A Native's Guide to Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Last updated:
This visitor travel guide was originally written for a
conference
at the Palais des Congrès, the Montreal Convention Centre,
but people still visit,
so it will stay online and get occasional updates.
Try the
Map for this Guide!
Montreal History and Geography
Montreal
(pronounced in English, MUN-tree-ALL, in French
MO-RAY-AL) is an island city founded on the native settlement of
Hochelaga in 1642. Montreal is a city of about 3.5 million people of
various ethnic backgrounds, but mostly French and English.
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Montreal is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river,
le fleuve St. Laurent, the outlet of the Great Lakes
to the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is 30 miles (48
km) long and 10 miles (15 km) wide.
To its north is the slightly smaller sister island of Laval.
The island is on close to a 45° angle,
but most inhabitants treat long streets like Sherbrooke and Ste.
Catherine as running east-west; they may also be unaware that these
streets curve with the crescent shape of the island.
When a
Montrealer refers to east-west, they mean parallel to the river.
Keep in mind that there is an east side and a west side to Montreal;
address numbers increase as you move away from "The Main" (rue St. Laurent).
Nord=North,
Est=East,
Sud=South,
Ouest=West,
so 1000 Ste. Catherine O. is west of St. Laurent,
and not near 1000 Ste. Catherine E.
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Montreal is an island on an angle.
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The skyline of Montreal is dominated by
Mount Royal
(mont Royal), a
mountain (large hill, really) of about 700 feet (200 m). To preserve
the natural skyline, the height of the mountain has been used to
limit
the height of buildings downtown. The top of the mountain is a park
with excellent views of the city.
Getting Around in Montreal
Montreal is a difficult place to drive, especially for Americans.
Taxis are omnipresent and public transportation is good
($3.00 exact change,
(no bills on the bus),
$23.75 for a weekly pass,
or included with a
3-day museum pass),
so leave your car behind.
If you feel you must drive...
Signs are French, lanes are unmarked, and there are many potholes
(in French, pothole is nid de poule, literally, hen's nest).
Speed limits are metric, kph, but if you drive at the posted speed limit
as though they were mph, you would not be going much faster than most cars.
Right turns after stopping at red lights are not permitted on
l'Isle de Montréal (the island of Montreal).
Claiming ignorance of the metric system,
French, and local traffic laws is not recommended.
And never forget, buses always have the right of way.
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The signs are mostly in French only, and parking signs tend to be complex,
with signs for specific hours (24 hour clock) on specific days
(lundi=Monday, mardi=Tuesday, mercredi=Wednesday, jeudi=Thursday, vendredi=Friday,
samedi=Saturday, dimanche=Sunday)
for specific classes of permits
(i.e., not you).
You can ignore a ticket and the city may send a French-only letter to your state asking
for their cooperation, which they will not receive,
although some agencies in Quebec have figured out that English is more effective.
There is always the chance that you will get stopped at the border,
or have your car impounded if you return to Quebec with the same plates,
so pay your fines.
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Can you tell if you can park here?
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Parking meters in downtown Montreal are computerized.
You need to remember your spot letter and number and find a kiosk
at which you can pay with cash or credit card in French or English.
You can't add to your parking time, but you can pay for new parking,
and do so blocks away from your car.
Credit cards are accepted by these kiosks,
but it's always good for drivers to have a supply of quarters and dollar coins
(called "loonies" after the loon on them).
Montreal pedestrians are expert jaywalkers,
which is useful because crosswalks are rare and, if present, ignored by drivers.
People of all ages can be seen crossing busy streets against lights, away from corners,
wherever.
The important rule is for drivers to stay in their lanes,
or rather where their lanes would be if lanes were visible.
If pedestrians are crossing and you have a green light, honk;
yielding just encourages them.
Bicyclists in Montreal are bold and reckless.
Be especially careful around bicycle paths
and on one-way streets,
which often feature bicycles going the wrong way.
Since 2009, you can rent bicycles on an annual ($78), monthly ($28), or occasional (complicated) basis
from bixi,
and your first 45 minutes is free. Requires advance planning.
Traffic lights are different in Montreal.
Like many cities, cars will go through stale yellow lights
and be in the intersection when the light turns red.
Unlike some cities,
a yellow light for crossing traffic often means for cars at a red light to go.
When your light turns green,
So, look both ways before proceeding.
When a light turns green,
Montreal has two surprises for you.
One is that the light may not be green for you
(or that it is only green for you).
Because left turn lanes are uncommon,
busy intersections may have a flashing green (also called a protected green)
which means the cars in the opposite direction do not have a green.
