvédère Camillien-Houd which took us to the correct location. From Belvédère Camillien-Houd, you get a nice view of non downtown Montreal along with Autumn foliage. Just as we were finishing up taking pictures and taking in the scenery, a tour bus pulled up and offloaded a bunch of tourists along with their tour guide. All of a sudden, what was tranquil was transformed into noisy shouting of what I'm guessing was explanation of what they were looking at. So at this point, we knew it was time to go.



The next stop on Mount Royal was the Mount Royal Chalet, which according to the reviews I read said it had spectacular views of the city. Well, all I can say is that the reviews did not lie! We parked our rental car, paid for parking and walked the trail up to Mount Royal Chalet. The distance from the parking lot to the Chalet isn't that long maybe a quarter of a mile if that. While the view from Mount Royal Chalet is of downtown Montreal and the Saint Lawerence River in the distance. Everyone who visits Montreal should definitely visit Mount Royal, especially in the fall when the cityscape in the distance peeks out of the autumn foliage in the foreground.



Since we were starting to run out of time on parking, we headed back down to trail to the parking lot. After some consultation with my parents, we decided to check out Montreal's Little Italy neighborhood. Once again, I punched up Google Maps and followed the directions into Little Italy. I found parking on a residential street and tried to figure out what the sign said. From what I could figure out, we could park until 4PM after which it was by permit only. The neighborhood street that we parked on pretty much epitomized "Autumn in Canada." The homes had the wrought iron curved staircases along with the street lined with trees with leaving changing color and the sidewalks covered with leaves.


We only had about 40 minutes before 4PM so we didn't do much here in Little Italy other than walk around a bit and then went inside Milano Market before heading back to our car. We found couple of cafe's that were busy with what looked like locals but due to the parking situation, we were not able to go in and try out what the locals were having.

More pictures from Schwartz's Deli
More pictures from Mount Royal and Montreal's Little Italy

seat38a

Single Night In Ottawa



Before leaving Montreal, we still had couple of places that we needed to visit. We checked out of our hotel, Intercontinental Hotel Montreal and drove over to Old Montreal. We parked the car across the street from Place of Justice at a substantially higher cost than we've paid for parking so far and then crossed the street over to Place Jacques-Cartier and Old Montreal. While Old Montreal did have the old world feel to it, I didn't feel it was as charming as Quebec City was. After walking around and taking pictures we headed over to the Bonsecours Market, which unlike the Saint Lawerence Market in Toronto, felt more like a suburban shopping mall inside. Just as we were about to leave the market, we ran into a maple syrup store so I decided to take this opportunity to buy some real Canadian Maple Syrup to take back home. My mom also ended up buying a bunch of small maple syrup bottles for her employees back home.




We got back to the car and punched up Fairmount Bagel into Google Maps and followed the direction to the bagel store. Just as were about to leave Montreal, I've finally got the hang of paying for parking so I got the number off the street and went up to the kiosk to pay for parking before walking across the street to Fairmount Bagel store. We went inside the store where we were greeted by two employees behind the counter. I told them that we flew all the way from Los Angeles for their bagels which seemed to really make them happy. One of the two employees told me that the sesame seed bagel were just coming out of the oven so we should take those. I told her I wanted a half a dozen but my dad jumped in and said why not a dozen. So I changed the order to a dozen sesame seed bagels which was bagged in a paper bag but we were also given plastic bags to store any leftover bagels to keep them fresher. Fairmount Bagel is also a cash only business so stop by at the ATM machine before visiting. We sat down outside and noshed on couple of fresh out of the oven bagels before grabbing some lunch before heading on out to Ottawa.

Ottawa ended up being nothing more than a overnight stop before leaving the next day for Niagara Falls. While we did consider visiting Parliament and Rideau Hall, we ended up having dinner with my dad's friend and heading back to our crappy hotel the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel & Conference Centre Gatineau-Ottawa. Whenever the media shows the Canadian Parliament on TV, they only show Parliament Hill and really never the surrounding area and the rest of Ottawa. I was really surprised at how busy and built up Ottawa was with government buildings and other businesses. I was quite surprised to find out that the greater Ottawa region has close to a million people living in it.

