Hate winter? Hate the cold? This is how you make the most of it - or avoid it altogether - according to Canadian Dominick Merle. If you can’t take the cold, keep out of C-C-C- Canada . That’s what we hear all the time up here in the so-called Far North.
Nonsense. There are a number of ways to grin and bear it in the worst of a Canadian winter . And Montreal in particular has an ace in the hole.
Literally. A vast underground city that stretches for over 30km and leads into hotels, shops, office buildings, restaurants - just about anything you need to stay warm and alive. Businessmen have been known to arrive here in the dead of winter, check into a hotel, spend a few days on the job and never see a snowflake.
More on Montreal’s underground later. Let’s begin with the basics. Many homeowners rent or buy canvas tents to cover their driveways and vehicles.
Consequently, one can drive to downtown Montreal , into an underground parking lot linked to the underground city, spend the day working or at leisure, and never have to put on a boot, toque or scarf. READ MORE: Everything you need to know about visiting Canada . Those without tents hire snow clearance services (upwards of $1200 a season).
After a heavy snowfall, the little snow-clearing plows zigzag along every which way, making residential neighbourhoods look like amusement parks. Of course, there are those who choose to do their own shovelling as part of a fitness routine and who are actually disappointed when it’s.