This Labor Day weekend, Bostonist thought it would be fun to go somewhere where Monday wasn't a holiday. Foolishly, we picked Canada, not realizing that, in fact, they have Labor Day too (although they call it Labour Day). Actually, Sister-in-law Bostonist was starting college in Montreal and we thought it would be fun to have a weekend away and see her off. Notwithstanding some last-minute complications (Mother-in-law Bostonist had the idea that she, too, would see Sister-in-law Bostonist off to college, and elected to stay for the duration of our trip, periodically calling to guilt-trip us for not spending more time with her), it was a lovely trip, and we strongly recommend Montreal for Bostonians who crave a little cosmopolitan foreignness without all that pesky flying-over-big-oceans.
The first thing to commend Montreal is its proximity. Bostonist, traveling with Toddler Bostonist and not looking forward to five hours in the car with him, elected to fly, but Sister-in-law Bostonist drove and informed us it was a very lovely trip. And considering that gas costs about a bazillion dollars right now (to say nothing of the inevitable wear and tear on our faithful little Corolla), a round trip for $160 isn't a bad deal, especially since the flight lasts barely an hour.
Of course, if ease of access were the only thing that mattered, we'd recommend you take weekend jaunts to Lynn. Montreal was way better than Lynn. Strangely, it was a little bit like Boston - a big city, but not overwhelmingly huge like New York, and full of evidence of its history: beautiful old buildings, reminiscent of a colonial past, standing cheek by jowl with incredibly ugly 1970s architecture bursting with flying-car futuristic optimism. Bostonist walked around a lot, and the streets and neighborhoods were, in our opinion, almost endlessly interesting (but that may be because we get a kick out of seeing posters that say, "le nouvelle album de Kanye West").
Also like Boston, the people were friendly, but not solicitously so. Having grown up in Brooklyn, we always feel nervous when people we don't know say "hi" to us on the street (something that actually happens in much of the Midwest). Montrealers were not that friendly, but they definitely didn't tell us to go fuck ourselves when we asked for directions (something that actually happens in much of New York). Also, the not-speaking-French wasn't nearly as big a deal as we thought. In fact, Montreal might be the perfect place to practice your French if, like Bostonist, you can string together a few phrases very convincingly but actually don't speak the language at all: You routinely find yourself listening patiently to long explanations you don't understand at all (like when we asked our taxi driver about how far it was to Toronto), offered by friendly people who don't realize you can't understand them. The good part is, when you say you don't speak French, no one thinks it's a big deal or makes you for a foreigner. (But that part about how everyone there speaks English too? Not true.)
Unlike Boston, Montreal's diversity isn't all segregated and shunted into inaccessible suburbs, which enlivens the streets a lot. Also enlivening the streets is a more European café culture, with practically every restaurant having a few tables on the sidewalk. This makes for better people-watching, better eating, and has a nice spill-over effect on side streets and in parks, where there seemed always to be a few folks strolling, chatting, laughing, etc. Another thing that helps is that Montreal's laws on public drinking are either very permissive or very lazily enforced. That's always good.
Bostonist would like to recommend particular clubs and nightspots, since a trip to Montreal would not be complete without some living-it-up of one sort or another. But, as mentioned, we went with Toddler Bostonist, who goes to bed by 8:00. So instead, we went to some more wholesome tourist attractions, one of which we especially recommend: The Biodome is an Olympic cycling stadium that has been converted into a zoo-ish thing with four enormous, climate-controlled simulations of different ecosystems, complete with animals. Even though it sounds lame, it is totally the awesomest thing we have ever seen. There is a tropical rain forest with crocodiles and monkeys and all kinds of noisy parrots (and real tropical heat and humidity), a polar area, and two local St. Lawrence River ecosystems (forest and underwater). The tropical area was incredible (crocodiles, le perroquet plus gros du monde, etc.), the local areas, despite seeming like they were going to be boring, were more incredible (mostly because you could watch through glass as seabirds dove off cliffs and swam around catching fish underwater, and there were porcupines, which are funny-looking), and the polar area was alright (penguins are nice, but no polar bears?!! Come on!). We had been to the Franklin Park Zoo the day before we went to Montreal, and the Biodome kicked Franklin Park's ass so hard it was embarassing. Also, Montreal has duck boats, and they look way cooler than ours.
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