More pictures from Old Montreal
More pictures from Fairmount Bagel

seat38a

Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa





After checking out early from the crummy Four Points by Sheraton Ottawa Gatineau, we headed out towards Niagara Falls. The previous night, my dad's friend told us to take the Trans Canada Highway ONT 7 to Toronto which according to him was much more scenic with fall foliage vs Canada's version of the Interstate. While the ONT 7 was 15 minutes slower, we were told the view was well worth the negligible increase in travel time. While the scenery was stunning, we did end up getting stuck behind semi's moving pre fabricated buildings. We ran into two convoys of extra wide transport and we were able to pass one but the second one was nearly impossible to pass due the lack of any length of straight highway without on coming traffic.

After a lunch stop in Toronto, we finally arrived at our hotel for the night, the Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa. The valet attendant gave me a ticket and told me to give it to front desk and then we walked away. I popped the trunk and began removing our luggage and only when the valet attendant caught my eye and saw that I looked annoyed did he ask if we needed help with our luggage. Well since everything was already out of the trunk, I told him no and I also put the cash I had on hand to tip him back into my pocket.

There was no line at the mobile checkin part of the front desk where I was greeted by a very cheerful employee. I gave her my name and showed her my CC and ID and right afterwards she thanked me for being a Marriott Rewards Gold Member. I was given keys to our room along with a bunch of coupons and stuff which are part of the resort fee. I was also given two coupons, one for the appetizers up at the concierge lounge and the other for free breakfast for Gold Members. I was told to enjoy our stay and then directed to the elevators which btw works really awkward here. The furthest two elevators only go up to certain levels of the hotel but the button for calling the elevators will call an of six elevators. If your room is on a floor that is higher, and if the elevators with the restricted levels arrive first, then you have to press any floor inside the elevator to send it to another floor and then press the elevator call button again so one of the 4 outer elevators that go up to all floors arrives. I even asked the front desk if their was a trick to calling the outer four elevators and I was told that there was no other way than to send the furthest 2 elevators up to another floor and then push the elevator call button again. This hotel opened in 1998 and you would think in that 19 year period, this issue would have been resolved.



Once we arrived at our room, the curtains to the window was closed. The first thing I did was throw the curtains open and in the back I heard my mom gasp. We had an absolutely perfect unobstructed clear view of the falls from our room. After sitting around just enjoying the view, we decided to cancel our reservations later in the evening at the Skylon Tower since we already had a spectacular view from our room. The room itself was any standard two queen Marriott room but two bottles of water were in the room, which btw is part of the resort fee I paid. Inside the bathroom, the extra amenities that I requested via the Marriott App was already waiting for us.


When it was time for the appetizer at the concierge lounge we headed up to the floor where the lounge was located and let ourselves in with our room key. An attendant was at his desk collecting the coupons given at check-in. I told the attendant that I needed to pay the $15.00 fee for the the third person and he said not to worry about it and welcomed us into the lounge. The lounge is small but we were able to find a table for ourselves before heading over to the appetizer buffet to make ourselves a plate. The window seats with the view of the falls were already taken and an unofficial waiting list had been created for the window tables. Pretty much everyone in the lounge were retired seniors, and many of them were in the lounge dressed as if they were going out to a fancy dinner. Lots of bling on the ladies and ties and jackets on the men. My guess was that some of them might have been making this their early dinner with the bottle of wine they ordered.


At the buffet station, there was one hot item and a bunch of assorted cold items such as cheese and crackers, chips, assorted dessert, fruits and veggies. Beer and wine were available for sale billed to your room. Two fridges, one with bottled water and the other with assorted canned sodas were available for self service. The hot dish on offer today were mini spinach pies and it was really good with the dollop of sour cream!



