LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Montreal: Old Montreal
built 276 days ago
Montreal, Canada's cultural capital, is just now reaching top form in terms of weather. The place is colder than Moscow in the winter and has miles of tunnels built underneath the city just so inhabitants don't freeze to death while getting around. But in the late spring and all summer long, Montreal has fine weather indeed, and for Americans it can feel like a little taste of Europe much closer to home. Check out regional cuisines like poutine, Montreal bagels, and smoked meat. Or shop in one of their countless mega-malls. Or party all night with their drunken 18 year olds.
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Montreal is home to one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious universities, McGill. Concordia University is the city's other English-language university and has over 30,000 students. Its student population is generally more multicultural than McGill's, and the school's origins in and continuing emphasis on adult education make it popular for mature students, since it still holds many graduate-level courses at night.
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Located in the cultural and tourism heart of Old Montreal, this neo-classic building dates from the mid-18th century. It has been home to a city hall, a reception centre, and public markets. In fact, following an 1849 fire in the Parliament Building, it became the seat of the United Canada Government. Today, following two restorations, the silver-domed building is used as an exhibition hall. It teems with sidewalk cafes, boutiques, souvenir shops and fine arts galleries. You will find everything from maps to fashion accessories and native art.
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The districts surrounding downtown Montreal are especially delightful by foot. To the south is Old Montreal (Le Vieux-Montréal) [26] -- its narrow streets and buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries really can make you feel like you're in Old Europe -- and the Old Port (Le Vieux-Port) [27], a waterfront strolling park with exhibits and boat tours, is very popular with the locals. To the north, the Golden Square Mile and the McGill University Campus is wedged between Mount Royal and Sherbrooke Street on the southern slope of the mountain. Old Victorian mansions and townhouses can be found along the sloping streets, many now housing McGill University's offices and libraries. Just west of downtown is affluent Westmount, a perfect example of 19th-century English-style homes and gardens (inhabited to a great extent by English-speaking people) climbing the slopes of Mount Royal's western part (the higher you climb, the larger the old mansions). Just east and northeast of downtown are the mostly French-speaking Gay Village (Le Village Gai) and Plateau (Plateau Mont-Royal) districts, both street after street of turn-of-the-19th-century row duplexes and triplexes, replete with famous Montreal outdoor staircases, overflowing front gardens (or snow-covered gables, depending on the time of year) and tiny shops tucked into every nook and cranny.
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Old Montreal