Montreal
========

Montreal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world.
Despite that, you can generally manage without speaking any French;
they are accustomed to tourists.

Transport
=========

Montreal primarily uses the metro; it is an entirely underground system.
Entrances are indicated with a blue downward pointing arrow.  The Delta
hotel is between McGill and Place-des-Arts metro stops on the green line.
Train announcements are only in French but signage is bilingual.  Google
Maps does a fairly good job with Montreal, at least in broad outlines.
It gets the details a bit wrong.

Tickets for the STM (https://www.stm.info/en) are valid on both busses &
metro (but not local rail which is a different system that you won't need
to care about unless you're staying in a suburb).  Travel to and from the
airport is a special $11 fare which includes 24 hours of travel.  You can
use a credit card to buy fares from a big orange machine; while you can
pay on the bus, everybody will look askance at you for slowing them down.
You'll get a credit-card sized piece of card with an embedded antenna;
you can break it by folding it, and it is not recyclable.  While you could
buy a plastic OPUS card, this will not be a wise investment decision.

From the airport, you'll want to take the 747 bus to Lionel-Groulx, go
down into the Metro and catch a green line train towards Honore-Beaugrand,
getting off at McGill.  For getting back to the airport, you will again
need to buy an $11 ticket for the 747 bus.  If you're travelling, say,
Thursday evening, you might want to buy your special $11 ticket on
Thursday morning, use it to travel around the city and eventually catch
the 747 in time to catch your plane.

I would not recommend driving in Montreal.  It is confusing and expensive.
I'm going to take the train from Ottawa, but taking the train from New
York is a 11+ hour ride.  I'm told it's very pretty!  There are also
coaches (Flixbus / Greyhound / etc) but I have no experience with those.

You can rent a bicycle by the minute: https://bixi.com/en/
Scooters are probably not available to rent during winter.

Drinks
======

The closest brewer to the conference is Benelux.  They don't open until
mid-afternoon, but the Provigo grocery store across the street sells
their beer if they're not open.  It's not generally legal to drink on
the street; take the beer back to the hotel before opening it.

Other worthwhile breweries include Dieu de Ciel, 4 Origines, Saint Bock,
Brewsky and McAuslan (aka St Ambroise).  Don't be afraid to use the
metro to visit them.  There are many pubs on Crescent and de la Montagne
streets; most will serve local beer.  Cans of beer are readily available
at corner shops (referred to as "dep", short for Depanneur).

Molson is headquartered in Montreal.  It is not usually considered
local beer.  There are also more widely available Quebec beers like
Boreale and Unibroue whicha re worth trying.

For spirits, you can try Pub L'île Noire, but most pubs will have a
decent selection.  If you get a chance, try sortilege or ice wine.

Food
====

Montreal prides itself on food.  Classic dishes include poutine, smoked
meat and tourtiere.  As a major city, there is plenty of international
food.  Montreal and New York have different styles of bagels from each
other and much ink has been spilled on the subject of which is superior;
try Saint-Viateur or Fairmount for a fair example of Montreal bagels.

There is also fierce competition as to whether Quebec, Ontario or
Vermont produces the best maple syrup.  You should probably find a
Cabane a Sucre / Sugar Shack to form an opinion of your own, eg
https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/urban-sugar-shack-spring-restaurant-sainte-helene-bistro-terrace-montreal/

Outside
=======

We're going to be there in March.  Temperatures are likely to be
in the -10C to +20C range.  There may still be significant piles of
snow to be seen, but the sidewalks will be clear.  Montreal has an
underground city (RESO) which has shops and restaurants, as well
as being a sheltered route between office towers and the metro.
There's an entrance at Union street, just two blocks from the hotel.
https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/guide-underground-city-shopping (yes,
that is a chunk of the Berlin wall in the picture)

If the weather is clement, Mont Royal is a popular destination, but it
can be icy and not much fun at this time of year.  The Lachine canal may
be a better bet, or you can walk or cycle on the Formula 1 circuit on
Ile Notre Dame.  It's not the Nurburgring; while you can drive on it,
the speed limit is 30kph.  A more unusual route would be the Samuel
De Champlain bridge Multiuse Path which is some of the best tarmac in
the city (but ends on an unsurfaced path that connects to the Formula
1 circuit).

The local sport is hockey.  The Habs are jostling for a playoff spot, so
tickets are expensive ($200 minimum).  The Colorado Avalanche are in town
on Saturday 22nd; otherwise you should be able to watch a game in a pub.
Women's hockey is gaining in popularity, and the Montreal Victoire are
playing Toronto at Place Bell at noon on Sunday 23rd.

St Catherine, St Laurent & St Denis are the major shopping streets.
There are markets at Atwater and Jean Talon.  The Vieux Port area
is full of tourist tat (but maybe you want a sweatshirt with Montreal
written on it).

The Biodome and Biosphere are both worth a visit.  There's also a
planetarium, the Musee des Beaux Arts and the botanic gardens.  I like
the Archaeology museum.