In the morning, we headed down to breakfast just as the restaurant was opening since we needed to eat and head back to Toronto for our flight back home. The Mortons Grille restaurant also doubles as the breakfast buffet in the morning. This wasn't made clear anywhere so we did have some issues trying to find the place. The hostess gave us a table by the window and when our waiter arrived, I handed him our breakfast coupon before heading over to the breakfast buffet. The buffet was substantial with both hot and cold and an omelette station. After the breakfast buffet at the Chateau Frontenac everything felt a bit bleh. I can't complain for breakfast that was given to us for free(for two), but the flaky buttery pastries at the Chateau Frontenac has ruined me.

I used the Marriott App to check out and then called down to have our car pulled to the portico of the hotel. After double checking that we had all of our stuff, we headed down to leave. I'm glad for the Marriott App because the line at the front desk was LONG. I handed my valet ticket to the valet attendant, and he gave me the car keys and then walked away! Again, the money for tip I had in my hand went back into my pocket and then I went ahead and loaded our luggage into the trunk myself. I'm starting to think the valet's at this hotel don't give a crap about tips or they've been stiffed too many times that they just assume everyone is going to stiff them. I don't know but I sure wasn't going to tip for the service from the valet attendants. BTW, parking isn't free here at the hotel.

More pictures from Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa
Pictures from Niagara Falls Fallsview area

seat38a

United Express UA3400 YYZ-ORD First Class aka Business Class



After going through pre check via Global Entry, we headed up to the Maple Leaf Lounge on the F concourse. When we arrived, breakfast was still going on and the offerings were pretty dismal. What was on offer made me long for the breakfast setup that are offered at United Clubs. Around 11PM, the breakfast was cleared and the lunch items were brought and the self serve bar was opened up. Many thirsty lushes, including myself rushed to the liquor and beer tap to pour ourselves a drink. I saw one guy fill a water glass all the way to the top with Vodka before returning back to his table. I joined the lush crowd and poured myself and my dad a double Chivas Regal over rocks before joining the line that had formed for the food buffet.

Two soups were on offer along with two types of salad and edamame. Assorted bread with butter and chocolate chip cookie was the only dessert option. The food wasn't that exciting and other than the cookie, I left everything on my plate after tasting it. When the United App showed that our aircraft landed, we gathered up our stuff and headed down to our gate. Even though we had already cleared customs and immigration, the boarding agents wanted to see our passports as well so we had to get out of Group 1 boarding and rejoined at the end of Group 2 once the three of us found our passports. This was the first time the three of us had ever been on a E175 aircraft. The interior seemed roomy but I did not like the asymmetric overhead bins. I was in seat 1A and I was barely able to put my backpack in the bin above my head. The only pre departure beverage offered was water on this flight.



Once the usual demonstrations and announcements were made, we departed on time and taxied directly to the runway without any other aircrafts ahead of us. We entered the runway without waiting and power down the runway to Chicago. Once the FA's were released, the first class FA closed the galley curtain and I'm guessing prepped for inflight service. This was the first time I've seen the curtain used on a US Carrier since 911. Drink orders were taken and shortly afterwards, a male FA from the back brought the snack basket to first class. He offered the basket to me first and I grabbed a bag of chips. He looked at me and gave me the "Thats it! You kidding me" look so I grabbed another item. Then he gave me the "oh hell I know you want more" look so I grabbed two more items which seemed to finally satisfy him. He smiled, I smiled and I thanked him before he moved on to the other passengers. My gin and tonic followed shortly and I sat back and enjoyed my bag of chips and my cocktail. Refills were offered but I declined.


When the first class FA was passing by, I asked her if there was any stroopwafel aboard and she said she would go check. Shortly later, she returned from the back galley with two stroopwafel for me. The 1 hour flight went by quickly and my parents slept for most of the flight. My dad was completely passed out from the whisky and red wine that he had at the Maple Leaf Lounge. We approached into ORD from north of the City so I had a clear view of Chicago from my window as we came into ORD for landing. While approaching our gate, we did have some traffic jam but in the end we were still early into ORD. Based on the announcements that were make, the crew aboard our flight was New Jersey based and I have to say they were one of the best inflight crews I've had. I read on here about the terrible and apathetic EWR based crew so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the crew were based out of New Jersey.

