Hello, 

I went back to Montreal on June 16th, after three years without flying because of the covid19. 
Actually, the weather was very bad and my flight to Montreal has been cancelled. The pilots decided to land in Quebec city. I was a bit disappointed, because I paid for a flight Paris-Montreal and not Paris-Quebec city. Due to the storm, the Montreal airport was closed, and the chaos started. We had to stay in a hotel and waiting for a next flight. However, the next flight was planned on June 17th, at the end of day.

I could't wait more, and lose another day here, and it's completely stupid (and not sustainable) to take another flight for 30 minutes. Thank you Air France for your sustainable actions, but it's not a good one. I preferred to visit the city and my family living there, then I took a bus to Montreal for 2 hours.

When I was arrived in Montreal, there was a heavy rain. Then I realized that I had taken only outfits for summer. During the week, I had like 3 sunny days, and almost rain and heavy wind. 

To be honest, Montreal is not my favourite city in Canada. I don't understand why people in Quebec want to promote french as a language, but most of people are only speaking english. Wherever you go in that city, there are almost english speakers only.

If you use to live in a certain way, when you're a French living in Paris, it's quite difficult to adapt to Montrealer's daily life. The public transportation include like three lines for the subway, and many lines for the bus. If you want to discover the city, favour the bus. However, the bus can be late, especially during the construction season (summer season, obviously). 

Let's talk about food and fruits and vegetables. Don't buy your fruits and vegetables at the supermarket like METRO. PLEASE. It looks like plastic stuff. I prefer to buy my food to Supermarche PA Nature or to the market (such as Marché Jean Talon or Marché Côtes des Neiges). It depends on where you live. For the bread and pastries, I prefer to go to the French bakeries where you can find multigrains breads. 

And what about the daily life ? There are not a lot of choices when it comes to visit the city. The city is quite small, with different districts. My favourite ones are : Le Plateau-Mont Royal, the Old Montreal and that's it. The restaurants and the café are almost all based over there. If you want to go shopping, you have two departments stores : La Baie d'Hudson and Ogilvy. It's more premium range. You have the Eaton Mall with a lot of affordable stores. I love going to Jean Coutu. That kind of store doesn't exist in France. It's like a mix of a pharmacy and a supermarket, and you can find cosmetics and makeup brands like Lise Watier. 

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In July, I went to Cabourg for the first time, because my favorite writer is Marcel Proust. I have always wanted to go there and discover the small city. As a great fan of French Literature, I love enjoying places known for their literary dimension such as The Grand Hotel which was the first luxury hotel in town. Actually, if you love classic French literature, I'm pretty sure you know Marcel Proust and his novel "In Search of Lost Time". Between 1907 and 1914, Proust used to stay in this hotel, on the 4th floor, in room 414.  This small city is located on the Côte Fleurie, in Normandy. 

In this fictional autobiography, the narrator spends time in Balbec, a fictive city inspired by Cabourg. ​The story is told by two distinct characters who are the same and unique person: the narrator as a young boy and the other side, as an older man remembering his childhood. Furthermore, the two main themes are the frustrated desire of Proust to become a writer, and the other one is his despair at the corroding effect of Time which makes every human feeling and experiences fade to nothing. 

From a fisherman's village to an attractive city 

Cabourg has been transformed into a modern and attractive city for wealthy Parisians, at the end of the 19th century. Today, the city is still a seaside resort in Normandy.  It's also a romantic city where each year, in June, an international film festival takes place, and a music festival named "Cabourg, Mon Amour".