A Splice of Europe - Montreal

When I was first looking at planning my trip for 2012, I wasn’t sure if I would make it to Canada or not. However as I was approaching the end of my time in Europe and looking at making plans for North America, I decided that Montreal was a ‘must’ to include in my itinerary, because I knew that as much as I do love the United States, I would miss Europe – and no, Montreal isn’t Europe, but people had told me it is pretty damn close – and those people were right!

If nothing else, go to Canada to go to Tim Hortons - in its original Canadian form

 Getting There

If you’re the kind of person who can handle long distances on trains or buses, then I highly recommend the option I chose – which was to take the Amtrak train from New York City to Montreal. It is long – 10+ hours – however it is absolutely stunning, following the Hudson River through upstate New York, going through some picturesque scenery and smaller towns. The Amtrak train was sleek and modern, it isn’t like 10 hours on an old rickety Czech train. The wi-fi cuts out a little but for the first half of the journey it was pretty decent. If you were to get a flight from the USA to Canada, you need to allow extra hours on either side of the flight as it is international, so really, door to door the train doesn’t take that much longer. You’re also leaving right from the middle of NYC and arriving with an immediate and easy connection to the metro in Montreal.

 
I will note that on both my train up and back, it was a practically full train and people in groups did have trouble getting seated together. They do a pre-passport check at the train station – essentially, they make sure you do have your passport and if you’re from a bizarre country they enquire as to whether you have a visa etc, just to avoid any additional delays at the border. They open up this screening desk up to an hour before the train leaves, so arriving early is in your best interest if you care about where you manage to obtain a seat.
 

Parl-ay voo Fron-say?

I know that this is obvious. For someone who is well travelled, sometimes I am shocked at my own ignorance. But I was genuinely a little jolted when I arrived in Montreal and I was surrounded by French. It wasn’t a case of it being like a secondary language, like the prevalence of Spanish throughout parts of the United States. It wasn’t just hearing people around me speaking French – it was all of the French signage and literature. There are places in Europe that have more English signage than Montreal! There’s a chain burger joint in the USA (which I looooove) called ‘Five Guys – Hamburgers and Fries’ and in Montreal, it was signed as ‘Five Guys – Hamburgers et Frites’. I’m told after chatting to some Canadians that in the state of Quebec, it’s like an intentional act of snobbery. 

This snobbery was something I was a little concerned about. I’d been to Toronto and Vancouver before, and flown with Canadian airlines who have to make announcements in French, but Montreal is all French. Like, walking into shops and being greeted with ‘bonjour’ French, where I would blink and immediately it would be known that I wasn’t a local and that I might be be treated with condescension, just like that stereotype that exists in France, of looking down upon people who don’t speak French. My French is limited to hello, goodbye, thank you, and lyrics from Lady Marmalade.  From chatting to other Canadians, I gather that Quebec City is where you might get some ‘attitude’ for not knowing French, but that in Montreal, they don’t have that same attitude. I cannot comment on Quebec City but I can say confidently that I didn’t encounter any issues in Montreal – sometimes if I was the first one to speak then I would just say hello and therefore establish that I didn’t speak French. If they greeted first, I would just reply with bonjour. If there was ever an issue where I was asked a question (do you have any smaller change, do you need to buy a bag) then I would just say, “Excuse me?” and they’d ask again in English without a bat of the eye.

There’s always something happening in Montreal

A random part of the street celebrations for the comedy festival

Montreal is one of those cities where, particularly over summer, there’s always something going on. You won’t even know that there’s something going on, but you’ll arrive in town and stumble across a parade, a festival, a market, a concert. And it seemed that my ‘stumble across’ was pretty major, and more so just my lack of research resulting in my coincidentally being in town for the Just For Laughs comedy festival – one of the world’s biggest comedy festivals. A whole section of the city was overtaken as a street festival, with various food vendors and free entertainment throughout the evening, including musicians, dancers, magicians and various forms of entertainment. And then there were the actual gigs that you could purchase tickets for. I went to see Adam Hills with a girl I befriended in the hostel – for the non-Australians reading, Adam is one of our more popular comedians and he is absolutely hysterical.  He acknowledged appropriately that as an Australian he can be crude but didn’t try to tailor his natural style. He did this bit where he was talking about an Australian band The Angels and their famous song ‘Am I ever gonna see your face again?’ This song is known for the call and reply which was never a part of the lyrics, never something the band instigated, but which at some point a fan responded with and became a part of a typical live performance. The band will sing ‘Will I ever see your face again?’ And the Aussies reply, ‘No way, get fucked, fuck off!’ Adam was getting elderly couples to demonstrate and all sorts of borderline inappropriate but typical of an Aussie things.

Click here if you want to know what I am talking about - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQ1PEiZ8Eo

Areas of Interest

Biodome - like a giant greenhouse

Montreal is one of those cities which, from a tourist perspective, has very distinctive districts and regions to explore, in addition to any random festivals or events that are going on. My hostel was based in the Latin Quarter, a funky area surrounding the pedestrian only zone of Rue St Catherine, featuring restaurants, shops and bars. The district to the north featured most prominent the Mont Royal Park, ideal for those who are into hiking, biking and the like. Not far away was Olympic Park.

A lot of the districts of Montreal, particularly in the city centre, are connected by a complex underground maze of shopping centres and tunnels. The idea is that during the bitterly cold winters, the people should be able to go about their days and get from work or university to do their errands and enjoy the city without being subjected to the freezing streets. This helps businesses to maintain their customer patronage throughout winter, which helps the economy.

The crowning jewel of Montreal, for me, is Old Montreal. It reminds me very much so of the sweeping architecture and squares of Paris, or even a Viennese or Roman feel. It isn’t like the quaint, twirling cobblestone of old Town Riga or Tallinn. It has a grand feel, where the buildings of note tower over the city, where they meet around scattered fountains and statues throughout the old town, a very European layout.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Run, don’t walk, to Montreal!

If you are from North America and you want to go to Europe and just realistically cannot make it (due to budget or career restraints) then I wholeheartedly recommend that you make it a life priority to spend some time in Montreal.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for the Canadian flags, there are times when I could genuinely believe that I was in Europe – and that all the Canadian accents around me was because of some Canadian festival in Europe causing a mass amount of Canadian tourists to be around. Something about the overall ambience, the culture, the architecture, the city layout.  But beyond this vibe, I found Montreal to be one of the most balanced cities that I’ve visited, in terms of points of interest and attractions. I didn’t spend any money on attractions or museums and I filled a medium pace of four days of entertainment – I wasn’t constantly on the go, but I wasn’t sitting around bored. If you were with friends/the type who meets people at the hostel to go out, then there’s a whole nightlife aspect to Montreal which you could add to your experiences. Plus when you look at the paid attractions – things like museums, the Biodome, Olympic Park tours, cruises – if you’ve got the money to spend, there’s another couple of days or more of entertainment.



Mesmerising fountain in one of the underground malls

The best cities to me are the ones which offer that variety – where regardless of your interests or budget, you can find yourself understanding the magic of the city and the people.