MONTRÉAL
Most people don’t realise that
Montréal is actually an island! The city
sits on one of more than 400 islands
that float in the St Lawrence River.
BIG BELL
Notre-Dame Basilica is Montréal’s most lavish church.
It has a midnight-blue ceiling decorated with gold stars,
plus the biggest bell in North America. The bell weighs
9,979 kilograms (11 tons) and even has a name –
Jean-Baptiste. When Jean-Baptiste tolls it can be
heard over 35km (22mi) away. The bell can only be
rung on special occasions. It is so large, the
vibrations cause damage to the building.
A MOUNTAIN MARKS THE SPOT
Montréal’s name comes from Mont Royal
, which means ‘Royal
Mountain’ in French. Mont Royal is more of a big hill than a
mountain, but it is the highest point in the city. It’s part of a
beautiful park where everyone jogs and cycles in summer, then
goes sledging and skiing in winter. The giant cross on top of
the hill is like the one placed there by Montréal’s founder, Paul
Chomedey de Maisonneuve. The cross was a symbol of thanks
to God for sparing the new
settlement from a flood.
FAIR AND SQUARE
Place Jacques-Cartier is Montréal’s
town square. It’s where everyone
gathers to prendre un café au lait à
la terrasse
– meaning ‘drink a coffee
with hot milk on a café’s outdoor
terrace’. People also come to see
the street performers who juggle
fire, ride unicycles and balance on
stacks of tin cans. Every day is like
an outdoor carnival.
GROUNDHOG DAY
Montréal’s residents share their
city streets with a vast array
of urban wildlife. Birds wheel
overhead, skunks and squirrels
pop up in gardens, and
raccoons scavenge through
dustbins. In June 2015, one
plucky groundhog surprised
Formula 1 fans by strolling
onto the racetrack during the
Canadian Grand Prix! Luckily
drivers were able to swerve and the
critter scampered to safety.
WORLD’S BIGGEST
FIREWORKS
The Montréal International
Fireworks Festival is the
Olympics of fireworks events!
Teams from all over the globe
compete against each other
at La Ronde during the month
of July to see who can create
the most impressive show. The
night sky booms, sizzles and
blazes with colour on a scale
unmatched anywhere else
in the world.
BEAVER HAT CRAZE
In the 1700s and early 1800s, Montréal was a hub for fur trading. Beaver-pelt hats
were all the rage in Europe, and companies needed to get furs from the trappers
who lived inland to ships that could cross the sea. They hired boatmen called
voyageurs
(travellers) to fetch them. The voyageurs
paddled canoes for 16 hours
a day to forts, traded supplies for pelts, then paddled back to Lachine, a part of
Montréal near the port. The fur traders’ old warehouse still stands there today.