Montreal:
Montréal is a modern and colorful city offering the perfect blend of historic buildings, modern structures, and skyscrapers. Below the ground, another city exists, where extremes of heat and cold are unknown. To the west and north of downtown are mainly English speaking commercial and residential neighborhoods, centered around Westmount. To the east and north are French speaking quartiers, notably Outremount and Plateau Mont-Royal. In between are the many dialects and cultures of residents and business people from around the globe.
Montréal, home to a third of the population of the province of Quebec, occupies about one-third (60 square miles) of the island of Montréal, which is part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. The island is situated in the St. Lawrence River near where it joins the Ottawa River. At the city's center is a 764-foot hill called Mont-Royal, from which the city takes its name. Nearby rise more mountains: the Laurentides (the Laurentians), the oldest mountain range in the world. The foothills of
