Photo: Montreal over river at sunset © Depositphotos.com/rabbit75_dep
If there’s a city that reflects an eclectic culture, a flair for fashion and the arts, and a genuine joie de vivre, it’s Montreal. It’s not surprising that I chose this cosmopolitan city as the setting for my mystery novel, False Impressions.
I get a pang of nostalgia whenever I visit Montreal. After all, it is my hometown. In my younger days, I’d spend weekends shopping along Saint Catherine Street, attending live concerts at Place des Arts, and checking out quaint boutiques along the cobblestones streets of Old Montreal. Memories like these stay with you forever.
Also engrained in my mind are historical landmarks like the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, McGill University, and Mount Royal—a large hill that overlooks the city from more than seven hundred feet high. The view from the top is spectacular—day or night!
English and French are the main languages spoken, though four million inhabitants of Greater Montreal represent more than eighty ethnic communities. The cultural diversity extends to the variety of eateries. From gourmet to traditional, the choice of restaurants and menus is vast. No visit is complete until you’ve tried poutine—a French-Canadian tradition of fries, cheese curds, and gravy.
The hot summers set the stage for this City of Festivals to play host to film, comedy, music, and other events, including the International Jazz Festival and the International Fireworks Competition. Montreal also holds the annual Canadian Grand Prix and is home to the legendary Cirque du Soleil. With winter comes the hockey season and watching Les Canadiens—aka the Habs—on ice at the Bell Centre.
The fastest way to get around and to avoid traffic jams is to ride on the Metro—the subway system. If time permits, you can stroll through the Underground City. As one of the largest interconnected complexes in the world, it boasts twenty miles of tunnels and connects the subway, shopping malls, hotels, banks, and other sites.
And did I mention the choice of delicious restaurants?
One visit to Montreal just isn’t enough.