Canada Archives - gus1thego

Canada is a big, beautiful and diverse country, which I’m enjoying for 10 days. These 13 facts about Canada are however SUPER WEIRD and interesting!

1: Canada has more lakes than the rest of the World’s lakes combined

2: Canada is the World’s Most Educated Country: over half its residents have college degrees

With Mario from Brazil, living in Montreal, Canada. He’s soon a Canadian citizen, educated like so many others

3: Canada consumes more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the World

4: Canada is the second largest country in the World (land area), right after Russia

In Jacques-Cartier National Park. Canada is so damn big!

5: Canada has the largest coastline in the World

6: Residents of Churchill, Canada, leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape for pedestrians who might encounter Polar Bears

7: “Canada” is an Iroquoian language word meaning “Village”

8: Canada has the third largest oil reserves of any country in the World after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela

Chilling in Quebec, but most of the oil in Canada is found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and offshore Newfoundland and Labrador

9: The North American Beaver is the national animal of Canada

10: Canada and Denmark have been fighting over an uninhabited island (Hans Islands) by leaving each other bottles of alcohol and changing their flags since the 1930s

Coming from Denmark myself, I believe this is how friendly countries go to war with each other

11: Dildo is a town on the island of Newfoundland, Canada

We all have that crazy friend who would love to live here

12: Niagara Falls has the World’s highest flow rate, about 28 million liters, or about 700,000 gallons, of water travel down Niagara Falls every second

Niagara Falls on the American side with Canada in the background

13: No building in Montreal can be taller than the Mount Royal Cross.

Some really weird facts indeed, but Canada is a super cool country!

Gustav

gus1thego.com

I’m touring Canada at the moment for 10 days and I was lucky to have 2 days in Montreal, the largest city in Canada’s Québec province. Montreal is an interesting city you simply need to visit when visiting Canada. Here are 5 super cool things to do!

1. Mount Royal

Mount Royal view over Montreal is beautiful

Mount Royal is a large volcanic-related hill in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The City of Montreal actually takes its name from Mt Royal, it’s really a beautiful hike to the top and the view from up there is simply amazing. Fun fact about Mount Royal is no building is allowed to be higher than the mountain, so in downtown area, buildings can’t exceed 120 metres in height and 223 metres as city-wide limit. One of the only cities were I’ve heard about such limit!

2.Visit Basilique Notre-Dame

You’re maybe crying tears about not visiting the Notre-Dame in Paris before it burned down, but there’s a good second option. To visit the Basilique Notre-Dame in Montreal! The church is located at 110 Notre-Dame Street West, at the corner of Saint Sulpice Street, and the interior of the church is among the most dramatic in the World and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. Love that the vaults are in deep blue colors and with golden stars, very charming place. A true masterpiece!

Outside the Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

3. Enjoy the specialties

This is a no-brainer, and probably on everybody’s list already. But it was worth noting nonetheless! Neither of these dish look very appetizing, but trust me – once you’ve had your first bite, you’ll never want to have fries or a sandwich any other way. My favorite is the poutine and ask to get it with meat. Price is 10-12 Canadian dollar for a dish of poutine, but you simply need to try this dish in Montreal. It’s incredible!

Eating poutine in Montreal.. Long ago I tasted something that good.. Maybe I was just hungry

4. Stroll Around The City

You can’t really go wrong in Montreal. One of my favorite neighborhoods in Montreal is Plateau Mont Royal, but to be fair there are a lot of really interesting areas. Stroll around the city, eat some of the best bagels you can imagine, visit the Jean-Talon Market or walk on the beautiful St. Paul’s Street. The best way to discover it is to simply walk around Montreal, marvel at the beautiful architecture, browse the local shops, sit at one of the many cafés and indulge in some people-watching. Montreal also has an area called The Gay Village, with a lot of colorful lights and a bit suspect art too, but it’s…. Uhm, interesting!

Never thought I was going to say it, but I’m surrounded by snakes in the Gay Village in Montreal

5. Take a Montreal food tour

The best, and maybe most expensive bagels I’ve ever had. So good!

Montreal is nothing if not a foodie city. Montrealers love to treat themselves to a night out and have a good meal. In fact, Montreal technically has more restaurants per capita than New York City! Rememember to wear your eating pants for sure in this city.. I had my best bagel ever in La Fabrique De Bagel in Montreal.. Food is just in general really good here, yet prices are pretty expensive.

That’s It Montreal

Goodbye Montreal for now.. It was a lot of fun, happy I came here in the Summer time, as winters in most Canadian cities, including Montreal, are extremely cold. Make sure you visit in July or August preferably! Now I’m off to Quebec City where I’ll spend the next couple of days.. Can anybody teach me French?

Te voir.. Bonne journée!