Day 34-36 - Montréal

Sunday 22 August 2004 (dimanche 22 août), ET (GMT-4; Perth-12)

We left early on Sunday morning for Montreal. Unfortunately, the Airport Express shuttle in Toronto does not go anywhere near the hostel, so I had to haul my baggage across about five city blocks to the nearest stop. This proved too much, so I hailed a taxi.

This led to the first actual disaster which has happened on this trip - I left my camera behind in the taxi. The last day or so has not been good as I have been pining after it and worried that I may never see it again. I guess as the day has worn on, while I am still upset/sad about it, I realise that it is replaceable (albeit expensively so) and that if people don't do the right thing and hand in my poor, worse-for-wear camera to somewhere where it can get back to its rightful owner (i.e. me), then it will only come back on them - I'll have a brand new camera and all my old shots, and they will have their conscience.

The next few hours was a bit of a blur - travelled to the airport, waited at the airport, found out I had a seat but Daniel didn't, flew to Montreal sans Daniel and camera, completed the police report at both ends of my journey, and got the airport shuttle to my accommodation in Montreal.

I found out on a quick walk around Rue Sainte-Catherine, one of the main shopping areas, that French is somewhat more mandatory than I had presumed in these parts. Several people had told me it was possible to survive with just English. It appears that while this is possible, you don't get nearly as good service (and indeed I have been ripped off a few times). Montreal is a very green, beautiful city rich with history and culture, and there isn't a huge number of highrises here, although it seems many people do live in quaint three-storey apartments with stairs up the front.

Daniel arrived at around 10:30pm due to a mix-up at the airport, and we've been inseparable since. The hostel is actually really nice and the room has its own bathroom - something we've kind of lacked since - well, we've just lacked it full stop, I think.

Early observations about Montreal

1. This place is in Quebec, one almost has to pinch themselves to remember that this is the same country I have been in for the last month or so. The roads are wide boulevards with big black traffic lights, not the yellow box ones almost ubiquitous in most of Canada, people just look different, sound different and even the food is in a category all of its own. Not that any of these things are bad - I have actually done quite well for food in Montreal. It's a very international city and you can literally name your cuisine, walk around a few city streets and find it in no more than 20 minutes.

2. While the drivers here border on insane, it's a remarkably easy city for a pedestrian to navigate. I'd hate to drive here, though.

3. Once you get used to written French and get to know a few common words, you can mentally translate back into English fairly easily. Sometimes the French even makes more literal sense than the often-euphemised English and can even be quite fun. One example mentioned possible removal of limbs as a safety hazard, whereas the English version just mentioned injury.

4. There's a unique smell to this place that is hard to define. It's sweet, faintly smoky, faintly perfumey.

5. While this is French Canada, despite what I said in (1), it is still Canada. French-Canadian teenagers zipping about on skateboards listening to Sum 41 and Millencolin (even if they can't understand many of the words) dressed in black t-shirts and Nikes are proof of this, in my opinion.

Music memories

I usually record the music that reminds me of each place I visit. Here is the list so far:

Auckland - Maroon 5 "This Love"
Honolulu - Chevelle "Send The Pain Below"
Vancouver - Pete Townshend "Open The Door To Your Heart"
Toronto - Hoobastank "The Reason"
Montreal - Morcheeba (find name of song)

Songs I've heard in almost every city (usually in hostels or shops):

Delta Goodrem "Born To Try"
Abba "Mamma Mia"
Beastie Boys "Paul Revere"

Tuesday 24 August (mardi 24 août) 2004, Montréal, 12 midday ET

Yay! I got me a camera! Thanks very much to Image Point in Rue Ste-Catherine, with their friendly bilingual staff.

I spent all of Monday just getting around Montréal. It's a very interesting city and is great to explore. One warning though - if you're British or Australian and have my levels of French speaking ability (i.e. negligible) it's worth saying Bonjour and Merci (or Merci beaucoup) whenever appropriate, and clearly emphasising your nationality. They don't mind the tourists, but if they think you are English-Canadian, you will possibly get crappy service or even ripped off.

Examples:
- A guy insisting my $20 note was counterfeit and trying to make me use a credit card for the purchase. (I got the bank to check it later, it definitely was kosher). I had a second note though, and he would have looked an idiot claiming both were.
- A shopowner Daniel encountered who, when given $14 for a $13 purchase, said "Thanks for the tip", smirked and shut the till without giving change.
- A cafe staffer who attempted to pass me off a no-longer-legal-tender old-style $10 note. I realised immediately and only got a correct note when a Swiss-French guy intervened and said lots of stuff very quickly in French. Conspicuously, the guy put the old $10 note back in the till - presumably for a less assertive English-speaking victim.

That being said however, most people here are very friendly, even if English is not widely spoken. Anyone who speaks it fluently usually turns out to be from another province.

As I now have a camera, I'm going off to photograph centre-ville (downtown) Montréal before bussing off to Québec City.

Added section: Survival French

There are variants to all of the below, but these work:

à or au = to
de = of, from
sur = over
sous = (under?)
-er or -ez is usually a verb
bonjour = good day, hello etc
merci = thank you
beaucoup (bu-ku) = very much or a lot
excusez-moi (skew-zay-mwah) = sorry, excuse me
bon, mal = good, bad. While you sound pidgin saying these before nouns, who cares, they do understand you.
monde = world

Doors - Poussez=Push, Tirez=Pull
Shops - Ouvert=Open, Ferme=Closed
Signs - Arrêt=Stop

Days:
Lundi/Monday
Mardi/Tuesday
Mercredi/Wednesday
Jeudi/Thursday
Vendredi/Friday
Samedi/Saturday
Dimanche/Sunday

Lun à Ven=Mon to Fri

* Pronounce en, ent, on, an, ant etc as a nasal "on", without quite pronouncing the "n"
* Pronounce in, ain as a nasal "an" as above
* Unless a word ends with an e or the next word starts with a vowel, don't pronounce the last consonant(s) - eg dix (ten) is "dee". Exception is words ending with c.
* Pronounce "u" and "ue" by saying "ee" with an "o" mouth shape.