More pictures of Maple Leaf Lounge and United Airlines Flight UA 3400

seat38a

United Airlines UA 592 ORD-LAX First Class

After getting off UA 3400, we headed directly over to the United Club near gate B6. My boarding pass was scanned first and the agent asked me if I had any guests. I told her that I was traveling with my parents and then she said that she needed their boarding passes as well. At first, I was like ... then I realized that she was probably checking us in under my United Club membership instead of under international premium cabin access. Since it really did not matter, I thanked the agent and went up the escalator to the main club. The last time we were at this club was in 2015 and since then it has been renovated and now includes hot food. During our visit, creamy chicken pasta was on offer.

We found ourselves seating before heading over to the buffet to make ourselves a plate for lunch. The pasta was way overcooked but my parents seemed to like it. While I do like the bread on offer in United Clubs, the rolls can really use a little heating up. Two heaters for soups were at the buffet, but only one was on offer. The rest of the salad bar and items were the same as any other United Club and really not worth mentioning.


After lounging around the club and enjoying couple of glasses of wine, we gathered up our stuff and headed to our gate when the United App notified me that our aircraft had landed. Unlike last week when we were running through the underground connector between B and C concourse to catch our flight, today we strolled through since we had plenty of time. When we arrived at gate C9, our Boeing 757 300 from SFO was already at the gate and offloading passengers and luggage. Once the gate lice started to gather and got in line, I figured it was time for us to do the same.



Boarding started a little bit behind schedule but once it began, everything moved smoothly vs the almost 10-15 min wait in the jet bridge at LAX a week ago. We turned left once inside the aircraft and sat down at our seats at row 1. These seats made the same creaking noises as the one on UA 660 a week ago. My mom went with water and I ordered a vodka and cranberry for my pre departure beverage. While we were enjoying our drinks and waiting to depart, the aircraft door at the front galley opened and catering came aboard to load the first class galley. Once the galley was catered, one of the 2 FA's that would be working in first class began prepping for service later in the air. Too my untrained eyes, all I saw was a lot of opening and closing of carts and storage bins and things being moved from one to the other. There must have been some logic to all the commotion which I'm guessing only FA's know.

Once boarding was completed, the manual safety demonstration was performed before the cabin was prepared for departure. We pushed back from gate C9 ahead of schedule and after the engines started, we taxied to the runway and departed without any delay. I think I've said this before but I'm surprised how much I've lucked out connecting through ORD. For an airport which has TWO out of the US 3 operating a hub out of, departure has always been smooth for my flights without any delay or being stuck in a long line for takeoff.



As soon as the chime went off in the cabin, Tony the Purser on UA 592, began his announcements. Shortly afterwards, the second FA came to the first class galley and began preparations for todays meal service in first class. Tony came through the cabin taking drink and dinner order. My parents and were the first to order and the option available today was the pasta or the cheeseburger. Since I've been drinking since the Maple Leaf Lounge, I decided to go with ginger ale to drink with my cheeseburger. My dad also ordered the cheeseburger and my mom went with the pasta dish. The second FA came through the cabin with hot towels and followed up shortly afterwards and collected them. Warmed nuts were delivered next along with the drinks that we ordered with our meals.




Shortly after the drink and warmed nuts arrived, meal trays with our choice for dinner were hand delivered two at a time by the FA working in the galley. My tray contained the cheeseburger, a separate plate with the condiments, toppings and the cheese a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls. Dessert was a slice of berry cheesecake. By the time the first few rows were finished with their dinner, the two FA's were still serving meals and drinks to the back rows of first class. Once Tony was done with the drink orders, he came through the cabin with the red and white wine and offered them to anyone who wanted it. I took a little bit of white wine to end the meal.

