After spending five days in Montreal I have come to realize that men and women are a lot more well dressed in Montreal than in Toronto, probably due to the influence of the embedding French culture. Secondly, the females in Montreal are in general with very good physique, unlike in Toronto where many are overweight. Thirdly, Canadian French people are very very heat tolerating, because even when it is 32C with high humidity they can still sit in the patio to dine and wine, and ride in their convertibles with the top down driving in the city in traffic jams. 7 out of 10 cars would not turn on their air conditioner in extremely hot weather, but just have the windows rolled down all the way with their elbows sticking out. Old Montreal is a place that is out of this world, at least in the North America context, because it is like a time machine getting you to a European city by just walking down from Montreal down town---Rue Sherbrooke I am referring to. Our hotel on Blvd Rene-Levesque was just 600 metres away from Old Montreal so of course we walked down every single day we were there. The architectures are absolutely breath taking in the whole down town core with buildings and structures dating back three, four hundred years ago. I had been to Montreal 4 times before this trip, but never did spend more than 2 days there each time so this time I had all the intentions to explore the city whole heartedly in a packing 5 day itinerary by foot, car and Metro, their subway system. The underground city, RESO, although not as big as the one here, PATH, in Toronto, but the food courts and shops in theirs are much more glamorous and inviting. I especially like the section going from their union station, Gare Centrale, up to the Eaton Centre. I guess when their winter is so darn long they do need a good underground city for the working class to retrieve into during those snowy months in the down town core. Residential houses are usually quite old, and I do not see thousands of condominium buildings like we have in Toronto. St. Lawrence River is indeed wide and majestic, because even with two big Islands in the middle there is still plenty of room for the giant sea vessels to steer through into the Old Port of Montreal. The two islands are indeed quite big in size, because they have the Casino de Montreal and Pavillon du Quebec on one of them while the other one, Ile Sainte-Helene, holds the Parc Jean-Drapeau like the largest city park, High Park, we have here in Toronto. The La Ronde Amusement park like our Canada's Wonderland is also located not too far from the park on the same island. I can go on and on about Montreal, because I like Montreal, especially Old Montreal(Vieux Montreal), and I would not mind going back for another 5 days of excursion in the near future. Montreal has got to be one of the oldest cities in North America, excluding cities in Mexico, because of the French settlement almost 500 years ago. When I looked around in the city, up town and down town alike, I saw traces of long historical facts that surround the whole city. Cobblestone streets are every where in the city and majority of the houses do not even have a garage, because when they were built they were still relying on riding horses as their transportation mean before Ford. Montreal is a city I can say is truly romantic. Having visited most of the major cities in the USA I can really say nothing compares to Montreal---a modern city, yet accompanied with very special French culture, backed by close to 5 centuries of history. My next trip will explore Old Quebec City in depth, and I will certainly compare that to Montreal to see which one will come up on top for me. Stay tuned! Sorry, Toronto, my home town, but something is lacking here! : )

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