Return to Montreal

'UN P'TI tour, monsieur?' The caleche driver's inimitable patois rolled down from the front seat of a handsome cream-coloured rig as he touted for business. 'Non, merci, un peu plus tard, peut-etre,' I answered, begging off reluctantly.

It would be nice to sit back in the fake plush of his carriage and pass a leisurely hour taking in the quaint face of Old Montreal, where many of the early chapters of Canada were written. But it was equally pleasant to be on foot, especially as early evening settled in over Place d'Armes, the dying light dressing the cool stone statue of de Maisonneuve, Montreal's founder, in a soft yellowish glow.

I had been in Montreal for a week, rediscovering some of the sights, sounds and smells of the city where I lived until the early 1980s. There was the rich and pungent onion soup at La Crepe Bretonne, the harsh neon tackiness of rue Sainte Catherine as it crawls east toward the Jacques-Cartier bridge and, best of all, the architectural styles spanning three centuries.

Everyone still jaywalked and spoke in joual, the hybrid street slang of the French-speaking Montrealais (phrases such as 'lavez mes windows' for 'wash my windows' and 'changez mes tires' for 'change my tyres').

Along the broad, elegant sweep of rue Sherbrooke, women - their outfits screaming Milan, Paris or London - still swished through the doors of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Further along the street, the ornate mansions of wealthy, 19th-century Canadians were still graceful and imposing despite their modern guise as shop fronts and offices. Off the boulevard Saint-Laurent the maze of alleyways in the old Jewish quarter were as congested and intimate as ever. And in the early mornings, when the city was just beginning to stir, Chez Gauthier on the avenue du Parc was still baking its seductive croissants and the merchants of the marche Jean Talon, Montreal's principal market, donned huge white aprons over their thick woollen sweaters and primped their produce for another day.

Unlike other North American cities whose postcard images mask something darker, a harsher reality of high crime and decaying buildings, Montreal is a story-book place where a European past and a North American present come together in a vibrant mix. With a population of roughly two million, it is one of the largest bilingual cities in the world and the major metropolis of the French-speaking province of Quebec, which has struggled for generations to protect its language and heritage in the midst of a country and continent that are overwhelmingly English-speaking. The separatist Parti Quebecois, which now forms the provincial government after victory at the polls last year, has vowed to hold a referendum this year on whether Quebec should continue to remain a part of Canada.