Visit to Montreal – Vancouver Lifestyle Photographer

Week # 3 of 2010! And here’s a little blurb about one of Canada’s french-speaking cities, Montreal.

I got a chance to fly almost all the way across Canada this past week and experience a different side of our beautiful country. I’m used to being in different countries and hearing different languages, so being surrounded by French wasn’t anything new or exciting, but halfway between the airport and my hotel it really hit me. And that it was that I was still in the same old Canada, yet the everyday usual English was suddenly replaced by  French taxi drivers listening to French radio. It was such a strange feeling!! Anyone else have the same sort of experience?

I was visiting Montreal for work, so most of my days were occupied with meetings, but when the night feel, I got bundled up and went out exploring streets of Old Montreal. It was soo different to what we’re used to here in Vancouver. 3 out of 5 restaurants we walked by were closed on a Wednesday evening at 8pm. That would NEVER happen in Vancouver.

The cobble stone streets were dark, with only the street lights and left over Christmas lights giving off any kind of light; I really pushed my camera ISO capabilities to it’s limits. Here are a few shots of  the Notre-Dame Basilica, it’s not as big as the one in Paris, but it’s still very beautiful inside and out!!

I got a few hours of daylight to explore the city as well, and we headed off through the streets of Montreal towards Mount Royal. Somewhere in the foothills of Mount Royal within the beautiful old buildings of McGill University we took the wrong turn and ended up on a snowy path. All we knew that up was the way to go, so off we trekked in the true Siberian Explorer’s style up the mountain along an unidentified snowy path.

We found a bunch of good ol’ grey squirrels and it reminded me of our dear old Stanley Park. I tricked this little guy in believing I had something in my hand to give to him so he’d come closer. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared for squirrels and had absolutely no food with us, not even bread crumbs  :(  Sorry little squirrel for tricking you, but you make an awesome model!!

Upon finally arriving at the Chalet du Mont Royal we were greeted by this magnificent view of Montreal! It’s a beautiful mixture of the old buildings, picturesque churches, and modern glass buildings.

And here’s the last photo of the bunch, this statue in front of the funky glass building was a little creepy!! It was all good in the front, but when you go to check out the rear end of this group of people, there’s some serious strange nudity! The statue is called the “Illuminated Crowd” and it’s a must see if you’re ever in Montreal  ;)

Montreal was beautiful, but I’m glad to be back home, I really do love Vancouver!!