Don'tcha just love Montreal? Above or below ground, there's never a lack of great food, cold beer, and lively nightlife. And if your French isn't up to parlez vous, no worries, English is the second language.
One of our favorite times to visit is late June/early July during the annual Montreal Jazz Festival, which takes over the city like one huge block party for the masses. This is a time when the world's leading international artists ascend on Montreal, performing day and night for 250,000 of their fans.
Catch a few sets on the live stages set up on the streets and in the parks. Purchase a ticket for one of headliners at an indoor concert venue. Or hit one of the clubs after midnight when the musicians meet up with each other to jam into the wee hours of the morning.
On the recommendation of friends, this year we're foregoing hotel points and checking into Le Petit Prince Bed & Breakfast for our stay.
We've been neglecting Canada lately and we apologize for that. So if you need a reason to visit our neighbors to the North and you just happen to be a member of your local garden club, hit up Ottawa in May for the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Each spring 600,000 people from North America, Europe and Asia travel to see the exotic mosaic these tulips create in the city's parks and open spaces. It's actually a perfect trip for Mom's Day.
The tulip festival runs May 2-19, and about 40 hotels in Ottawa and Gatineau have created a special festival package for visitors. The package includes accommodations, a voucher to receive International Friendship Passports, Tulip pins and entrance to some of Ottawa's other cultural attractions.
One of the participating hotels is the landmark Fairmont Chateau Laurier but there was no availability for the opening days of the festival. There was however room at the Hotel Indigo Ottawa for $139 a night which surprised us because we didn't know they had Hotel Indigos in Canada!
You can purchase festival packages at Ottawa Tourism. Hotel prices vary, with rates starting at $85 per night for double occupancy. The booking page is a little fussy, there's a lot of details to fill out and if you forget to select how many adults will be in the room, a pop-up message won't let you go any further.
The best way to do it is just select the dates you wanna go, select the Tulip Package and see what hotels show up.
Listen up, Canadians: Thompson Hotels co-owner Stephen Brandman says "We think of Toronto as a great extension of cities where we already have hotels, in New York and Los Angeles."
Sure, we might be taking him a little bit out of context, but that's what the Thompson Hotel Toronto really is: a test case for expanding the brand outside of the US.
Due to open in the summer of 2009, the Canadian expansion of the Thompson brand will be a 102-room hotel paired with a 340-unit residential project, all with some fairly spectacular features. A few of these include:
floor-to-ceiling windows, 42-inch plasma TVs, private 40-seat screening rooms ... an outdoor skating rink with an ice-side lounge, and on the roof, an infinity outdoor pool and bar, with unobstructed views of Lake Ontario, Fort York and the CN Tower.
We just checked the climate figures for Toronto, since we weren't too sure that roof-top infinity pool will get that much use--and summer temperatures tend to hit a maximum of 80 degrees so we're still not convinced that it's worth it.
We're happier with the outdoor skating rink, though, since the average maximum temp in winter is below freezing. Weather aside, we are keen to see how the first non-US Thompson turns out, and of course, whether or not it can open on time.
Actor Danny Glover has randomly inserted himself in the union fight against hotels for better wages and working conditions.
He's been doing this all over the U.S. with the Unite Here group and he even got arrested in Canada a year ago after protesting inside the Sheraton on the Falls in Ontario.
Glover, 60, had joined three union officials who demanded to see Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc. owner Dino DiCienzo to press for guaranteed shifts and bonuses.
Canadian Niagara prosecuted Glover for remaining in the lobby of the Sheraton on the Falls in Ontario after police refused to file charges.
Because of that, Glover and a few others were convicted yesterday by a Canadian court for trespassing. They were fined C$2,000 and Canadian Niagara wants them to pay for the cost of prosecution.
We're not exactly sure why but Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do" is going off in our heads right now.
There's just a few days left in 2007, plenty o' time for you to get your New Years Eve plans going. If you haven't decided where you wanna be, check out some New Years Travel plans over at Jaunted. You can also check out our New Years Eve Hotels Map where we have listed a few places to stay in cities around the world (Moscow anyone?)
