Karl tossed me the link to this article published by CBS New York which began with the following paragraph:
Drive to Paris? Montreal is called "The Paris of the Americas". Highways 87 from Albany or 91 from Boston will take you to this very sophisticated, very French city.
I am not sure what the basis of this is - the article loosely talks about festivals (of which Montreal has many), food, shopping and nightlife, skimping on any kind of detail. It made me wonder if the writer truly has been to Paris, Montreal, or god-forbid - both? Or maybe whoever cared to write "very French city" were simply overwhelmed by signage and conversations in French? (Incidentally, there are some English advertising in Paris, whereas there is next- to-none in Montreal unless a French version exists alongside.)
Funnily enough, if you google for "Paris of the Americas", you get references to New Orleans and Buenos Aires. It seems to make little sense to compare cities in such a manner - where's the "London of North America", or "Rio de Janeiro of Asia"? In any case, the writing does justice to neither Paris nor Montreal, both beautiful and very different cities with personalities of their own.
Posted by sniffles at January 27, 2003 02:40 PM