Business Contacts
Mobile phone hire Hello Anywhere is one of the better phone-rental services in Montreal. They handle everything, even delivery and pickup of the cell phone, pager or satellite phone to and from wherever you're staying. Tel: 1 888 729 4355 helloanywhere.com. Car hire Most major car-rental companies do business in Montreal and are listed in the Montreal Yellow Pages (yellowpages.ca). All have counters at the airport and in the city centre.
• Budget (514 938 1000)
• Hertz (514 842 8537)
• Avis (514 866 2847)
• Thrifty (514 989 7100)
Office rental ExecuSpace offers two Montreal locations, one in the heart of downtown and one at Pointe Claire in the western suburbs. www.execspace.comor tel: 514 697 9600 or 514 866 5578. A similar service for both physical and 'virtual' offices is Decision 1 in Place Ville Marie (www.decision1.com or tel: 514 866 0232) Secretarial services Several are listed in the Montreal Yellow Pages (yellowpages.ca) under Secretarial Services or Word Processing. Also, most office rental businesses will sell you secretarial services.
Excursions
In the summer, calèches or horse -drawn carriages seem almost as common as cars. Standard rates are C$35 for a half-hour or C$60 for an hour, although some drivers are willing to negotiate.
The Laurentian Mountains: This mountain range, one of the oldest in the world, draws thousands of tourists every year. The skiing is as good as it gets, and the virgin wilderness makes it terrific for hiking and mountain or rock climbing. The village of Saint Sauveur, 60 km north of Montreal, is a jewel, with many quaint shops, boutiques and restaurants in its historic centre. The nearby slopes (www.montsaintsauveur.com) offer magical night skiing. Further north, 130 km from Montreal, is Mont-Tremblant, the highest mountain in the region and a major ski and outdoors centre. laurentides.com.
Quebec City: Scarcely any North American city is as unabashedly Old World as Quebec City. Founded in 1608, this is the oldest continuously inhabited city anywhere north of Mexico. It is where French and English met in 1760 in the climactic battle that led to British domination of Canada. You can visit the site of the battlefield, known as the Plains of Abraham. With its tightly packed stone houses from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, its quaint boutiques and narrow cobblestone streets, the old city centre is filled with character. Quebec City is like no place on earth during the famous Quebec Winter Carnival (Carnaval de Québec), when the entire city engages in one big outdoor funfest – a veritable Mardi Gras in the snow! For Carnival info, check www.carnaval.qc.ca Ottawa: Canada's centre of government, is a two-hour car ride from Montreal, or easily reachable by train or coach. Guided tours of the Parliament Buildings (including the Peace Tower and the beautiful Library of Parliament) are offered year-round, and when the House of Commons is in session, access is provided to the visitors' gallery. Officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stand guard in their traditional scarlet regalia, and each morning during the summer there is an elaborate changing-ofthe-guard ceremony on the grounds of Parliament. In the winter, ice skating along a carefully manicured seven km stretch of the Rideau Canal is not to be missed. Museums of interest include the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilisation and the Canadian War Museum. The Royal Canadian Mint also receives visitors. Links to these and many other area attractions can be found at www.ottawa.ca.
Local press
English: The Gazette is Montreal's only English-language daily newspaper. Founded in 1778, it is one of the oldest newspapers in North America. The Friday edition contains a comprehensive listing of films, exhibitions and various cultural events happening in and around Montreal. The Globe and Mail and the National Post are self-styled national newspapers, published in Toronto but widely distributed in Montreal. The Globe and Mail is the closest Canada has to a newspaper of record, with strong political and business coverage. The National Post, founded by Conrad Black (though no longer under his control), has a distinct right-wing tilt.
French: La Presse is, by many accounts, the most readable of Montreal's daily newspapers. Coverage is reasonably comprehensive, augmented bycorrespondents' reports from around the world and closer to home. Le Devoir is a fusty intellectual newspaper. The Saturday edition is strong on books and culture. Le Journal de Montreal, Montreal's largest- circulation newspaper, is a trashy tabloid. Montreal has four entertainment weeklies (two in French, two in English), all published on Thursday and distributed free in racks at numerous locations. Very useful for cultural listings. The competing English weeklies are Hour and Mirror, and their French counterparts are Voir and Ici.