The trip to Montreal is just about over, I'm off to Toronto tomorrow morning for five days, mainly to watch the Raptors get their butts spanked by Australia's very own Andrew Bogut (that's a basketball reference for those non-sporting kids) when they take on Milwaukee, maybe squeeze in some Niagra Falls and possibly a few bar fights, Canadian-style.
Montreal has been a wicked city with everything, from the beautiful Mont Royal with outdoor ice skating on a frozen lake at the top to the hustle and bustle of downtown to the snow-covered parks to the shady sights of dudes breaking into houses out in the 'burbs.
One of the cool things about Montreal is that it's a city built on two languages - French and English. It doesn't sound that strange, but it really is. French, being the official language, rules the signage around the place, but walk into a shop and the assistant will always greet you with a very weird 'Bonjour Hello' - and will roll with however you reply.
Everyone is bilingual in Montreal, but as soon as you cross into Ontario the French disappears, and barely anyone speaks it fluently, and even less do in public.
I've been hanging with a bunch of international students so it's been a very multi-cultural trip, to the point that I've barely had a chat with a Canadian the whole time. We've been to Irish pubs, Mexican restaurants, Chinese ones, hunted for a closed Chilean place, danced our arses off at overpriced, skanky nightclubs, listened to middle-aged dudes in a cover band play Oasis songs, seen taxi drivers punch on, walked for hours on a hunt for the perfect bagel, spent days searching for Montreal's greatest thrift store/op shop/friperie (that's some French/culture for you) and it's all been rad fun.
If anyone gets the chance, visit Montreal. It's such an amazing place and it's so bizarre to have a French-speaking city in North America, it's definitely a must-see.
