Montréal

I feel like I haven’t written up a blog for ages! I strangely missed sharing my stories with you guys. I’ve been crazy busy, and still am (currently typing this up on the train- whilst half asleep). 

I had quite a few exams and coursework due in last week, and as usual, left everything till last minute causing me to fall deep into my usual stress mode (which for me, is a phase of denial and ignorance). In terms of how they went, let’s just not go there…

I would have typed up a blog as soon as my exams finished, but on Saturday morning I left Quebec City to do a bit of travelling- how exciting!

So, my friend and I thought, why not make the most of our reading week, and we decided on a short trip to the city of Montreal and then straight off to another big Canadian city- Toronto! We left on the morning of Saturday to do as much as we could fit in, and I must say, we've done quite well so far.

The given view of downtown from the summit of Mount Royal

Montreal. A gorgeous city, with the right amount of everything. It isn't excessive in what it has, giving it a humble atmosphere, also making and it so special. The city is so diverse and probably offers just about anything to anyone. I feel like anyone could find their place in Montreal and fit in straight away. Some parts of the city were really quite eccentric, with unique street art at every turn. In general, it was really quite different to how I imagined it to be, much smaller than what I had in mind. Perhaps I had bigger expectations of the city (in terms of mass, and city life) as everybody would describe Montreal as ‘another world’, and so of course I had mentally prepared myself for this. I wouldn't say I was disappointed in the slightest, but instead, pleasantly surprised and glad to finally travel here. It was quite interesting to see the similarities between my small town of Quebec and Montreal. However, I did feel as though the mentality there was completely different to that of Quebec City, Montreal is without a doubt a much more multicultural and seemingly more open-minded city. 

The subway was amazingly easy to understand, a weekend is enough time, and I wouldn’t call it a crazily expensive city. I also met up with my friend from King’s, which was lovely! Safe to say, he now thinks of himself as a true Montréalais. 

These are a few places I managed to visit,

Mount Royal Park

St-Josephs Oratory

The Botanical Garden and Insectarium

Olympic stadium

Rue St-Catherine

Eaton Centre

Vieux Montreal

In all honesty, by wandering through the streets, we ended up in some really nice places (sometimes dodgy), but I had, and still have no clue where we were.

View from the Oratory

Whether I could see myself living in Montreal, I’m unsure. I guess it just wasn't love at first sight.

Notre-Dame Basilica in Vieux Montreal

It’s now past 8PM, and I am currently on the train towards Toronto, we are spending 5 days there, but minus one as we are planning to spend a day in Niagara Falls. I already have my rough idea of the city, and am bursting with excitement to do some exploring.

I can’t wait to update you guys!

The Botanical garden

Entrance to the Chinese gardens

The Mediterranean gardens