I stopped by in Montreal for just over two days before heading back to school and had a few thoughts on the city.
Montreal is an odd place. The city is really beautiful and there are quite a few areas where it feels more European than the rest of North America. The buildings range from being old, classical, and intricately detailed to sleek, modern, and boringly simple. There are hills upon hills, though they’re not nearly as dramatic as the ones in San Francisco.
I was taken by how many small malls there are in Montreal – just downtown – and how walkable most places are. Like Toronto, there’s an extensive underground pathway that is home to many stores and eateries. Additionally, McGill and Concordia campuses are within 15 minute walks from one another and they sandwich a wide array of restaurants, cafes, poutineries, dessert shops, and stores. I love that there are two campuses with distinct personalities within such close proximity of one another because it means that there’s always another option to explore. Also, there are very few cities in North America where I’ve seen so many genuine cafes open late at night, ready to house those late night chats over cake, other desserts, and lattes.
It’s ironic, though. Because of the cold, harsh winters and the incredible downpours of snow that Montreal gets, many of the stores with street fronts are quiet and deserted. They do a pretty poor job of cleaning the streets, leaving slush and ice on the sidewalks, rendering the average citizen an innocent victim of the bow-headed walk, where one focuses so much on the ground in front of oneself that there is no attention paid to the beautiful surroundings.
All that aside, though, the thing that really makes Montreal odd (to me) is the bilingualism. There are French signs everywhere, yet because of the universities, there’s also an incredible amount of English spoken on the streets. You rarely have to speak in French when out and about, as most people can manage in English as well. When you do speak in French, it’s kind of shocking, though Quebec (the province in which Montreal is located) is primarily French with English as a secondary language.
All in all, though, Montreal is a lovely city. I think I would love it a lot more in the summer. It’s definitely unlike most other cities and well worth a visit if you’re curious what the lovechild of a European and North American city would look like.