Montreal

Montreal or Montréal1 (pronounced in Canadian English, in standard French, and {{IPA |/mɒM1;ɾeal/}} in Quebecois French) is the second largest city in Canada. According to the most recent Canadian census (2001), the city itself has 1,812,723 inhabitants while 3,426,350 people live in the Greater Montreal Area (Statistics Canada, 2001). {{ref|populationestimate}}{{ref|gma}} It is the largest city and primary economic centre of the province of Quebec, of which it constitutes an administrative region.

Places in Montreal

; Downtown Montreal

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Downtown Montreal is at the foot of Mount Royal, which is designated as a major urban park. The Downtown area contains dozens of notable skyscrapers?which, by law, cannot be higher than Mount Royal?including the aforementioned 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque, as well as Ieoh Ming Pei's Place Ville-Marie. The bourse is also a significant building in Montreal, it is where all the trades are done (Montreal World trade center).

Related Topics:
Mount Royal - Park - Skyscraper - 1000 de La Gauchetière - 1250 René-Lévesque - Ieoh Ming Pei - Place Ville-Marie

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This cruciform office tower, built in 1962, sits atop an underground shopping mall which forms the nexus of Montreal's underground city, one of the world's largest, with indoor access to over 1,600 shops, restaurants, offices, and businesses, as well as metro stations, transportation termini, and tunnels extending all over downtown. The central axis for downtown is Saint Catherine Street.

Related Topics:
Cruciform - 1962 - Underground city - Metro stations - Saint Catherine Street

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Some others streets like Peel, De La Montagne, Maisoneuve and Crescent are very popular as well. Downtown Montreal is located between a Mountain, Mount Royal and water, St Lawrence river.

Related Topics:
Mount Royal - St Lawrence river

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Two islands are located infront of the Montreal panorama, the St Helen Island and the Notre Dame island. The Notre Dame island hosts the Canadaian Grand Prix and the Champ Car tournaments.

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La Ronde (6 flags in french) is the biggest amusement park in Montreal and it is on the Island.

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The basic Skyline view is from the Mount Royal, from a terasse close to the woods. Many tourists around the world visit that site. It is a pictoresque view.

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Montreal is know for the contrast between old and new. The Maison des Cooperants (a 146m heigh building) is right in front of an old church. Old Montreal has been kept the way it was back in the day Montreal was first established, Old Montreal is also a worldwide port.

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Many exportations are done from the port itself. The most rescent trip to the North pole departed from that specific port.

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Montreal is ranked 8th after Emporis in skyline views. That is a focal point in Montreal's recognision.

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The reason the Olympic Stadium was built 6km out of downtown is that the owners thought that Montreal's downtown would expand until where the Olympic Stadium is built now. Unfortunatly, Montreal's downtown didn't expand, instead Toronto's skyline emerged after the 80s.

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; Old Montreal

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Southeast of downtown is Old Montreal (Vieux-Montréal), a historic centre with such attractions as the Old Port, Place Jacques-Cartier, City Hall, Place d'Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, and the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica.

Related Topics:
Old Montreal - Place Jacques-Cartier - Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica

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Old Montreal has been kept the way it was back in the day Montreal was first established, Old Montreal is also a worldwide port. Many exportations are done from the port itself. The most rescent trip to the North pole departed from that specific port.

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Downtown and Old Montreal are connected by the recent Quartier international de Montréal development.

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; Olympic Village

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Montreal was host to one of the most successful World's Fairs in history, Expo '67. Partially based upon the success of the World's Fair, Montreal was awarded the 1976 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Stadium has the world's tallest inclined tower and, until the end of the 2004 season, was the home of the Montreal Expos baseball team. The Olympic complex also includes the Montreal Biodome, Montreal Insectarium, and the Montreal Botanical Garden, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world, second only to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England.

Related Topics:
World's Fair - Expo '67 - 1976 Summer Olympics - 2004 - Montreal Expos - Baseball - Montreal Biodome - Montreal Insectarium - Montreal Botanical Garden - Botanical garden - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - England

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Now the CFL's Montreal Alouettes are playing their last game of their season and the entirety of the playoffs in the Olympic Stadium. The constuction isn't completly finished, it still has some work to do. It is nicknamed the "Big O" because of it's oval shaped roof. It holds up to 60 000 fans for a football game now, it may hold more in the future when they open the unused seats in the back of the bleachers.

