quebec, quoi?

arrêt sign, originally uploaded by suddenly.

i’m in montreal, quebec, canada. it’s a funny place. all the signs are in french. i hear french spoken all around me. yet the S.O. assures me that i don’t have to speak french because the francophones will understand english. i went to see the movie, mamma mia and all the pre-show trivia questions were in french. but then the trailers and film were in english with no subtitles. this is a bizarre land where everyone is perfectly bilingual.

the last time i came to montreal was like ten years ago. i was duped into accompanying my great aunt. nobody told me that i was accompanying her on a korean bus tour of canada and that we would hit four cities in four nights; montreal, ottawa (why?), toronto and the obligatory pilgrimage to niagara falls. everyone else on the tour was part of an old korean couple. the only other young person was the girlfriend of the bus driver and she wanted to be my best friend. meals were included in the tour package, and each lunch and dinner was at a bad korean restaurant. when no korean restaurant was nearby, they took us to old china buffet and everyone on the tour complained. each day we hopped onto the tour bus, drove to a famous site, got off, took a few snapshots and got back on the bus. i was in hell.

this time around, i have the S.O. as my personal tour guide. he actually lived in montreal for five years. we’re eating the delicious local food and seeing much more of the city. hooray!