The Cat's Out of the Bag!

Pick up a copy of the July/August issue of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine* and you'll notice that the front cover contains the teaser to what appears to be some kind of cheeky story about Montreal. Flip it open, turn to page 52, and you'll find a fetching 8-page spread bearing the same title--"My Montreal Is Better Than Yours"--and penned by none other than "A.J. Kinik and Michelle Marek." Yes, that's absolutely right, this is that very story that we coyly alluded to a month ago in a little piece on Wilensky's 75th anniversary.

Now, before you get all bent out of shape over the gall it takes to blithely proclaim to the world that our "Montreal is better than yours," you should know that this piece is the fourth in a series of such city profiles that our friends at Budget Travel have published over the last several years. The dynasty began with Charlie "Manhattan User's Guide" Suisman's "My New York Is Better Than Yours" back in 2004; then came none other than Clotilde "Chocolate and Zucchini" Dusoulier's "My Paris Is Better Than Yours" in 2005; the following year Budget Travel readers were treated to Dan "Shanghaiist" Washburn's "My Shanghai Is Better Than Yours"; and now we here at AEB humbly present "My Montreal Is Better Than Yours."

We loved the assignment. Behind the cheek of the title, there lay an opportunity to describe a version of Montreal that was absolutely and entirely personal. Okay, maybe it's not "better than yours," but it's definitely original and not at all something you'd find in a guidebook. It's also a pretty tasty Montreal.



Check it out at your newsstand or online and you'll find tons of suggestions about where to EAT, SHOP, and PLAY in Montreal. Stay tuned and we'll tell you all about a special guest blogging stint we'll be doing at Budget Travel Online in July.

Actually, come to think of it, the cats are on the bag, too. They're so upset we're going on vacation without them, they're staging some kind of sit-in on our luggage as I write this.

aj

* If you can't find Budget Travel at your local newsstand, here's a link to the online version of our article.