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Welcome to marvellous Montreal, the largest city in Quebec province. While Montreal, as part of Quebec still has only one language French as its official language, English is more widely spoken here than in Quebec City. While there are many historical buildings it also seems to have more of an English architectural influence than Quebec.
And it has the Inside Walking Network which is an incredible 22kms (approx) pedestrian passageway which is undercover, sometimes underground, sometimes overground but always inside, to enable Montreallers to conduct daily activities without being hindered by the weather. Locals view it as a transit system. It is quite astonishing. It's a series of passageways, escalators, stairs, doorways and open indoor spaces, decorated with murals, advertising and artworks and lined with shops, markets, courts and 'places'. There's even an ice skating rink in one area. It's like an underground city.
Montreal is somewhat more eclectic than Quebec City, not quite as contemporary as Toronto, not quite as 'grand' as Ottawa but it's vibrant.
There's lots of festivals, street entertainers, beautiful floral arrangements (stunning actually), a real gastronomic diversity and it seems to have a noticeable Mediterranean influence with people more flamboyant and arty than other cities.
Notable Montreal things :
- It was the site of the 1976 Summer Olympics with a very unique main venue and the site of the world Exhibition in the 1970s.
- It hosts a round of the F1 motor racing championships each year and we travelled part way around the circuit but only doing a leisurely 30km/hr in the coach (our driver pulled out a helmet to wear, LOL)
- Montreal has a structure titled the biosphere where various environmental research is conducted.
- Montreal is a variation on Mount Royal which is the city's highest point.
- The city is divided into neighbourhoods with each neighbourhood having different street lighting.
- Montreallers are avid cyclists and there are many dedicated cycle ways (650kms) and cycle parking stations/posts. The considerable number of bicycles for hire around the city are known as 'bixis', a cross between bike and taxis.
- A very large percentage of Montreallers rent with many of these buildings having external stairways. Such is the level of renting, 1 July is designated as 'moving day' when the mayor provides free drinks and pizza.
- The municipal government has a Department for Fashion.
- As salt is put on the roads in winter many cars are rusting.
- There is a 'community car' system in place for use by residents.
- Municipal government has dictated that any events or festivals held on public land must be free.
All in all a lovely city although we only had a couple of days to get a feel for it.
And Montreal sees the end of our Eastern Canada coach tour. Of the 30 people on this tour, 8 others are continuing onto the Western Canada coach tour and the Alaskan Cruise as we are. The other 22 have departed on different tours, cruises etc with APT and so we said farewell this morning before we departed for Calgary.
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