Utterly random Montreal brain droppings

[James Bond Agent 007]

Here I am in Montreal, and thus, it's time for another of my brain droppings threads, like I've done with Chicago, Winnipeg and Calgary. Got here last night.

1. Airport. This is almost certainly the worst airport I've ever been to. It's haphazardly arranged, nothing is easy to figure out and is a general mess. To get to customs you have to walk, like, 10 miles through all these passage ways, then go down into this big open area to check in with your passport, then walk another long distance through a tunnel for them to finally take your ticket that the passport machine gave you. Then there's the car rentals. Ugh. Usually when you go to an airport, the rental cars are in a garage across from the main building, and you cross the arrivals road and the rental cars are right across from that in the garage. Or something like that. Easy-peasy. Not so Montreal. First of all, the signage telling you where to go for car rentals was terrible, they didn't even really tell you at all (just a logo on some signs here and there), and even after I asked someone where to go it still wasn't clear. It took me literally 15 minutes to figure out how to get to the rental cars area. What you have to do is get on this shuttle bus at the side of the terminal that takes you to a garage where the rental cars are, as opposed to the garage right across from the terminal. As if that wasn't bad enough, the bus I ended up getting on stalled, like, 5 times on the way to the garage and the driver had a hard time getting it started again. At one point they had to get another bus to push our bus out of the way because it was blocking the road to the garage. Finally the driver managed to get it started long enough to make it to the garage. What should have been a 5 minute shuttle bus ride ended up taking about 40 minutes. If all that wasn't bad enough, when I finally got my rental car, the exit to get on the freeway to 20 East was blocked by cops for some reason, and so I had to go straight ... right back to the airport! I spent another 30 minutes or so driving through the departures lane along with a bazillion other cars, just to pass through!

2. Languages. Literally every person I've interacted with so far has been bilingual. This has to be one of the most bilingual cities in the world. At least 5 times I've gone into a store, restaurant or coffee shop, they greet me in French, then I say something in English, and they automatically switch to English. One time I went into a coffee shop in Old Town, and when I got to the counter all I said was "Cortado." I think the guy could tell just by the way I said "Cortado" that I was an English speaker, so he started talking to me in English (with a bit of a French accent).

Having said that, I can see why the Quebec government goes to such lengths to enforce the French-ness here. At least from what I've seen so far in Montreal, it seems like, if they didn't go out of their way to enforce French stuff, it would be easy for English to eventually take over. Like what's happened in Louisiana (where French is on its last breath). There are a ton of things, like books in bookstores and whatnot, where there is more English-language stuff than French.

3. French. Speaking of languages, the French they speak here has a bit of an ... I dunno, aggressive sound to it. It kinda sounds like French spoken with an Italian accent, or something.

More later. I think I might have some commentary on the retail scene like I did for Calgary, but I still have a lot more to see.

[Steely Dan]

I thought that having remote rental car facilities was pretty common these days at larger airports, no?

Both of Chicago's airports do. At MDW you take a shuttle bus to get there (though you can walk the 1/2 mile outside if you really want to), and at ORD it's almost 2 miles away from the main terminal cluster and you have to ride the airport train to get over there.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Forgot this one ...

4. People. The people here look a lot like New Yorkers. There's a lot Italian-looking, or general southern Europe/Mediterranean-looking people here, with a healthy admixture of Middle Eastern-looking people, a decent amount of Asians and what I presume are Hatians and/or Africans of some sort. And an OK amount of more northerly European-looking people. If I didn't know better I'd swear I was in Manhattan's Upper West Side, or something. The only difference from New York is that there aren't many Indians/Pakistanis (which is also a big difference from other Canadian cities I've been to). I saw a few of them, but not too many.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I thought that having remote rental car facilities was pretty common these days at larger airports, no?

Both of Chicago's airports do. At MDW you take a shuttle bus to get there (though you canwalk the 1/2 mile outside if you really want to), and at ORD it's almost 2 miles away from the main terminal cluster and you have to ride the airport train to get over there.

When I was in Chicago I don't remember having any issues getting a rental car. This one was a disaster. What made it worse was that there is indeed a large garage right across from the terminal, where they could put the car rentals if they wanted to which would make the whole experience a lot easier, but noooooo they have to put it in some father-away garage.

At the very least they should build a little monorail or something to get to this other garage.

[New Brisavoine]

Regarding languages, don't forget that there's an extremely big discrepancy between the central touristy part of Montréal, and the outer (80%) parts of Montréal. In the outer parts, Montréal is very French.

Overall the French language dominates English 4 to 1.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Here's an idea. They should convert the parking lot at the Google maps scene below to the rental cars, then create a covered moving sidewalk from the terminal to that lot. That would be a helluva lot easier than the stupid shuttle bus.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4534...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Regarding languages, don't forget that there's an extremely big discrepancy between the central touristy part of Montréal, and the outer (80%) parts of Montréal. In the outer parts, Montréal is very French.

Overall the French language dominates English 4 to 1.

Yeah I'll be checking out some suburban areas tomorrow and some other days, that'll be interesting to see what happens when I order a coffee.

[JManc]

Make sure you have a bagel while you are there. Forgot the neighborhood but better than anything I've had in New York.

