The official language is French; small grocers and butchers are preferred over large supermarket chains; the streets are quaint and quiet and the locals cannot stand you. No it’s not Paris, welcome to Montreal.

According to Wikipedia, Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. If only I had done my research earlier, because I knew very little of Montreal before setting foot on our bus.

The Trailways bus cost $84 and took 10 hours to get from New York to Montreal. 10 hours would have been an eternity on a South America coach but thanks to the free wifi onboard it wasn’t that bad. It gave me time to catch up with friends on facebook, check emails, I even downloaded a George Michael album – AMAZING.

Despite my lack of initial research I was pleasantly surprised by what Montreal had to offer. The city was charming and felt more like somewhere in Europe than North America. Everyone got around on bikes, there were cute little cafés everywhere and the food and wine were quality and cheap. The city was in stark contrast and a really nice break from the hustle and bustle of New York.

The good folks from Wikipedia also told me the city of Montreal was named after its biggest natural landmark, Mount Royal. Mount Royal and its surrounding parkland was beautiful, and apparently it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York’s Central Park. On our second day we hired bicycles and rode up its three famous peaks. The ride was really fun and the view from Chalet du Mont Royal was incredible.

There was a large gutter running down the side of the slops near the summit. Upon seeing this challenging obstacle Dennis’ competitive spirit got the better of him. He bet Sam and I $5 that he could jump over the gutter on his bike and land safely on the other side. At around 30 cm wide, the gutter was not huge, but the bikes we were riding were rusty ancient racing vehicles so I figured there was a good chance of him falling, a chance worth paying $2.50 for.

After a few moments of psyching himself up Dennis finally committed to the jump. He made it alright, but his back rim hit the edge of the gutter hard and the force of the impact popped the tyre instantly. Ahhh how we laughed. It was the best entertainment we’ve had for ages. For $2.50 each, Sam and I had the pleasure of watching Dennis almost stacking it and then have him push his deflated bike all the way down the hill while we rode beside him, snickering all the way.

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