So Close, Yet So French

October 10, 2011
On what would have been my mother's 80th birthday I was once more on the road, en route to the International Congress of Human Genetics in Montreal (the convention center is the building with the beautiful colored windows). The trip took exactly two hours from the time the plane departed from to the time I entered my hotel room. Montreal is so close to Boston, yet I have never come here for a vacation. Pourquoi? Je ne sais pas. I had a few hours to walk around the city, and explored the "Vieux Montreal (the old city)" It is really quite charming and french is the dominant language. While everyone in shops and restaurants will start by speaking with you in french, they immediately change to english if they detect an American accent. The signage, however, is almost exclusively in french. Thank goodness for all those years I studied french! Merci Monsieur Mignon :) As a city, Montreal was incorporated in 1832, but its European history dates back to the 1500s. There are many churches that reflect the city's origin as a medical mission. In fact, a nurse/nun named Jeanne Mance founded the first hospital in North America here in 1644.