[Wigs]

James Bond, why are you renting a car when you could just taxi to downtown and then take public transit and walk while in Montreal. It's one of the best public transit cities and extremely walkable/easy for pedestrians to get around (barring a huge snow or ice storm) in North America. Is your hotel off the beaten path?

just my take as a Canadian I guess, but Montreal is one of the last cities in North America I'd consider renting a car
one more thing: why aren't you visiting in the summer? In winter, Quebec City (winter festival capital of North America) and the ski hills are where one goes.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Wigs

James Bond, why are you renting a car when you could just taxi to downtown and then take public transit and walk while in Montreal. It's one of the best public transit cities and extremely walkable/easy for pedestrians to get around (barring a huge snow or ice storm) in North America. Is your hotel off the beaten path?

just my take as a Canadian I guess, but Montreal is one of the last cities in North America I'd consider renting a car
one more thing: why aren't you visiting in the summer? In winter, Quebec City (winter festival capital of North America) and the ski hills are where one goes.

Among other things I'll be going to ski at Tremblant on Wednesday.

Today, though, I didn't use my car at all.

Can't go skiing at Tremblant in the summer, can you.

Frankly, I'm glad I visited this time. Not only is everything pretty in the snow, there are few tourists. A few of the places I visited today, if I had come here in the summer they'd be jam packed with tourists. But today there were few at all.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Another one I forgot ...

5. Grain elevator. That abandoned grain elevator complex on the waterfront is dying to be converted to something else.

[Wigs]

fair enough. I hope you enjoy Tremblant. That's where my cousin learned to ski.
Enjoy a Montreal bagel and authentic poutine

[Velvet_Highground]

Lucky SOB Bond I’ve only heard great things about Tremblant. Few of my buddies went on a snowboarding trip there back in the day & it was a measuring stick for trips we ended up going on afterwards. Definitely a place I want to hit up one of these days.

[LikesBikes]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Yeah I'll be checking out some suburban areas tomorrow and some other days, that'll be interesting to see what happens when I order a coffee.

I'd recommend visiting eastern Montreal which is the most Quebecoise part of the city. Neighbourhoods like Hochelaga and Rosemont are also just amazing walkable places with tons of character through the businesses, architecture, and people. They're not really suburban in the typical Canadian definition given how urban it is, but it's far enough from downtown that there practically zero tourists and it's off the beaten path, but well worth it if seeking a unique urban environment that's kind of like the Montreal of old.

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
Tomorrow is going to be a nearly 100% driving day. I was walking all day long today and my legs are exhausted, and I want them to be reasonably refreshed by the time I go skiing Wednesday.

I'm actually planning to drive through some of the western suburbs tomorrow, I was looking at a map of languages in Montreal recently and there's a lot of areas around there with lots of English speakers. So just for the heck of it I'll drive through those areas.


https://appliedgeographic.com/2023/0...y-of-montreal/

Then I need to get back downtown in time to go to the Habs game.

[Wigs]

The more interesting parts of Montreal, Greater Montreal in general will be those that skew more Francophone. Generally older with better, more urban form.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Wigs

The more interesting parts of Montreal, Greater Montreal in general will be those that skew more Francophone. Generally older with better, more urban form.

If my walking legs weren't so tired, I'd love to check out the more walkable areas. But since I'll be mostly driving tomorrow I might as well check out some areas that are driving-friendly.

Maybe on Thursday or Friday I'll check out some more Francophone areas. I do have the Olympic stadium on my to-do list.

My father, who twice lived in Montreal when he was a kid (in the 40's) wants me to take some pictures of a couple spots. He lived in this apartment here when he was in the 8th grade in 1945, and when he lived there he went to something called "Montreal High School" which I presume, from a Google search, is now this thing here. So, probably on Thursday, I'll be checking out those areas, which are in some of the interesting areas.

Speaking of my father, I called him today and one thing he told me was, when he lived there in 1945, they had a law that you had to be 16 in order to go to a movie in a movie theater. Must have been some sort of strict Catholic law, or something. He told me he had to go see movies in a church or something in order to see one at all (he was about 14 at the time).

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

If my walking legs weren't so tired, I'd love to check out the more walkable areas. But since I'll be mostly driving tomorrow I might as well check out some areas that are driving-friendly.

Maybe on Thursday or Friday I'll check out some more Francophone areas. I do have the Olympic stadium on my to-do list.

My father, who twice lived in Montreal when he was a kid (in the 40's) wants me to take some pictures of a couple spots. He lived in this apartment here when he was in the 8th grade in 1945, and when he lived there he went to something called "Montreal High School" which I presume, from a Google search, is now this thing here. So, probably on Thursday, I'll be checking out those areas, which are in some of the interesting areas.

Speaking of my father, I called him today and one thing he told me was, when he lived there in 1945, they had a law that you had to be 16 in order to go to a movie in a movie theater. Must have been some sort of strict Catholic law, or something. He told me he had to go see movies in a church or something in order to see one at all (he was about 14 at the time).

Montreal High School would have been this building: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DHXo4YwonrQxD9wa8

The age limit for kids going to a movie theatre happened because of this event;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie...e_Theatre_fire

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
Thanks!!

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

^
Thanks!!

Hey, you're welcome. It's cold as hell today. A perfect time to fish for good restaurants and cafés in between arctic whippings...

I'm on the South shore, I would have gladly met up with you but I am doing Renos at my house and can't leave.

Have a nice safe trip!!!