Of course, some drivers don't know that and go through the red light;
they should have read the sign (ATTENDEZ LE FEU VERT - WAIT FOR THE GREEN LIGHT)
and have interpreted it correctly.
The other unusual feature of Montreal intersections is that
when a light turns green, it may only allow drivers to go straight;
this is to allow the pedestrians who did not jaywalk to get into a position
where they have the right of way.
So..... Taxis, bus/Metro, or walk
(it's safe, but watch out for the
pickpockets, it's a real city).
For driving around greater Montreal,
highways (autoroutes) are referred to by "the" number
(e.g., "take the 15 down to the 20").
Maps:
Montreal maps
Fun Fact: If you ask a Canadian what animal is on the quarter, they will say "a moose".
But, it's not a moose, it's a caribou; everyone knows that, sort of.
The dollar coin is called a "loonie" after the loon on it,
so the two-dollar coin is called a "twonie" (vraiment).
The five-dollar bill has a hockey scene on it
with one player wearing Maurice "the rocket" Richard's jersey.
Speaking of the local team, the Habs (after habitant,
in English), Canadiens
is pronounced exactly like Canadians,
despite what inept American sports announcers say
(they pronounce it like Canadiennes, which would be a team of women).
Speaking French in Montreal
Montreal is the second largest French speaking city in the world.
Most Montrealers are bilingual, especially downtown.
Montreal is divided into east and west by "The Main", rue St. Laurent.
Address numbers increase from The Main, so 10 Sainte Catherine E. is just afew steps from
10 Sainte Catherine O. (Ouest in French for West).
To the east of St. Laurent,
Montreal is predominantly francophone, and to the west, anglophone.
A non-Speaker of French can do well by greeting strangers with
a confident Bonjour!.
Chances are that anyone who speaks French will recognize the lack of
French capability and switch to English.
In stores, many clerks will great patrons with "Bonjour/Hi",
indicating bilingual capability;
a response of bonjour will begin a transaction in French.
At the end of a transaction, you will often be sent on your way
with a friendly Bonne journée (Have a nice day).
There is a nice
language guide
with audio-files for many terms
(although with French, not French-Canadian, pronunciations),
and online guides like
About.com are plentiful.
Wikitravel French Phrasebook.
Counting
In French, there is no confusion like fifteen=15 and fifty=50 in English.
Counting in French is not what you would expect in the
language of the source of the Metric System.
- 60: soixante (sixty)
- 70: soixante-dix (sixty-ten)
- 80: quatre-vingts (four twenties)
- 90: quatre-vingt-dix (four twenty ten)
- 99: quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (four twenty ten nine)
(The French Swiss say septant=70 and nonant=90,
but they might still use quatre-vingts instead of huitant=80
or octant=80; it's a form learned in less than a minute in Switzerland.)
In Quebec, numbers (and other words) may not be pronounced like you'd expect.
Seize (sixteen), pronounced like SAYS in France,
can be pronounced like SIZE in Quebec.
Gender
In French,
things have gender,
and adjectives must agree with gender (and number, like in English).
There's no rhyme or reason for the gender of a thing:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|
le bras (arm)
|
la jambe (leg)
|
|
le pied (foot)
|
la main (hand)
|
Many street names in Montreal are named after saints.
- Sainte Catherine (feminine, abbreviated Ste.)
- Saint Jacques (masculine, abbreviated St.)
- chemin de la Côte St. Luc (abbreviated chdela in some online services)
Tu / Vous
In French, there are two forms of "you".
A formal one, vous, is used in more formal discourse,
and a familiar one, tu, is used among friends
and with children.
Different French cultures allow using tu in different situations.
I recommend always using vous unless talking to children
or someone you know well.
Accents
French letters can have accents to clarify pronunciation and meaning.
The cedilla under the "c" in Français
indicates is soft "c" like an "s";
without the cedilla, a "c" before an "a" is hard like a "k".
Accents can change meaning.
Ferme is a farm, but Fermé is "closed".
Pronunciation
In general, it is nearly impossible for anglophones to pronounce French strings of vowels,
or
diphthongs.
Terms like mille-feuille or towns like
Longueuil and Vaudreuil
bring out some subtleties.
Pronouncing French can be aided by knowledge that
"th" is pronounced like "t";
there is no sound like the "th" in "thick" or "that",
and it is common to hear pronunciations like "tick" or "dat"
(while the shibboleth in France is "sick" or "zat").
The letter R is guttural, not rolled like in Spanish.
