montreal

I originally planned to go to Montreal on weekends, because my cousin’s family is only free on weekends, but I saw the weather forecast and found that it would rain on weekends, so I decided to go to Montreal early on Thursday morning on Wednesday. In the morning, I picked up my Indian friends and set off. Tim Hortons is everywhere on the highway. This is the largest coffee shop in Canada, much more than Starbucks and Subway. Along the way I asked him a lot of questions about Indian caste system, marriage, education, discrimination, women's rights and other topics. Because he has just moved to Canada for four months and has never left India before, there are many places he does not understand in terms of language and culture. I think it was the same when I first came to the United States to study, so I shared a lot of knowledge about Chinese and American language and culture with him.

Since entering Quebec, all road signs have become French, basically no English, because the official language of Quebec is French. After driving for six hours to downtown Montreal, I drove directly to eat poutine, the specialty food here. When we arrived at this restaurant recommended by a friend, there was a long line at the gate after 1:00 noon on Thursday. We didn't want to wait, so we ordered takeaway. Poutine is actually French fries, topped with gravy and chewy cheese cubes. This is a calorie bomb, especially when you are full, and you will still feel full at night after eating, just try it once.

In the afternoon, I went to my cousin’s house who lived about 40 minutes away from the city center. I saw my cousin whom I hadn’t seen for ten years and his seven-year-old son whom I had never seen. Their family took me to eat some Xinjiang cuisine. It happened to be the last day of Ramadan, and there were a lot of guests after sunset at seven or eight in the evening. The next morning I went for a run in a nearby park, and the surrounding environment was particularly nice.

After returning, I drove to the city center to pick up friends, and went to the local Jean-Talon market, where everything was sold, and the hawkers were very enthusiastic. An old lady who sells various maple syrup souvenirs invited me and my friends to go over, and gave us a taste of various flavors of maple syrup and some other maple syrup products. Although I didn't buy anything right away, she happily let us taste it. Later, when we wandered back, we bought a small bottle of maple syrup, and she asked if we wanted to try something else. After passing by many other small stalls, the shop owners would also enthusiastically introduce their products to us. Later, when we passed by a fruit stand, the hawker greeted us and gave us an orange for free.

After that, we went to Monte Royal, the largest park here, where you can see the panoramic view of the city from the hill.

Parking in downtown Montreal is very inconvenient. You have to pay parking fees everywhere. Even if you pick up in many residential areas that are not in the city center, you cannot park during the day without a parking permit with the corresponding number in that residential area. Unlimited parking is available from 11pm to 9am. No wonder so many people commute by bike, there are dedicated bike lanes everywhere in the city. At noon, I went to eat the smoked meat sandwich of Schwartz's Deli recommended by a famous local friend, but I didn't think it was anything special. In the afternoon, we continued wandering around the city, passing by China Town, which is much smaller than Toronto's China Town, but the Peking Opera mural next to the archway is very distinctive.

Afterwards, we went to Old Port, where there are many ancient buildings, and it feels like being in Europe. No wonder Montreal is also known as "Little Paris".

In the evening, I went to a Sichuan restaurant with my cousin's family. I ordered boiled fish, Maoxuewang, dry pot cauliflower and eggplant tofu stew, all of which were authentic.

Jean-Drapeau Park is a small island in the lake along the coast. After dinner, I drove back and passed by. I stopped by the way to take a photo. The night view is beautiful.