Montreal: Cities within a city

My second day in Montreal and I still haven't quite comprehended what I have dubbed "The French Thing". Everything is in French. Even the newspaper. 

My friend Lucie, who I am staying with, works near Old Montreal. Or as I like to call it, Paris 2.0. I spend a few hours walking through Old Montreal and its cobblestone streets. There are lots of cafes and restaurants, galleries, souvenir shops and boutiques. It was a scorching day so my path was decided by where ever I can find some shade. For a while it's outside the Notre-Dame Basilica. It looks like a smaller version of Notre Dame in Paris. Lucie suggested I go in, but rain is forecast for my remaining days in Montreal so I'm saving any indoor activities for then.

One open square is lined with cafes. All the menus are in French, with a small translation underneath. The chairs at the tables are the same style I saw so often in Paris. It's an eerie feeling to be in one place that so strongly resembles another.

After walking the length of Saint Paul Street a couple of times I spy a couple with a really tasty looking sandwich. I ask where they got it and they give me the cafe name and tell me it's somewhere at the other end of Old Montreal. So back I go. I search, give up, and start looking for other lunch spots when I find it. It's a buzzing little cafe with barely a spare table. I just want take-out and there seems to be a little system happening for that. I can't read the signs (in French) but just get in line. The menu is also entirely in French. Except for one phrase: "Get real food here." Thanks for my three weeks in France last year I can understand the ingredients in one of the sandwiches so choose that one and then find a nice park bench under some trees. And boy, what a sandwich: cajun chicken, red onion, mango, guacamole...nom nom nom.



After lunch I headed to Saint Catherine St, one of the main shopping streets and also on Lucie's List.  Stepping out of the metro station I couldn't believe I was in the same city. The city centre was just like any other city centre and Saint Catherine St was lined with all the usual names: Gap, Tommy H, The Bay etc. Was I really only a few minutes from those cobblestone streets?





From Saint Catherine St I walked to Place des Arts, a popular spot for festivals in the summer and also on Lucie's List. I walked around for a little bit until a public art project caught my eye. A series of musical swings had been set up along one of the streets. Every time the seat swings, it makes a note and sounds rather like a wind chime. Apparently this is all being recorded and will be performed at the end of project. I joined the fun and sat on one of the swings for a while. It seemed to be only adults.

At 5pm I met Lucie at her work. I was craving an ice cream so we found one in the Old Montreal and enjoyed that before catching the metro to Parc Jean-Drapeau. The park is split over two islands. There's not a lot of open space so it's always a shock when you suddenly come to a swimming pool, restaurant or the circuit used to host the Canadian Grand Prix. When the cars aren't racing the track is open to cyclists and rollerbladers. There were plenty of both out.

We walked around to the river and spend sometime lying in the dying sun and enjoying the view back over the Old Montreal.