Letters at the ends of words are often not pronounced
(e.g., travaillent is pronounced "TRA VIE").
On the other hand, the "p" in psychologie IS pronounced.
The letter "h" is always silent.
There are exceptions, so fille (girl) is pronounced FEE,
but ville (town) is pronounced VILL (sort of).
There is no stressed syllable in French words,
but the lack of stress makes typically non-stressed syllables seem stressed.
See the pronunciation section of the language guide.
Guessing
Guessing the meaning of words can be fun.
English contains many words with Latin roots,
so many words are similar.
But many are not:
- Solde = Sale (Sold = Vendu)
- Librarie = Bookstore (Library = Bibliothèque)
- Location = Rental (Location = Endroit)
Odds'n'Ends
- barbe de papa - literally, Papa's beard, but it's "cotton candy"
- trombone - "paper clip" (note the shape)
Eating in Montreal
Maybe a lactose-intolerant vegetarian is not your best guide to eating out.
My favorite vegetarian restaurants are Le Commensal,
of which there is one downtown at the southwest corner of Ste. Catherine and McGill College.
Eating Near the Convention Centre
To look for restaurants near the Palais des Congrès,
try
Google Local for the postal code H2Z1H2.
Very convenient to the
Palais des Congrès
is
Chinatown (MAP).
- Jade Garden:
With kids, I usually end up at the merely adequate buffet at
Jade Garden (67 de la Gauchetiere W).
The selection is huge, including at least 10 vegetarian choices.
- La Maison V.I.P.:
Anyone on a budget would do well at
La Maison V.I.P.
(1077 Clark) where lunch is $3.25.
- Lotte Furama: (1115 Clark (upstairs) 398-3838) - daily dim sum, big place
- Red Ruby Rouge: (1008 Clark (upstairs) 390-1338) - daily dim sum, huge place
- New Maison Kam Fung: (1071 St-Urbain 390-9928 (upstairs)) - popular dim sum
- Deer Garden: (1162 St-Laurent) - nice looking place, never tried
For breakfast near the Palais des Congrès, try
Eggspectation (201 St-Jacques).
For lunch, you might like a sandwich at
Titanic (445 rue St-Pierre) in nearby Vieux-Montréal.
There are many fine French restaurants and bistros nearby in
Vieux Montréal (Old Montreal).
Try the Yahoo Restaurant Guide.
What to Try
Montreal features several unique culinary treats.
These must not be missed, unless you are concerned about your health.
- Poutine:
Perhaps the signature local dish is
poutine:
French fries with cheese curds and gravy.
French fries are different in Montreal than other places -- a polar opposite to Macdonald's
(except perhaps in fat content).
- Bagels:
Montreal bagels,
best eaten hot out of the oven,
are a cross between New York style bagels and pretzels and are covered in seeds.
My favourite is St. Viateur,
but many argue for
Fairmount.
- Smoked Meat:
Somewhere between pastrami and corned beef is
smoked meat,
traditionally eaten as an overstuffed hot sandwich.
You can get great smoked meat,
fries (the best in Montreal), bagels, eggplant salad, and more at the
Snowdon Deli,
but that's a bit of a schlep, so you might want to try
Schwartz's or
other
smoked meat establishments.
- Dunn's:
(1249 Metcalfe,
H3B-2V5
(514) 395-1927)
A childhood favorite of mine for its cheesecake,
of which I'll still sneak a bite,
it has good fries and meats in oversized portions.
Their pasta suits me fine. Open 24 hours,
just south of Ste-Catherine.
- Reuben's:
(888 Ste-Catherine West,
H3B-1E2
(514) 861-1255)
A reasonable place to get smoked meat, I recall.
- Main Deli:
(3864 St-Laurent,
H2W-1Y2
(514) 843-8126)
There's nothing wrong with "The Main", open 24 hours,
so don't worry about the disparity of wait times
between it and Schwartz's across the street.
- Schwartz's:
(3895 St-Laurent,
H2W-1X9
(514) 842-4813)
A must on any Montreal tour, but whether it has the best
smoked meat, I can't say, but my second cousin wrote
The Story
about Schwartz's, and that I've read and can vouch for.
As a vegetarian, I end up eating the fries at Schwartz's,
and I think theirs are awful.
However, waiting in line, being seated at a table with strangers,
the sound of knives being honed every minute, ...,
it all adds up to a memorable experience.
If you don't want to wait, you can go across the street to the Main Deli.
- Snowdon Deli:
(5265 Decarie,
H3W-3C2
(514) 488-9129)
In addition to good smoked meat, Snowdon Deli has the best fries in Montreal
(slightly ahead of Chez Nick). Snowdon Deli also has good Jewish deli,
much of which is fine for vegetarians.
