October 18 2013
Our first evening in Montreal was lovely, thanks to our great hostess Mimi. Her beautiful house is in the borough of Verduna. Mimi is a very lovely French designer and stylist and her house has been filled with treasures from each continent – although maybe not collected from Antartica – one of the rooms in her house. I am in Asia, a sumptuous collection of South East Asian artifacts organised as only the French can do in a deep red room with a stencilled orange ceiling. Her sitting room is very comfortable and as I sit typing amongst the art work, I could be in France as there is a spread of amazing cheese in front of me.
Montreal, I think, is more French than France. There are no English signs and the people who live in this interesting city swing effortlessly from English to French. Trusty Google tells me that about 70% of the population are English/French bilingual, with the remainder bilingual in another language – so apart from time differences, compasses that are misaligned and jet lag this city keeps telling me I am in France.
Sleeping under the stars 