Me Irish Culture

The trip to Montreal was a well needed one and I have to admit I must have lost 5 stone with just the amount of walking that we did.

When you first reach the city limits you start seeing the evidence of a culture heavily influenced by France. Most, if not all, road signs are in French can become confusing for anyone who doesn’t speak French – I recommend using Map Quest if will be driving in the Montreal area.

The housing is even influenced by French Architecture which we seen in the Villas and houses as we approached the city limits. Driving in Montreal is crazy which I have already covered in the previous post.

Montreal is a city that speaks mainly French and when people speak English they do so just like the people in France. Every now and then you need to remind yourself that you are actually in Canada and not France, it’s a very strange feeling.

The people of Montreal are very fashionable and you can tell that their appearance is a top priority. They wear all the latest fashions which can be found in most fashion stores in the downtown area and shopping for clothes can be expensive in the city.

With winters being very harsh in Canada they decided to build an underground system that would allow people to walk to different parts of the downtown without having to go above ground into freezing temperatures.

Overtime they added shops, food courts and shopping malls which practically became an underground city. Underground Montreal is extremely impressive and we found ourselves underground for more than four hours just window shopping and enjoying the atmosphere of the unique underground system.

Dave, our American friend, recommended that we seek out and Irish pub called Hurley’s, which is located off Catherine Street. On Saturday we found Hurley’s with a dire need for some Irish food to help cure our hangovers. If you ever find Hurley’s try their Guinness, I had the best pint of Stout since I had left Ireland over two years ago.

Unfortunately Montreal is so big you would really need 2 weeks to properly explore the city, a weekend will only give you time to visit in and around Catherine Street, one of the main streets in Downtown Montreal unless you go by a very tight schedule.

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