O Canada

[Guest Grenouille]

When you think of great places to take a vacation I'm sure Quebec City, Quebec, Canada must pop into everyone's mind. Anyway here's a look at what a consumer can expect based on what I experienced.

 

Money-Awesome! Nearly 57% exchange on my US money. So far Canada trip 2K2 is good.

 

Lodging-Chateau Frontenac-An awesome place to stay in the heart of downtown Quebec city. Damned expensive though, but I wasn't paying for the room. A normal room will give you two beds, good size bathroom, the usual shit and a TV with PS2 hookup. A great place to stay if you have the means.

 

Food-Probably the best part of the trip. Eating in the small restaurants downtown were great with a good variety of food from around the world especially Italian and French. Try the crepes(thin pancake) for breakfast, head to McDonalds for lunch where you can get a Poutine(Fries, gravy & cheese), and finally head to Normadin for supper with pretty much anything you'd want. One thing is for sure. You won't go hungry. I'd also suggest St. Hubert, another chain restaurant found all over the place.

 

Shopping-Outside of downtown is a huge three floor mall called Place Laurier with pretty much the standard stuff you'll find in the States, but also with a few of my favorites. One such store is Zellers, a type of Canadian Walmart which is your basic department store, but I love the place. Future Shop is great for electronics. They had the Sopranos box sets for $80 Canadian, which is the same price as here in the States. I picked up the three seasons for about $150 US. I also found that the WWF isn't all that popular in Quebec. At least by the amount of stuff the stores I went into had. These places had huge shelves full of the action figures and other crap they sell, but unlike the US, these selves look like they were just stocked. If you want to walk in and buy a series that came out in 1998, go right down to the Toys R US at the mall and you can have that series about four times over.

 

Try to speak French with the Quebecois or they'll just look at you like an idiot and make almost no effort to speak english with you. Despite encountering a few assholes, having to leave was almost sad, but once you get to the border you get money back because of the high sales tax. You can use the money you get back to buy lots of booze in the duty free store as a memory of your trip up north.

[Guest areacode212]

Mmmm...poutine....St. Hubert....grr, thanks a lot for reminding me of all that awesome food!!

 

Yes, Quebec is a good place to vacation. You get a European-like taste of a foreign-speaking country, only it's cheaper and closer to home.

 

If you're into shopping, you should go to Montreal. I've never seen so many shopping malls in such a relatively small stretch of land.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

I highly recommend hitting up any and every strip club within your reach. Them Quebec bitches are freaky. I went to Montreal and paid 20 bucks for a 15 minute lesbian show that was simply amazing. Hearing a chick talk dirty in French is hella-cool.

[Guest bob_barron]

I just moved here and I love Canada

[Guest razazteca]

so how much is the Quebec sales tax? is it more than 8.25%?

[Guest areacode212]

Is that GST Tax still in effect? I recall it being somewhere around 15%.

[Guest starvenger]

Quebec Provincial tax is at 8%, I think. GST is 7%, but if you're not Canadian you can get a refund for that.

[Guest dreamer420]

GST is 7% and here in BC PST is 7.5%

[Guest Karnage]

It useto be 7% rather than 7.5% for the PST in BC...I wish the taxes were like Alberta.

[Guest dreamer420]

I hated it when they raised the PST here. Are you from BC Karnage?

[Guest starvenger]

It useto be 7% rather than 7.5% for the PST in BC...I wish the taxes were like Alberta.

While Alberta has 0%PST, there is some hidden taxes in the prices, so things can initially seem more expensive there.

[Guest dreamer420]

still, it must be nice to not have to pay an additional 7.5% on what you buy.

[Guest Karnage]

I hated it when they raised the PST here. Are you from BC Karnage?

Yup, I'm from Vancouver.

[Guest dreamer420]

Cool. I live on the Island.

[Guest HungryJack]

Hidden taxes my ass , I live in calgary and EVERYTHING is cheaper here than in EVERY OTHER province. so BWAH.

 

And as far as Chateau Frontenac goes, it's not only a beautiful hotel, but also a historical landmark as it's adjacent to the Plains of Abraham where a major battle was fought by the English and French in I *believe* the 7 year's war.

[Guest treble charged]

Yeah, the whole place around the Chateau Frontenac is really nice. If you walk around the boardwalk in the summer (which is the only time I've ever been to Quebec City), you get a really nice view of the St. Lawrence River.