Canada - Montreal

I was greeted at Montreal Airport by my Quebecois friend David and stayed one night at his house in Saint-Hyacinthe, which sits directly downwind of a large chocolate factory. I think this explains why he has such a good looking girlfriend (CV - are you taking notes?). The next morning I taught him a thing or two about tennis before heading to my hostel in the city.

At 3.7 million, Montreal is the largest city in Quebec, the second largest in Canada and has as much cultural diversity as any I've seen. Although the official language is French, everyone is also at least semi-fluent in English and usually a couple of other languages too, just to make me feel inadequate. Almost every kind of food is on offer and i never had a bad meal – from 3am, $3 kebabs to a $40 French/Asian fusion extravaganza.

Purely by chance, my visit coincided with the world's largest 'International Jazz Festival'. For 10 days they filled five main stages and several smaller ones with incredible live tunes, from traditional Jazz and blues to more eclectic world music. Remarkably, all the outdoor stages were completely free with more than 50,000 people packing the streets around the most popular acts. There were also a couple of smaller pay-to-view indoor stages where little known artists like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan performed. I ebayed a ticket to my fourth Dylan show – the best yet.

I met a bunch of interesting people at my hostel, including Britney, an acrobat/gymnast from Vancouver Island, who joined me to ride rollercoasters and Salvatore, the quintessential middle-aged Italian. I was amazed at his ability to ask every good looking girl for directions, even when he wasn't going anywhere. He'd inevitably extend a dinner invitation, at which point they'd walk/run away leaving him to shrug and look for another. He wouldn't have to look far - the city has the best looking women I've seen anywhere in the world.

A series of late nights at Jazzfest saw me sleeping through most mornings, but I did manage to make the most of the afternoons. I biked around the Grand Prix circuit in the pouring rain, hiked up Mount Royal for a nice view of the city, and also explored the city's diverse architecture. Old Montreal has cobblestone streets and 17^th century buildings, while the business district is full of skyscrapers with an underground pedestrian network linking them all together. Although more of a novelty in summer, they tunnels apparently get a little busier in Winter when the outside temperature is 30 below.

Like most parts of the world with extreme weather, the locals really celebrate the long days and warmth of summer. There are huge outdoor festivals running from June through August and although the atmosphere is exciting and frantic, the friendliness of the Canadian people still shines. If you haven't already been to Montreal in summer, it really is a must – my favourite city in North America. I ended up extending my stay to 8 days, and could easily have stayed a month.

Thanks again to David for all his hospitality, unfortunately he had a very hectic week organising athletes in an international beach volleyball competition so I didn't get a chance to catch up as much I would've liked. I'm hope he can visit Australia sometime soon!