Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Montreal may be the place to be or visit in the summertime but it is not without it's flaws as well. For a person moving from a warmer climate there would be an adjustment. The winters are very cold at times but with the odd milder break. The winter lasts six months. On warmer winter days there is a pond on every corner to navigate. It snows often this year and the snow is not being removed fast enough. People with cars are having a headache this year. As well any one who is not a good walker.
Spring and Fall seem much too short. Summer is super hot and humid. A lot of places are not air-conditioned including public transport. It is miserable. Buses are often over crowed during rush hour to the point that you can't get on or if you did you are soon regretting it. We have had more than our share of public transport strikes too.
Nearly everything is written in French. Quick what does "Vos Phares?" mean as you are speeding well over the speed limit to keep up with traffic. If you can drive here you can drive anywhere in the world. A lot of wild cowboy driving and rudeness abounds. That same rudeness exists around the core of the city. Better not expect any cars to stop for you if you are a pedestrian. Watch out too if you bike. Very risky business. A high percentage of bad and overly aggressive drivers. Also many people j walk too.
Apart from that it is getting too crowded here and perhaps in another ten years it may be unbearable to get around in if they don't come up with better transport solution.
Also on crowded sidewalks you very often end up walking behind someone smoking as a great majority of people do smoke here. They smoke in bus shelters and they use to smoke inside subway entrances but not as much lately. People smoke outside entrances all over the place though and you have to walk through that. There are butts everywhere and they had a campaign last year to tackle the excess of litter and cig butts that are everywhere. There is also an excess of dog poo everywhere too.
Shopping can be very expensive too. There is not the vast choice of what you can get at great prices such as exists in the U.S.A. Another thing apts. are pretty poorly built as a rule. Unless you are paying big bucks on rent. Rent is getting pricey unless it's just a small mediocre apt. There is 13 per cent tax on all utility bills too and everything else except groceries. Plus most importantly you better get used to a lot of stairs because that is what Montreal is really about. One big huge stair-master.
If you are young, student, artist, musician, French, hipster, gay, you will enjoy Montreal. This is a city that is now full of different cultures and it happened overnight or in the last 15 years or less. There is a fair amount of racism here too. If you didn't go to school here as a youth you must send your child to French school. Unless you can prove in court that it should be otherwise. Well, that's the flip side that I felt should be known. Anyone seriously comtemplating moving here should go online and listen to Montreal talk shows to get an idea of what it is like here.
Thanks for that very informative post. You make a lot of great points.
I must say I've never experienced the rudeness - not once - and I spend a lot of time there. And having spent some time in Boston, the drivers seem fairly sane - although they really do stand out when they come to VT.
The metro seems like a dream compared to the others I know - notably NYC...
The incessant smoking used to puzzle and annoy me - but not as much since the laws changed.
...and the stop signs really should say what they say in Paris
Yeah, the humidity in the summer is a bummer, that's for sure...I was never able to stand it myself having been raised in the dryer mountainous North Eastern Quebec climate...even Toronto isn't as humid compared, at least not the area close to Lake Ontario I live in...A/C is not common in apartments (unless you go for the high-priced condo-style ones) or homes either in Quebec...some people do have it, don't get me wrong, but not as many people as in Ontario have it, it seems...this is probably due to the fact most people have electric heat and therefore, do not have a central system of ductwork which generally makes it easier to have a central air conditioning system installed...perhaps?
Here's a link to a local English-speaking AM talk radio so you can get a bit of a "flavor" of the city, you can listen to it live (or should be depending on whether US IP's are allowed to stream it):
Local Montreal CBC (Canadian public broadcaster) news...this one is kind of cool as the host is a francophone (which is not that common as far as English TV news anchors go!) - you can stream the latest 6 PM 1-hour boardcast on a daily basis:
CBC Montreal - Programs - CBC News At Six Montreal (http://www.cbc.ca/newsatsixmontreal/ - broken link)
French language Radio-Canada (French CBC) news and streaming videos:
Thanks for that very informative post. You make a lot of great points.