Should you want to venture up North to Canada, The Place d'Armes Hotel & Suites in historic Old Montreal is holding a roaring '20s New Year's Eve party called The Moonlight Serenade. (Last year's party was Casablance-themed.) The party will feature a 10-piece Big Band Orchestra and a 5-course dinner with champagne toast and open bar. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres start at 6:30 pm and tickets cost $200 CDN per person (taxes included.)
The hotel is also offering an accommodations package which includes tickets to the Moonlight Serenade, two nights in a room or suite, continental breakfast each morning, and wine and cheese cocktail each evening. The package starts at $697 CDN.
Vancouver-based Vacant Ready has the scoop on the latest hotel from Kor Hotels saying that the Loden Vancouver is nearing completion but obviously didn't make their expected Fall 2007 opening date.
Vacant Ready says the hotel is expected for March 2008 and has already hired some key personnel--GMs, sales directors, etc. The hotel is also ramping up its Voya restaurant helmed by executive chef Marc-Andre.
While the place isn't open, the website has listed some packages and special rates that will be available such as the 21-day advance rate (book three weeks out and get a special rate) and a special web-only rate. We checked out some rates in April and found a Loden King Deluxe room for $399 CAD a night.
The room is on the smallish side at 350 square feet plus but with floor to ceiling operable windows, a 42-inch LCD TV and heated floors in the bathroom. We just hope Kor Hotels can heed our Hotel WiFi advice in this new hotel.
The Fairmont Banff Springs is hosting a Sports Invitational from January 17-20th and a handful of famous Canadians and non-Canadians will be on hand to participate.
The event, which supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance will be co-hosted by Kennedy, Tim Robbins, Christie Brinkley, Alec Baldwin, and Pierce Brosnan. Also on hand will be Jason Priestly, Darryl Hannah, Josie Bissett, Kelsey Grammer and Leslie Nielsen.
Over two days, the celebs will participate in traditional winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, toboggan, cross-country skiing and dual giant slalom races at the Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard Resort. The made-for-TV event is open to anyone who can purchase a lift ticket.
But if you want to get closer to Jason Priestly (who doesn't? Wait, what? It's not 1992 anymore?), you can purchase a ticket to the Gala to be hosted at the hotel on the last night of the event. Tickets start at $500 CDN per person. The chance to sit with Jason Priestly? Priceless. Or not. A gold table at the gala is going for $10,000 which doesn't actually get you a gold table but rather, tickets for eight guests and the chance to sit with a celebrity and their companion. Call the hotel at (403) 760-1400 if you're interested.
They range from Manolo-wearing fashionista "Susan", to Euro-chic "Pierre", a Parisian designer. Rounding out the roster is "Mike", a hard-working and hard-playing New York doctor; Londoner and party-boy musician "Billy"; and "Dede", the resident method-actress diva.
If your answer is yes, then you're the kind of guest who will find a happy home in the soon-to-be-transformed Opus Hotel Montreal. (To us, this sounds a lot like some other people we know--Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, etc.)
The re-design of the old Hotel Godin has a pretty unique concept: these five fictional characters are the five "muses" who will inspire the design and vision for the Opus Hotel of the future.
Of course, while the Opus Hotel is hoping that their five character design method is going to appeal to a whole lot of customers, they're also frank enough to admit that it might not appeal to everyone. This whole not-keeping-everybody-happy theme seems to be drifting around a lot these days: think Stephen Brandman's comments on bloggers not being their customers.
While we aren't sure if we are more Euro-chic like Pierre or method-actress like Dede, we'd like to think we could fit into the Opus, but begrudgingly like the fact that they won't try to bow to absolutely everyone's desires and become a standard hotel that just anybody could check in to.
The planned transformation at the Opus will last about six months, culminating perhaps with the opening of the Opus Bar and Vodka Bar--possibly in April 2008. The five characters will apparently be inspiring the vivid color schemes and individual fabric touches in the different kinds of rooms, as well as providing the basis and inspiration for a collection of black and white photography.
Let's wait and see if decorating your hotel based on the personalities of five people who don't even exist works out.
Actor Danny Glover has randomly inserted himself in the union fight against hotels for better wages and working conditions.