Once our meal trays were cleared, there was really nothing more to do since the inflight BYOD and WiFi were having issues on this flight. I even tried to get some sleep but just like on UA 660, the seat was way too uncomfortable for sleeping. All I could do was browse through the inflight magazine for entertainment since I was counting on the BYOD movies for this flight and didn't download anything before the flight.


Before arriving into LAX, I ordered a club soda from Tony. Others in the first class cabin seemed to have the same idea and Tony was all of a sudden busy serving drinks again in first class. We landed in LAX ahead of schedule and taxied to terminal 7 and pulled right into our gate. I've read about the dreaded "waiting for a gate" at terminal 7 but so far I've been fortunate enough to have avoided it.

At that ladies and gentleman concludes this trip report. I'm actually heading out tomorrow, Christmas Day to Vancouver and returning at the end of the week on Amtrak's Coast Starlight. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

More pictures from United Airlines flight UA 592

theshaun

Nice report. Thanks for sharing.

I'm baffled by your claims for needing cash as much as you did, especially in Toronto. I rarely keep more than a few 20's in my wallet and they last for weeks.
What actually gets to me is the fact that the US has been so slow to adopt PIN and chip tech the way we have in Canada. Even when I do get to use PIN in the US, I'm still asked to sign the receipt. And don't get me started on restaurants where the server still takes my card and disappears somewhere to swipe it for processing, where as I'm used to the server bringing the wireless card terminal to the table now.

seat38a

Thanks for reading! In Toronto, cash only was at the noodle restaurant in Chinatown and at the bakery inside the St Lawerence Market. The rest of the cash only places were in Quebec and Montreal.

somemale

Loving this Trip Report so far, especially since Toronto is where I'm from! It's nice to see first time visitors appreicate the city as much as I do. I surely do miss it... this picture in particular, since I live in the building on the left (whenever I am back in TO every 3-4 months).

It is quite strange how you had multiple questions about it being a Fall TR, yet your positing in December. Perhaps it is your awesome pictures that distract everyone from the text?

Looking forward to reading the rest. Great style and perspective!

somemale

Well done by not being taken aback by the service at Chinese restaurants!

Great observations about the Ethnic Town's in Toronto. China Town and Korea Town are indeed extremly small compared to other North American counterparts, but similar to how SoCal has places like San Gabriel, Montery Park, Arcadia etc, Toronto has a huge ethnic population in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), with Chinese being the largest. There is a larger Korean Town north of Downtown Toronto as well. To be honest, Chinese food in Chinatown is average at best. There are many Hong Kong level Chinese restaurants in the GTA (and to me, exceed in some areas as I find the Seafood cheaper and fresher in Canada compared to Hong Kong) that you can try to venture out next time if you ever return. My overall take on this is; Chinatown was established long time ago for immigrants to be able to survive and make a living. But as time goes on as you have a new wave of immigration where people are coming with 'plane' (no longer boats) loads of money, they bring with them the need for more luxurious or higher quality Chinese restaurants. That's when you start having Chef's from Hong Kong come over to bring thier expertise. As the more affluent Chinese people tend to live in the suburbs, that's where you'll find better Chinese restaurants. IMO it's very similar to LA downtown Chinatown vs some of those places that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

nequine

Thanks for an enjoyable trip report to read.

I can't wait to get back to Toronto myself next year, its been too long between visits!

atsak

Enjoyed reading a tourist's impression of my home town; also appreciated the look in at Montreal and Quebec City. Don't really use cash often at restaurants myself, though not surprised Chinatown is an exception and there's a burger joint in the west end of the city that's cash only I know. I've spent time in Montreal but not very much in Quebec City - perhaps time to take the kids on an excursion there in the summer. Thanks much.

seat38a

The whole trip report is up and I hope you enjoy the rest. Thanks for reading!

seat38a

I hope you enjoy your trip as much as I enjoyed mine!

seat38a

Just got back from Vancouver and was really shocked at how many people in the rest of Canada have never been to Quebec City. Yes definitely you should go to QC. Such a wonderful place. I glad you enjoyed reading the report.