A business trip took me to Montreal recently, and the visit turned out to be quite a pleasant, eye-opening experience.
And it certainly helped that the summer festival season was in full swing and Montreal was rotating through what seemed an unbroken series of outdoor and indoor cultural events. They decidedly make the most of their warm weather up there: which must come as no surprise, given the chill reality of much of the rest of their year.
Restaurants delight in offering tables street-side, continental style, and to thereby make available not only the fresh air but also all else along the boulevards which may interest or amuse. In this, the Quebecois also display a European preference for choosing to see and be seen rather than be shut in among walls and ventilation systems.
Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Square is as perfect a place to sample this ambience as any. Streets leading off from the square offer a delightful bouquet of shops, restaurants and other attractions, plus access to the riverfront area.
Another interesting venue is the Botanical Park (Jardin Botanique). Of massive proportions, it provides a verdant and restful contrepoids to the bustle of city life around it, including a duck pond or two and no end of tranquil benches and convenient picnic tables. The passing scene is genuinely local; you’re likely to be the only tourist to be seen in any direction.
Montreal is in fact divided between French- and English-speaking quarters, each displaying its own unique architectural characteristics. Even the street signs helpfully switch languages. It does definitely prove helpful, however, to have a smattering of French stored in your brain wherever you wander, as French Canadians are renown for their reluctance to speak any other language — at least until they discover you to be American. If you plan to venture farther into Quebec province, you’d best bring along some formidable French ability.
But even the linguistically challenged can enjoy a drive north into the neighboring St. Laurentian Mountains. An hour or so from Montreal puts you right in the middle of a summer/winter recreational paradise reminiscent of Vermont, with lakeside towns, craft villages, ski resorts and the outdoor adventure opportunities that you’d expect from so lush a habitat.
I won’t regret my next Montreal assignment one bit. This has been Nick Yates with another Travel Blog