Blogs from Downtown, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, North America

Today's the flight to Tokyo but not until 3:00pm, so I figured I'd wander around the area of my Hotel in Chinatown in the morning before checking out and going to the airport. Nothing particularly eventful happened, except on one street a shabby man turned and started following me. I can never tell if these type of people are people that have some sort of mental disability or are on some sort of drugs so I continued on cautiously aware of him while going about my business which was just wandering. I feel like he could have been after my phone if it was in my back pocket but i had already removed my phone from my pocket before entering the neighbourhood and put it elsewhere. I entered the supermarket at one point just to look ... read more

Nous voici de retour de ce petit périple et en route pour Montréal ou du moins en un premier temps Longueuil... Ouf, on ne s'est jamais trompés... on a jamais pris le pont pour les USA ! Puis à Longueuil nous découvrons tout de suite qu'Halloween se rapproche... Comme les deux fois que nous sommes venus à Montréal nous n'avons jamais vraiment visité la ville... nous nous décidons un des trois jours là-bas de prendre le métro et d'aller explorer ce que nous ne connaissons pas ! Nous n'avons pas préparé cette visite, et ne savons pas vraiment où nous diriger... C'est alors que me vient l'idée du Bus Hip Hop, il n'est pas donné comme prix mais au moins on fera un tour de ville complet.... Je dois aussi me trouver une boutique qui me ... read more

After our hotel breakfast, we met our guide for the day, Christian, in the lobby for our tour "Facets of Daily Life in Montreal," which is to include the Theater District, McGill University, the Golden Square Mile, and the Underground City (a taste of that yesterday). One of the things that Christian emphasized was the immigration trends, and how that shaped the neighborhoods in Montreal. Christian talked a bit about schools in Montreal; some are primarily Francophone (French speaking) while others are Anglophone, and still others are bi-lingual. In addition there are public and private variations of both. It can be a complex decision for families, but some of the decision is simplified by the constitution, which eliminates some of the conflict. Non-citizens must send their kids to Francophone schools, but English-speaking citizens may choose the ... read more

Montreal 16-18 August 2016 After leaving the 1000 Islands region we drove along the northern side of the very long St Lawrence River. It was a beautiful drive but the rain was certainly following us …. All the way to Montreal. The roads are fantastic in Canada so driving was easy. From time to time we stopped and as we got closer to Montreal the traffic was bumper-to-bumper. Road works were everywhere. We guessed they try to do as much as possible while there is no snow around. We found our next accommodation which was with AirBNB. A quaint little home owned by Jonathan, a web developer who lived next door. It was a 3BR, totally renovated and we were the first people to stay. It was very close to the 1976 Olympic Stadium and a ... read more

Bonjour tout le monde, avec beaucoup de retard, voici enfin les photos de ma première soirée d'Halloween a Montréal. Cette dernière a eu lieu au centre de Montréal, chez des amis dans un appartement où nous étions plus d'une centaine. Donc gros bazard en perspective. 2 jours auront été nécessaires pour décorer l'appartement, et un peu plus encore pour le nettoyer (mais bon ca j'ai pas eu à faire donc tant mieux). je ne cache pas que le lendemain au bureau ça a été un peu dur dur. Bisous tout le monde.... read more