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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 18:27:12 GMT
-18 ? Your dreaming, matey. One winter I was in Montreal with a -50 temperature.
You have to be tough as old boots to take that!
Was that kiss for me or Lagatta?
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Post by spindrift on Jul 24, 2009 21:22:59 GMT
Deyana - minus 50? how do you dress for that? Do you have to wear special clothes?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 21:41:59 GMT
It was -50 with the windshield factor, and it was really cold as you can imagine. We dressed in layers, layers of jumpers, scarves, gloves, trousers, you name it. And it was still too cold.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 21:55:17 GMT
errr.... is 'windshield' what they call 'wind chill' in the United States?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 22:03:13 GMT
;D yes.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 25, 2009 0:41:51 GMT
kerouac, will you marry me? I can move in with my friends casimira and bix. They'll escape the summer's heat, me the freezing winters.
I HATE OUR WINTERS! I hate becoming sedentary, and the remarkable social network we have three months a year drying up! I loathe not being able to ride my bicycle - have often cycled in Amsterdam at -5c or so, but not in half a metre of snow and above all ice.
I live in one of the countless triplexes with not only little steps but a whole flight of outdoor staircase. Then I have another indoor staircase, but that is not a problem.
The top pic is taken from a lookout (Belvédère Kondiaronk) on our so-called "mountain", and it is a beautiful view indeed. Kondiaronk was an important Indigenous Chief who played a major part in the so-called Great Peace of Montreal - 1701.
The bottom pic is in a rather posher district than where I live. Perhaps Outremont (which is not very far from here). Looks a bit like Boston, no?
Edited to add: deyana, I have never experienced, nor heard of -50c in Montréal. Not even with the so-called "wind chill". Are you sure you weren't chez imec, in Siberian Winterpeg?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 1:07:17 GMT
No not Winterpeg, it was definitely one freezing January night in Montreal some years back now.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 1:22:42 GMT
I first visited Montreal with my family in 1964 while my eldest brother was in attendance at Niagra University outside of Buffalo,NY. It was indeed cold.It did have a fairy tale quality about it but that may have been the age I was at the time. In retrospect it is very reminiscent of Boston. My second visit was in 1992 for a Clinical Social Work conference and being much older the experience was very different. It still did remind me of Boston. I did not go on the whole guided tour but banded with some colleagues who had friends there and like to think we had a better time. I was certainly impressed by the efficiency and cleanliness compared to NOLA.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 2:56:45 GMT
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Montreal was in 1957,-37.8C
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 12:20:50 GMT
With the windchill factor it can feel a lot colder, which was the case when I was there, as I have explained before. I remember it clearly, because I was shocked at the announcement that night.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 19:08:08 GMT
Well, my son has just spend a long weekend in Montreal and loved every minute of it. He tells me he thinks it's great city. Apparently they stayed in St. Catherine street. (Kerouac or Lagatta probably know this area). Funny thing is I stayed there too (at my sister-in-laws place), about 20 years ago!
My son is even considering going to Law School in Montreal instead of Ontario now. Bonus being learning French to a more fluent level of course, not to mention the extended family over there.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 19:15:33 GMT
Ste. Catherine is an incredibly varied street, from affluent business district to gay ghetto and then on to some sort of run down middle class area at the far end, where I always go to the supermarket.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 19:16:52 GMT
Deyana, did your kids learn to speak French in school?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 19:26:57 GMT
K, yes, they did. Here in NB they have to, (being a bi-lingual province), but practice makes perfect. And I do remember that I learned quite a bit of French just from living in Montreal in the past, most which I lost with time There was no other choice really, as many Quebecois (back then), really didn't want to converse in English. Also their kids are not taught English at all, unless they go to an 'English' school. There are not many of these schools about, and to get into an English school they have to have at least one parent whose native language is English, at least this is how it was some years back, not sure if the rules have changed now or not. I do know that my step-daughter came out the the system in Montreal speaking next to nothing in English. Ste. Catherine street is very very long, and covers so much area. Yep, it is indeed a very varied street, residential in some areas, commercial in some. A very interesting place though.
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Post by bjd on Jul 19, 2011 7:49:51 GMT
One of my sons is spending 6 months in Montreal right now, doing an internship. He was not impressed with it when he arrived in April (cold, gray, nobody outside), but says he likes it much better now that the weather is better and there is a lot going on in the parks. The neighbourhood he lives in is sort of like this: (I found this on Google images) . This place is a few blocks from where he lives, in an area called Mile End.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2011 14:26:02 GMT
That looks so familiar, bjd. The balconies are all so similar in Montreal. I'm sure your son will really enjoy the summer months in Montreal, so much going on.
I live in an area called St. Leonard, which had a high Italian population. It was a nice area, just on the outskirts.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 19, 2011 15:27:53 GMT
St-Léonard is due east of the old Little Italy (Petite Italie) where I live. Many Italian families moved out there to have larger and more modern accomodations - but then more than a few adult grandchildren have moved back here to be in the middle of the action.
St-Léonard is not really a sprawly suburb though - most of the housing is attached duplexes with a granny flat in the entresol (half-basement). There are some single-family and row houses and some highrise blocks of flats - the population density is actually fairly high.
A pity is that the blue line of the métro was supposed to go out there and farther to a large shopping centre, les Galeries d'Anjou. A lack of funding means that this line ends at St-Michel, and it still hasn't been extended 25 years later. This makes the area slow to get to - and no, not everyone owns a car. In addition to the Italian population (and "old stock" Québécois francophones) there are now many people from Haiti, Latin American countries and North Africa.
Most of the housing stock is postwar or newer, but by now a lot of the gardens have mature fruit trees and lots of flowers, making it an attractive area in the summertime. These more recent houses still have the big balconies.
I cycled there a couple of weeks ago to run some errands - it is an easy ride, mostly flat, and there is a bicycle path all the way along rue St-Zotique.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2011 16:38:44 GMT
That's interesting, Lagatta. I must admit I did like the area, people were really friendly and welcoming. But I always found the whole of Montreal to be like that. Probably one of the reasons I like this city so much. I felt at home there.
Funny you should mention about the meto not quite extending to the area. I always wished it would too. I never owned a car all the time I lived in Montreal.
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