Montreal Facts

Bienvenue à Montréal! Now that's hospitality with a distinctly French flavor - and what could be more appropriate for the second largest French-speaking metropolis in the world? But French is only one of 35 or so languages you will hear on the streets of this international island city of 1.6 million inhabitants (more than 3.6 million if you include the suburban neighborhoods).

Demographics show that Montreal residents come from 80 countries, forming an urban mosaic of vibrant ethnic communities and neighborhoods safe to walk in day or night. Visitors will detect a distinct British influence in parts of the city, inherent in the culture since the days when English merchants controlled the...

...On July 3, church bells rang across the city as they haven't since the end of World War II.

There were the parties, of course, with the likes of Céline Dion and Paul McCartney playing free concerts. There were grand art extravaganzas, including famed Québec theater artist Robert Lepage's multimedia show projected on silos in Québec's Old Port, eliciting high praise along with oohs and aahs. A rare traveling exhibition from Paris's Louvre came to town, too. And, of course, there were politics, with the history of the province's long struggle over separatism from the rest of Canada both downplayed and cheered.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did the downplaying, saying that the founding...