Did you know? it is a legal requirement throughout Canada to have bilingual signs, both in French and English, but in Quebec the French translation must be a bigger size than the English. We could see this in the ads and the signs we saw there!
Our flight to Montreal was marred by a pilot who was overzealous about 'turbulence' on the way. Consequently, we had the seatbelt sign on for over half the flight and were advised not to use the facilities, while the refreshments were quite delayed. I speak as an ignorant commoner, but the light turbulence we experienced did not seem to justify the degree of caution!
Therefore, we were glad to arrive in Montreal, and after waiting for a full half hour to pick up our baggage, we set off to our Airbnb.
Climbing up the steep, narrow steps to the apartment door, I knocked and an old woman came up to the door after a short wait. I introduced myself, and she said, peering through the thick glass of the door, "I don't know you! I'm sorry, I'm not opening the door! I don't know who you are!"
I went back down to John, and we pondered our next step. We called the host's number on a payphone at the nearby metro station, and he answered! Thankfully, most people speak English as a second language here. I conveyed the reception we'd got at his place, and he apologised profusely, and came right over from the place he was house sitting - turns out he'd been expecting us in July! Thankfully, again, his previous guest had just moved out that day, so we were still able to stay there!
What of the woman who had (not) answered the door, you ask? She was our fellow house guest during our stay there, a fellow Airbnb traveller.
Following this - the most drama we've experienced so far! - we REALLY started to enjoy Montreal.
We had brunch (at 2.30pm) at Chez Cora, a Canadian version of IHOP:
A dinner plate-sized waffle! But all that fruit makes it a healthy meal, right??
We visited the Visitor's Centre, and it was the most helpful one I've ever been to! We felt like paying customers, they were so organised and efficient, and eager to provide us with anything we needed!
We checked out Old Montreal, upon their recommendation. We saw some impressive buildings.
Notre Dame. It was impressive.
We also saw some odd statues:
The explanatory plaque for the following statues
Woman/dog with horse-drawn carriage behind them!
Woman/dog with amphi-tour vehicle behind them!
The man and dog to complete the pair.
We adventurously went up a clock tower at the Old Port, and discovered that the space at the top was very limited, and many others had gone up before us and were there too. We didn't stay very long.
As it happened, a couple of cool events were on when we were in town: Cirque du Soleil (expensive) and a French music festival (FrancoFolies - free)!
I asked a friend for advice on whether to attend the circus, and she advised us unequivocally, emphatically and in no uncertain terms that we MUST go. She would brook no opposition, so we did as directed! And it was quite marvellous! The theme was Kurios, and the costumes were pretty amazing. As for the acrobatic feats, most of the time I wanted them to do fantastic and daring deeds, but then when they were doing them, felt like saying, "You don't need to do that! Really, there's no need for you to be up there - it serves no practical purpose! Please - you'll hurt yourself!" I'm not cut out for a circus life.
We also hung out at the Francofolies for a couple of nights to enjoy some of the free entertainment. It was interesting listening to songs in a language you don't understand (as my French comprehension is not good enough to understand songs)! It really focuses your mind purely on the musical component (obviously). Here are a couple of samples for your viewing pleasure:
Mix4
Even in another language, we were really struck by the depths of the lyrics. If you can't get the sound, this is the chorus of the song, and it goes something like this: "Ba, ba ba ba ba baaaa, ba ba baaaaa, ba ba baa baaaaa..."And a less teeny-bopperish one:
Catherine Leduc
We also went shopping in the underground shopping mall - don't worry, it's legal! It's like, LITERALLY an underground mall. It stretches for several blocks, and is large enough to get lost in.
On our final day we also went for a stroll for a couple of hours around the Parc du Mont-Royal, Montreal's central and biggest park, with wide gravel paths and tons of fit exercisers! We didn't feel out of place at all.
Our next stop in Quebec Province was Quebec City. Again, we visited a really helpful Visitor's Centre, and checked out Old Quebec. I loved it! It's easy to distinguish the region of Old Quebec, as the city still has much of its original enceinte. The fortifications were grand indeed, and made you feel like you were in a true olden city - complete with all the modern touristy bits too, of course. Narrow, cobbled streets and impressive buildings! Behold a couple of them:
A bank building, or perhaps it was a treasury building
Parliament Building
the animated statues in the alcoves of Parliament Building
pointing and everything!!
There were many cannons - many many cannons!
Women's suffrage workers, very tall ones.
Quebec was very late to give women the vote: they did not get the provincial vote until 1940!
Click to enlarge!
Thus ended our stay in Quebec, and we began the long trip across to the maritime islands in the east. Almost as long as this blog post, in fact!
Haha was I the emphatic friend? What a relief that you enjoyed it!!
ReplyDeleteYou were SO FORCEFUL! ;-) PS. I've added a couple more photos right at the bottom of "Banff... to the future" which I think you will LOVE.
ReplyDelete