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; Museums and Cultural Centres

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Montreal is the centre of Quebec culture and a major centre of Canadian culture in general. It has many specialised museums such as the Montreal Fine-Art Museum, the Redpath Museum, the McCord Museum of Canadian History, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. The Place des Arts cultural complex houses the Museum of Contemporary Art and several theatres, and is the seat of the Montreal Opera and for the moment the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which is slated to receive a new concert hall adjacent to Place des Arts.

Related Topics:
Quebec culture - Canadian culture - Redpath Museum - McCord Museum of Canadian History - Canadian Centre for Architecture - Place des Arts - Montreal Symphony Orchestra

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; Religious Sanctuaries

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Nicknamed "the city of saints," or "la ville aux cent clochers" (the city of a hundred belltowers), Montreal is renowned for its churches. As described by Mark Twain, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory.

Related Topics:
Mark Twain - Roman Catholic - Basilica - Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral - Notre-Dame Basilica - St. Patrick's Basilica - Saint Joseph's Oratory

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The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Related Topics:
Saint Peter's Basilica - Rome

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Other well-known churches include the pilgrimage church of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, which was completely excavated and suspended in mid-air during the construction of part of the Underground City. All of the above are major tourist destinations, particularly Notre-Dame and the Oratory.

Related Topics:
Anglican - Christ Church Cathedral

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An impressive number of other churches can be found, as such that a five minute walk is usually enough to find another one. A common expression of Montrealers is that we stumble into them walking.

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; Chinatown

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Montreal has a small but active Chinatown (Quartier chinois) just south of downtown, featuring many Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as a number of Vietnamese establishments. Several of these restaurants offer dim sum from as early as seven a.m. to three p.m. and can be quite crowded, especially on Sundays. The principal axes of Chinatown are Saint Lawrence Boulevard and La Gauchetière Street.

Related Topics:
Chinatown - Vietnam - Saint Lawrence Boulevard - La Gauchetière Street

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; The Gay Village

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Montreal is known as a Queer or Gay-friendly city. Its pride festival, Divers/Cité, is the second largest in North America after Toronto's; organizers estimate that it drew 1.4 million people in 2002. It benefits from financial support from all three levels of government. Montreal is home to one of the largest gay villages in North America, centred around the downtown Beaudry metro station (known in French as le Village gai). Montreal is an epicentre of Queer life and culture in Canada and hosts several circuit parties every year. The 2006 World Outgames are to be held in Montreal.

Related Topics:
Queer - Gay - Pride festival - Divers/Cité - 2002 - Gay villages - Circuit parties - 2006 - World Outgames

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; The Plateau

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Montreal's trendy Plateau neighbourhood is located on the twin North-South axes of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Denis Street, and East-West axis of Mount Royal Avenue. The pedestrian-only Prince Arthur Street is also located in this neighbourhood. In the summer, night life often seems as active as in the day in this area.

Related Topics:
Plateau - Saint Laurent Boulevard - Saint Denis Street - Mount Royal Avenue - Prince Arthur Street

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; Mount Royal

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Every Sunday in the summer, hundreds of people gather at the foot of Mount Royal for several hours of drumming, dancing, and juggling (among many other activities), in an event that has come to be known as the Tam-Tams. It is unclear how this event started; but, as it has no formal organization and has carried on both in a lively and peaceful way since at least the late 1980s, it remains a popular event.

Related Topics:
Mount Royal - Tam-Tams

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; Night Life

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Saint Denis Street is also the heart of the Latin Quarter of Montreal (Quartier latin), which is just south of the Plateau and filled with clubs, bars, and street festivals. The principal east-west axes of this district are Saint Catherine Street and Boulevard de Maisonneuve, with the Saint Denis as its north-south axis. The mood is bohemian.

Related Topics:
Latin Quarter of Montreal - Boulevard de Maisonneuve

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Crescent Street is "party central" for Montreal's anglophone population, lying at the edge of the Concordia Ghetto (around the Concordia University campus where many students live). Throughout the summer, it features street fairs and festivals. The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix unofficially starts off Montreal's non-stop festival season in the summer. Crescent Street also features many clubs and bars.

Related Topics:
Crescent Street - Anglophone - Concordia University - Formula 1 - Canadian Grand Prix

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St Laurent is also filled with bars and clubs, and the best place to find nightlife, along with cozy restaurants which open their terraces in the summer.

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