Merveilleux Montreal

Bonjour all! Comment ca va? Well, last weekend we refined our french skills (perhaps we learnt the basics) and went to Montreal, Canada - another amazing city (tres bien!) well worth the 7 1/2 hour drive. First (just for you Sof) some fun facts about Montreal:

• Montreal is the second largest French-speaking city in the world.
• Montreal has an "Underground City"- a climate-controlled maze of 2000 shops that cover 18 miles. There are 20 miles of pedestrian walkways, accessible from 178 entries. The underground links 10 subway stations, 62 buildings, 8 major hotels, 1,615 apartments, 200 restaurants, 1,700 boutiques, 40 movie theatres and exhibition halls, 2 bus stations, 2 train stations, 2 universities and 1 college. IT'S VERY EASY TO GET LOST IN THERE!!
• French speakers constitute 70% of the population.
• After New York, Montreal has the highest number of restaurants per capita in North America.

Although it rained ALL weekend, without a break, we managed to go and see some sites (c'est la vie!). It really is a beautiful city full of culture and history and french-speaking people - by the way - top points to anyone that can answer this - are Montreal residents considered 'french' or 'canadian'?? Anyways, let's see some pics eh?!

This is the Quartier Latin district, where we stayed. It's the view from the front door of our bed and breakfast. Really nice area full of cafes and the best chocolate cafe in the world (well, we think so).

I just added this photo because Brommles thinks it's a pretty spectacular shot (he took it of course). The olympics were held in Montreal in the 70's and they have now converted the cycling stadium into a Biodome which is pretty cool - 4 North American ecosystems under one roof. This Pirahna was in one of those ecosystems.

This is the St Joseph Oratory. The city is full of amazing old buildings, many of them religious. Look at the size of the Oratory compared to the cars parked below it.

This is the Old Montreal area where we ate dinner. It's full of cobblestone streets lined with restaurants. And, luckily, most menus have english descriptions!

Us at the Olympic Park. That's the Stadium, that big arm thing is a major part of the city skyline. Loving those grey skies!

This was my favourite building - the Notre Dame Basillica. It was soooo nice!!

And there you go.... definitely go there if you're in the area! Au Revoir!