I must say I've never experienced the rudeness - not once - and I spend a lot of time there. And having spent some time in Boston, the drivers seem fairly sane - although they really do stand out when they come to VT.
The metro seems like a dream compared to the others I know - notably NYC...
The incessant smoking used to puzzle and annoy me - but not as much since the laws changed.
...and the stop signs really should say what they say in Paris
Here's a cool link to a testimonial from a Texan couple. They visited, fell in love with the city, and now they summer here (no word on the AC situation) and are planning on retiring here.
Personally, I am counting the days until DH retires so that we can leave Quebec. I am fed up to the back teeth with Quebec, and I've lived here almost all my life.
I must say I've never experienced the rudeness - not once - and I spend a lot of time there. And having spent some time in Boston, the drivers seem fairly sane - although they really do stand out when they come to VT.
The metro seems like a dream compared to the others I know - notably NYC...
I have lived in the area my whole life and must say that a good majority of French people (not all, of course) are rude. And if you speak English, you will not be serviced as fast and you will receive dirty looks.
Also, the metro here isn't that great. It's not handicap accessible, and there are stairs everywhere. Sometimes a few flights just to get up to street level.
Having just returned from another trip there, I'll say again how refreshing I find Montreal. Although I've heard about it for decades, I simply haven't experienced any rudeness. I do begin speaking with strangers by saying something like "bonjour, hello, can you tell me where ......." or something similar. I like to think this is a gesture of respect, that's typically returned with friendliness, but I perhaps I'm mistaken. If so I've been mistaken for decades now.
One of the things I find fascinating is that in Montreal, absolutely every person is a member of a minority group. This seems to make everybody try just a little harder to get along, in my experience - but I'm certain there are exceptions.
I've never lived in Quebec however, so I know Montreal and Quebec only as a visitor, for no more than 2 weeks at a time.
I went walking in Rosemount, a part of Montreal in the east. What a delightful walk. This street had all sorts of stores, bistros, eateries, bakers, pharmacies ect. Heavy pedestrian traffic but not too crowded. People smiled! What energy this street had with lots of good looking folk too. Some people chatted on the sidewalk. One was discussing Yoga. We all had to navigate puddles galore but that didn't stop people from having a good time. It is a predominately French neighborhood and the people I asked for directions were so nice. A fireman near his fire station excused himself to get around me and I said;"Oh excuse me" in French and he was all full of how are yous and are you finding the weather sort of stuff.
The people at the post office were really nice too. As I walked I smiled and people returned smiles. Montreal has very nice people in it. But there are rude people too but that can be experienced anywhere. As long as people are not holding guns at me, who cares. With all this being said though I still think that the drivers can be incredibly thoughtless and dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. I think the pedestrians drive the drivers crazy too perhaps since we all jump out to cross against the red light.
That area in Rosemount though gave me an impression of what it could be like living in a small town where people are actually friendly. Oh, and many people were smoking too. Mostly the guys but lots of woman too. I took a long bus ride and noticed a lot of really old and lovely apartment buildings too. I bet they look great inside. They had really nice lines and reminded me of an old 1910 building I lived in that had gorgeous details within the apartment. Montreal is certainly an interesting and O.K. I admit it, "magical" place but not without it's irritations too.
As for the stairs, *Sirene*, I grew up in a place that was literally all flat. I tend to live in third floor apartments. When visiting others that live on third floors and going by subway and generally around town it seems at times that the stairs never end. It is worse if you are hauling along something heavy or if you are with someone who can't handle stairs too well.
I think it is healthier though than living in places where you it's all door to door driving like in Southern California. It's all flat and not many people walk unless it's just a few blocks for exercise or walking the dog. Often the only thing alive on those walks I took down there was the odd barking dog on the other side of the fence.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
