Greetings from Montreal!!

I don't know what this city is like in the winter (not sure i want to find out) but on a warm (not hot) mostly sunny summer day.-.C'est Magnifique (wish i had paid more attention in French class). We walked on a foodie tour of the Northern part of the city called "Little Italy". However, there was a wide variety of food and all of it good. This area is very easy to walk around and we saw a lot of bikes so it appears bike friendly (we will find out tomorrow when we rent bikes). We started in a Farmers Market that was colorful and tasteful! Forget the stereotype that French speakers are rude. I found the people nice and helpful. They tolerated our broken French and spoke English to us. I do not recall any bad service at all. After our light snack we continued and tried various shops all of which Mary has already written about. The coffee / snack shop with the open air windows as particularly nice. the cappuccino was so-so but the atmosphere compensated as we sat facing the sunny street and a light breeze blew in. Later in the walk we encountered several blocks that had been turned into pedestrian thoroughfares where street musicians filled the air with light tunes and store fronts were filled with "deals". It was a nice walk without cars for about three blocks. We returned to our small but nice apartment and opened the cheese we purchased and drank the remaining wine, a perfect snack before dinner. Basically we walked and ate all day today. Can you think of anything better on that?!! By staying away from the tourist parts of town, we think we are really getting to know Montreal as it is for the people that live here. They are blessed at least in the availability of food and drink. Access to parks is also a plus. As Mary says "We could live here".