“June 29
Dear Granny,
The train trip wasn’t too bad though I was miserable with a cold one day. Trish travelled fairly well. Met some nice people on the train who we played cards and password with. Montreal is very hot – hardly slept all night. We are going up here today. Love Aileen + Pat”
Montreal was a large city and though I had grown up in a city there were two major differences. Of course, Montreal is a French-speaking city, so signs would have been in French. As I had taken French in school, this wouldn’t have caused any problems, but hearing French spoken would have been unusual.
What sticks in my mind most was the traffic culture. In Vancouver, pedestrians always obeyed traffic lights and never crossed the road without the “WALK” signal or a green light, even if there were no cars coming. In Montreal, however, it seemed like chaos to me – people crossing against the light, dashing between moving cars. Cars were honking their horns a lot more. This was my first real experience of a different culture.
The picture in the postcard is taken from the hill above the center of Montreal. We climbed up the hill and walked around Mount Royal Park. I have always enjoyed the great outdoors, more than city streets, so I remember walking through the trees.
My memory is warm, sunny, summer weather, though on the postcard Aileen mentioned that it was very hot.