- Smoked Ham:
A classic Québec dish is thick-sliced jambon fumée (smoked ham)
with a side dish of
fèves au lard (beans with lard),
often prepared with maple syrup and/or brown sugar.
If you are north of Montreal in the Laurentians, try
Au Petit Poucet.
- Maple:
Canada has a fixation on maple, its own candy bars, and a gum you'll never forget.
The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada, and from the maple comes maple syrup.
Quebec produces more than half of the world's maple syrup,
and maple is a flavour added to a remarkable number of products.
Maybe it can fuel our vehicles.
- Candy:
Canada has its own chocolate bars, including the mysterious but addictive Coffee Crisp:
Also of note: Glosette raisins (like Rasinettes) and Glosette peanuts (like Goobers), McIntosh Toffee, and Cherry Blossom (nutty chocolate surrounding a maraschino cherry in syrup).
Last, and certainly least, is the inexplicable Thrills gum,
the gum that tastes like soap!
Not surprisingly, it's not easy to find at the local dep.
Switching back to ordinary tourist fare, here is a French lesson on shop names:
Boucherie = Butcher
Boulangerie = Bakery
Charcuterie = Deli
Confiserie = Candies
Dépanneur = Convenience store ("dep" for short)
Épicerie = Grocery
Fromagerie = Cheese
Pâtisserie = Pastry
Many of these serve coffee... strong coffee, as is customary in Montreal.
Fun Fact: There once was a contest to complete the phrase "As Canadian as..." and the winner was "As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances".
If you don't understand it, then you aren't Canadian, eh?
What to Do in Montreal
Entertainment
Place des Arts
is a short walk from the Palais des Congrès,
home of the
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
In summer, this area is the heart of the
Montreal Jazz Festival.
The English language
Centaur Theatre
is nearby.
Le Plateau Mont Royal
The area to the east of Mont Royal,
le Plateau Mont Royal,
has many shops, restaurants, and clubs.
Popular streets in the area include
rue St. Denis
and
boul St. Laurent.
Museums
Old Montreal
borders the old port, which features
many attractions.
If you like museums, you might consider the
Montreal Museum Pass,
which gets you into 30 museums and includes a public transit pass.
Just opened in 2005 is the new
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Churches
Montreal has many churches
including the
Notre-Dame Basilica,
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral,
both a short walk from the Palais des Congrès,
and the prominent
St. Joseph's Oratory
on the west side of Mont Royal.
If you get over to St. Joseph's Oratory, try stopping by the
Parc du Mont Royal,
designed by Frederick Law Olmstead,
and featuring some
beautiful overlooks of the city,
day or night.
Fun Fact: The Olympic Stadium (from the 1976 Olympics) cost over a billion dollars
and is not regularly used.
Politics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Canadian politics, particularly Quebec politics, particularly Montreal politics,
always has a language component, specifically French and English.
Oh sure, a thorough analysis could get into religion, economics, human rights, labour issues, and corruption, and even race,
but the big issue is language.
There have been some interesting results of the past 40 years of linguistic conflict
in Quebec:
- Options for public education in English have diminished,
even for francophones who want their children to have the benefits of being bilingual.
Some anglophone students who do not have a waiver to attend English schools
are required to leave their schools to attend French high school.
English children allowed to be educated in English spend their first
few years of schooling in French immersion.
- Signs must be in French, unless they are in another language than English.
When shown, English must be half the size of French.
There is even a
government office to enforce these laws.
- Despite the language laws, street signs sometimes appear in English,
French, or both, depending on whether you are in an English or French neighbourhood.
Rather than replace illegal signs,
offensive English words like "Road" or "Avenue" following a street name are
covered.
There is some good humour about the language issue:
Montréal's
Aislin cartoons (Terry Mosher) have been a mainstay of Montréal political satire for decades.
Fun Fact: In the 9-team Canadian Football League of my youth,
there were two teams with the same name,
and no one noticed,
even when the Ottawa Rough Riders (nicknamed the Roughies) played the Saskatchewan Roughriders
(nicknamed the Riders).
Mention this to a Canadian and they'll say "How about that?"
Guide to the Guides
Here are some links to other Montreal guides:
Montreal Media
Fun Fact: A room full of Americans can seldom name all the provinces
of their largest trading partner
and friendly neighbour to the north
(or that Canada is their largest trading partner),
and let's not ask for their capital cities
(or which are on islands).
Can you tell if you can park here?
