The Irish Mail on Sunday

MONTREAL’S MARRIAGE OF

- By Tim Smith

Ihadn’t been to Montreal for more than 30 years. I’d always wanted to go back but, to paraphrase John Lennon, life got in the way. In 1982, as part of my degree, I’d organised a six-week work experience placement at CHOM-FM, a legendary radio station in the city that pumped out rock 24 hours a day. We didn’t have radio stations like that here back then.

As a 21-year-old, I’d organised a six-week work experience at CHOM-FM in the city as part of my degree. I was thrilled to finally be going back to see some things I hadn’t the first time around.

I stayed at the Place D’Armes Hotel close to Old Montreal. A bank in the 19th Century, it’s now the sort of hotel for which the word boutique was invented – complete with a shower in our room big enough for six!

You don’t expect cobbled streets in North America, but that’s exactly what you get in Old Montreal. It’s a lively, touristy area and a good introducti­on to the history of the city.

For a more extensive explanatio­n of how Montreal was founded in 1642, stroll to Pointeà-Callière, a national historic site housing the remains of the city’s

 ??  ?? quaint: Cobbles of Old Montreal
quaint: Cobbles of Old Montreal

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