Montreal, the largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris, is one of the most exciting metropolises of North America.

It is truly the gastronomic capital of the world with a very large number of restaurants serving food from all over the globe.  For the more adventurous it also boasts the largest number of strip joints of any city in North America.  Things are kept in balance though through an equal number of beautiful churches. Drinking age is the lowest in North America thus attracting alcohol starved American teenagers.

Unfortunately, it also happens to be one of the coldest with temperatures falling to -30°C during January and February. A white sheet of snow usually covers Montreal from November to April.

Montreal has recently become very popular with Pakistani students due to the relatively cheaper cost of education at McGill University that is considered one of the best in the world.

Having spent 25 years in Montreal, starting as a reckless student to a constrained husband and a workingman and finally as a responsible father of two children, I can claim some sort of bragging rights over the city.  So here is a little candid picture guide to the inimitable “Ville de Montreal”.  In order to encourage travel to Montreal, pictures from the winters have been censored. - Text and Photos by Vaqar Ahmed