Thrillist on Montreal

Thrillist has a piece called Things to Know Before Traveling to Montreal. For starters, it was posted on Friday during a snowstorm but shows us a photo of lower St-Denis during an early summer event for which the street was closed. The caption reads “Saint Denis street in Montreal’s Plateau Mont Royal, Quebec” although this section of the street is not in the Plateau. We are warned.

– “…cobblestone streets, narrow alleys…” – In one small part of town, yes.
– “Saint Laurent Boulevard acts as a dividing line between the two camps, with English speakers to the west and French speakers to the east” – (Camps?) The divided city cliché has never really been true. I could give a long tedious list of exceptions but anyone who lives here knows it’s at best a crude generalization with little to back it up.
– “Francophones call it Mon-real with a guttural “r” way back in your throat.” Calling the linguistics police.
– A paragraph suggesting that the best times to come here are spring and fall, followed by a paragraph on festivals, which almost all take place in summertime. (“The Quebecoise love a festival” – does she?)
– “But you DO have to go to the French food market” – c’est où ça?
– “Low ABV wine and beer can be bought in supermarkets” – ?? I’ve never seen low ABV wine. I’ve seen no-alcohol wine in a health food store but wondered what was the point. If you want fruit juice, there’s lots of options.
– A mention of cycling with no mention of Bixi.

And more. Sorry if this sounds kvetchy but it’s a hell of a piece.