Montreal in Dublin

14 comments

1. I don’t know.

   The buildings in the background behind the bus look almost as nice as the buildings in the picture.

2. And is that an NDP ad I see over the door? 🙂

3. NDP stands for National Development Plan, part of the EU-sponsored money that has helped Ireland modernize its infrastructure, particularly transportation. The NDP purchased Euro millions of buses, among other things, and put billions into the country’s M-road system, meaning you can now drive across the country on a largely straight, four-lane motorway, rather than a labyrinth of single-lane country roads. The former are great if you’re short on time, but the latter are best for seeing the country and getting lost, a particularly fun way to see Ireland!

4. Very surprising to see even a Montreal ad. I lived in London for over a year and not once, ever, did I see an ad for Toronto. In Europe, travel agencies typically only put up posters of Canada’s wilderness — Rocky Mountains, forested beaches, that sort of thing. The entire mythology over there is that Canada is still wild and free, so go see it. Cities usually get short shift, especially Toronto, which has little appeal. Why visit Toronto when you could fly to New York instead?

   It’s kind of like how in Canada there is still the stereotype of Grand Olde England – few Canadian tourists would consider a visit to Birmingham to see modern architecture, or look kindly upon a poster pitching the urban environs of Manchester. If you want urban, you go to London, right? Stick to castles, universities and Roman ruins when outside London, eh?

   In New York, ads for Montreal are far more common than ads for Toronto. This is logical engouh, given the appeal of the history, language and culture of Quebec. Toronto Tourism does post a few ads in New York, but they are falling on deaf ears (or is it blind eyes?) My analogy has always been that Toronto can be compared to Manhattan above 14th St/Queens, while Montreal is more like Manhattan below 14th St/Brooklyn. New Yorkers don’t hang out in midtown or Queens, which is why they don’t want to visit Toronto.

5. Francois> I’m in Galway right now — the roads outside of Shannon, where I flew into from JFK, were M-class and I felt like I was in Ontario, if not for driving on the left. Then the roads get a bit more curvy towards Galway, but lovely.

   For me, the same as taking Highway 2 vs the 401 back to Winder (er, minus the castles, rolling hills, WB Yeat’s houses, sheep, cute Irish towns, etc)

6. “My analogy has always been that Toronto can be compared to Manhattan above 14th St/Queens, while Montreal is more like Manhattan below 14th St/Brooklyn”

   You need a new analogy, ami. This one is obsolete.

7. Remember, I’m talking tourist stereotypes here. From Toronto Tourism’s site:

   ————————————–
   You know the feeling you get when you come across an amazing menu and want to order every dish? That’s what it’s like to be here. Literally, Toronto’s cultures offer an unparalleled variety of spice but we take fusion to a level far beyond cuisine. Find beautiful architecture of the city’s settlers alongside modern, sleek, gold-tined skyscrapers.
   —————————————-
   What do Torontonians love about Toronto? That’s a long list but topping it would be our diversity. Two transit tokens can take you from one country to another, passing along the way through the quaint neighbourhoods that make up our intimate metropolis.
   —————————————-
   Toronto is one of the safest cities in the world. We’ve earned our reputation as a clean, peaceful city thanks in large part to the professionalism and dedication of the city’s emergency service agencies and personnel.
   —————————————–

   Sure sounds like Queens and Midtown to me. Now, from Tourisme-Montreal:

   ——————————————
   Sway to the sultry sounds of a jazz club, or philosophize the night away in a fancy cigar lounge. First thing you know, it’s morning. Time for a bite. Good thing restaurants stay open until everyone’s gone to bed—and, let’s face it, that never, ever happens.
   
   ——————————————-
   Nestled between mountain and river, Montréal’s compact downtown core vibrates to a world beat. This is where Montrealers live, work and play—there’s no 6 p.m. exodus to suburbs unknown.
   
   ——————————————-
   At night, Montréal catches a second wind and the action shifts over to comedy clubs, porto, martini, and wine bars. Weekends start early, as every Thursday night the bars and terrasses along Crescent and Saint-Denis Streets and Saint-Laurent Boulevard fill up after work for the traditional 5 à  7—a misnomer, really, because they’re usually carried on well into the evening at favourite eating spots. By then it’s clubbing time until the wee hours as bars and clubs have their “last call” at 3 a.m.
   ——————————————–

   Sure feels like a SoHo/Village/Wburg vibe, with maybe a little Chelsea extension. I think it’s fair to say that as far as tourism cliches go, the analogy still holds. I’m all for changing perceptions and raising Toronto’s overseas image to Montreal’s level, but there is a lot of inertia out there.

8. I know you don’t read Torontoist, Shawn, but take a look.

9. Air Transat’s service to Montreal ex Dublin is a new service for 2008 and thus in need of promotion, whereas they’ve been flying to Toronto for years.

   Promotion of Quebec in Ontario – I get flyers every so often in the Star (sometimes two identical ones in the same issue)

   National Development Plan:
   http://www.ndp.ie/docs/NDP_Homepage/1131.htm

10. uSkyscraper> You’re right: Toronto does sound lame when they put it like that. How do we make them stop putting it like that?

11. I actually found quite a few Toronto bound advertisments when I was living in Rome… they always had contests to win trips to TO on packages of toilet paper and occassionaly the cereal boxes. I think it must be the strong italian connection in Toronto, which makes enough sense.

    Otherwise – I used to live in Boston and there were endless advertisements of montreal up, same as here in london – there was a huge advertisment up in Trafalger Square a while back for Montreal. Though Toronto does get some coverage here, usually by way of zoom airlines. Though by far the strangest thing I’ve seen is hundreds of London taxi cabs plastered with advertisments for alberta – always tended to make me cringe…

12. I`ve met with so many premature statements about Toronto but one should experience it profoundly what does it mean to become a part of that city and it`s cultural life. I think that it provides to its inhabitants all the opportunities to achieve their social goal and this is the most important thing. As a realtor in Toronto I`m very grateful to that city for everything I`ve achieved and for the fantastic people living here.

13. Hey Shawn,

    The best Toronto add-age I’ve encountered was in Jamaica. AirJamaica advertises three main destinations, Toronto, New York and London. Not only was it cool to see big billboards of cold wintry Toronto, on the side of unfinished highways cradled by the tropical lushness of the island. But it was also fun to see Toronto included in this Jamaican ex-pat triumvirate.

14. Wow–when I was in Dublin the whole place was covered in ads for Toronto and cheap flights to Toronto. The Irish all seemed love Canada and Toronto especially. I was there, alone, and when looking for things to do I saw an ad for a one-man play ABOUT Toronto, so I went, and spent a while after the show chatting with the Canadian-born Irish actor who had moved back to Dublin permanently, to put on one-man shows written by a Torontonian playwrite.