Day 14 was spent taking it easy at RSLYC. After getting up at dawn on Day 15 and slogging it out in the locks under a brutally hot sun, and fighting 5 knots of current, we finally made it to Montréal.
Montreal is an awesome city that blends the best of Europe with the best of rest of Canada. It has a vibrant, young feel to it. It is bilingual with English and French, but one hears many other languages reflecting the diversity of the population.
Montreal dates back to the early 17th century when explorer Samuel de Champlain set up a fur trading post. Montreal was a French colony for 100 years until it was surrendered by France to Britain. In contemporary history, It was host of the 1967 World’s Fair and the 1976 Summer Olympics. Today it is the economic and cultural center of Québec, home to over 1.7M inhabitants and 4.2M in the greater metropolitan area.
Slightly over half of the population is French-speaking while 13% are English-speaking and the remainder a mix of languages from all over the world. Another testimonial to Montreal’s diversity is the fact that around 27% of its population identifies as belonging to an ethnic minority.
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