First days in Montreal

1. I still curse the day I chose Latin instead of French at school - if I become Minister of Education, I will abolish the subject, who learns a language that can only be used to communicate with Boris Johnson and the Pope? In Montreal, a few scraps of French are definitely helpful, for example, if you want to find out which garbage goes in which bin - not everyone speaks English here.

2. You often don't feel like you're in North America here: for breakfast, you get fresh croissants from the bakery instead of burgers and pancakes, ride a rental bike instead of a pickup truck to the supermarket, where you can get the most delicious European specialties (French pastries, Portuguese Natas, wheat beer...), go to the free public swimming pool after jogging, and then listen to songs played by some Montreal hipster on one of the public pianos in the park. Then you often feel like you're in Amsterdam, cannabis is legal in Canada and is used for more than just therapeutic purposes based on the smell. Only the many different squirrels (Squirrels and Chipmunks) are typical American.

3. I miss my e-bike. As great as it is that there are rental bikes here (20 euros a month, first 45 minutes for free): Montreal is hilly and the bikes are heavy AND the streets are potholed - a full suspension bike would be appropriate... Besides, there is a construction site with pretty orange detour signs on every corner, which often means taking a detour.