"A big city with some remainders of European charm!" Montreal by Laura_Mexico

I had been dreaming of visiting Montreal for years.... several friends of mine had lived or at least spent vacations there, and they all said it was a great and fun place. So one of the first things in my wish list was to be able to visit the eastern side of Canada, especially the "french part" where Montreal is located....

Well, I must say that I was a little bit disappointed. I imagined Montreal more beautiful and with more of that European charm I was so eager to find. But I found lots of modern buildings, wide avenues, huge shopping malls, that weird and complicated "underground system" they so much brag about... and very little of what I was really expecting to find. What I did not expect to find was soooo many beautiful churches around town.... and such high prices for nearly everything (!).....

I can't say I didn't enjoy my stay cause I did, I met some nice people, I bought a few very nice things and saw some lovely spots. But I was expecting much more.

Some people were telling me right before my trip that a week was a bit too much for me to stay in Montreal, and that I would get bored. Well, it all depends on the kind of activities you enjoy.... if you love shopping, going to nudist night clubs or visiting sex shops, then you definitely will have a lot of things to do and won't get easily bored. But if you -- like me -- are expecting to find a lot of cultural life or museums, lots of historic places to tour, then you might be disappointed too. I did stay the whole week anyway.... but spent a day in Mont-Tremblant and then headed north to Quebec City.... which I DEFINITELY fell in love with! So you can also visit my Quebec site, which I think will be prettier than this one, hehehe!

• Pros:Big city but with affordable distances at the same time, some nice old buildings, many french or european style restaurants, underground life (although somewhat complicated)...
• Cons:Museums not very interesting, awful weather 5 months per year, a bit too modern in life and architecture for my taste...