Top 10 Places: Montreal

I should have at least one Canadian city in my top ten – and of my favourites it’s a toss-up between Vancouver and Montreal....

Vancouver is the city I was born in, a city I do not know well but one which strikes me with its postcard-perfect beauty whenever I visit. And last time I was there I took part in a demonstration for affordable housing, which seemed quite fitting.

But for many of the reasons I love Paris, I also love Montreal - the cafés, the arts, the culture – that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that gives Montreal its unique style and appeal.

I lived there for only a year – but I loved my little apartment with sunshine-yellow walls, the curving staircase on the outside, a small balcony from which I could see the giant cross on Mont Royal hill. This stay directly preceded my years of living and traveling in Europe and was a perfect transition. I got a taste of the café culture, meals worth lingering over, of urban parks and captivating streets.

It was in Montreal that I began my habit of urban roaming. I would wander the streets for hours on end, sometimes heading toward the mountain and not stopping until I reached the peak. I explored the café and boutique-lined streets of the Plateau district I lived in, the fascinating Rue Ste Catherine - which leads through the gay village, the seedy stripper bars and the city’s downtown shopping hub.

One of my favourite discoveries was the Sunday tradition of tam tams drummers congregating around a tall angel statue on Mont Royal. Often there would be a group of exceptional drummers and musicians – playing simply for the pleasure of sound. People would be dancing, tanning, playing hacky sack, chatting, flirting, smoking... I could easily spend hours just listening and watching.

As I love Paris for being the home and haunt of Satre, Beauvoir and Beckett, I love that Montreal has produced some of my favourite Canadian artists – Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson and Mordecai Richler. But I love Montreal most for being the first city to captivate me. And I return to visit old haunts like one dropping in on old friends.