Bienvenue à Montréal: The Underground takes on the underground city
- Mikayla Boyd
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
By: Mikayla Boyd, Editor-in-Chief
Have you ever been walking in the tunnels at Canisius and thought, “Man, I wish I could get around the Greater Buffalo area underground and escape the cold winter?” Well, I did just that in Montreal, along with many other fun activities! This past week, Canisius’ Model United Nations attended Concordia University’s ConMun in Montreal, Quebec, and the eight members who traveled got to explore RÉSO, which is Montreal’s underground city, along with the fine restaurants and activities that were in it and connected by it.
RÉSO is an underground network of connected office buildings, hotels, restaurants and more, which pedestrians can use to escape the frigid Montreal winters. This came in handy on my recent trip there because when we arrived in Montreal, the ground was coated in an inch of ice due to a recent freezing rain storm, and the weather was below freezing for almost the entirety of our trip. Many of the locations connected by the RÉSO were complexes, which can be anything from shopping malls to restaurants to government offices. In fact, our hotel where the conference was held was in the Quartier des Spectacles, a major cultural neighborhood, and was connected to the Complexe Desjardins, a shopping mall that houses many restaurants, a grocery store and several retail stores. Also connected by the RÉSO was the nearby Place des Arts, which is an interesting performing arts center that doubles as a metro station. Given that it was all connected, we were able to leave our hotel, walk through the Complexe Desjardins, head to the metro station and take the metro to the social functions that followed the conference each day (and Montreal does not play when it comes to a social function).
Inside the Complexe Desjardins and the underground city were also many of the dining places of our trip: Baton Rouge Steakhouse, Eggspectation for breakfast (two mornings in a row), Belluci Italia and many lunch options in their Rendez-Vous Food Court. On our first night, we chose to dine at Belluci Italia, which offered fine Italian food. I got the cacio e pepe gnocchi, and while my palate may not be refined enough, I do prefer the Trader Joe’s cacio e pepe gnocchi. I did hear great things from the other Model UN group members, though! Next morning, we visited Eggspectation, which was a good breakfast spot. We came back here the next day because our server was very kind and the food was delicious! Their eggs – as one would assume – were their specialty. Finally, we ended the trip at Baton Rouge, which is a small local Quebec chain that Lily McMenemy remarked was “like a Canadian Applebee’s.” The food was decently reliable and they had many options! I would give it a solid 8.5/10.
Outside of the Complexe Desjardins, Concordia University (who hosted the Model UN conference) also hosted a couple of events on their campus. For these, our group took the metro two stops from the Place des Arts to the Concordia University campus. One night, they had line dancing at a local tavern, and the next, they had a delegate social at Reggie’s, Concordia’s student-run bar. With the legal age of alcohol consumption being 18 in Quebec, we Americans found it interesting that the university had its own social spot for students and thought it was a cultural difference of note. The public transportation that got us to and from the social events was also spectacular. With trains running every three to eight minutes until the wee hours of the morning and the buses running 24/7, there was always an easy way back to home sweet Complexe Desjardins.
Outside in the Quartier des Spectacles, there were many public art installations and even lights that acted as art, lighting up the snow-covered streets in dancing hues of purple, blue, red and pink. Even small things, like the ice wrapped around the tree branches after the ice storm, were lit up in beautiful colors because of the installation. On our first day (before we discovered the RÉSO), we took a walk to Crew Collective and Cafe, a cafe housed in the old Royal Bank of Canada. The architecture was beautiful, with high and beautifully painted ceilings and antique decor. It was after our frigid walk to Crew Cafe that we were determined to take on the underground city, so we pulled our maps out and started in the Centre de Commerce Mondial, working our way through the Palais des Congres, Complexe Guy-Favreau and back to the Complexe Desjardins!
On our last day, we ventured to Old Montreal for breakfast (this time, taking the RÉSO for most of the way to avoid the cold), and we saw beautiful old buildings. Finally, one of the most interesting parts of visiting Montreal (and Quebec) is how everybody is bilingual in French and English, which I found incredibly fun as someone who took French all of my years in high school and keep up with my French every day on Duolingo (shoutout to my 1129 day streak). I took full advantage of reading the signs in French and thanking waiters with an overly joyful merci (always receiving a pleasant de rien in return). Overall, Montreal was full of vibrant people and places, and the underground city was one of the most interesting concepts I have ever witnessed – I can’t wait to visit again, but for now, au revoir!