The first surprise is the rush-hour traffic, which delays our entrance into Montreal for an hour. As the car inches slowly across the Pont Jacques-Cartier, I can see the city below. There is downtown with its cluster of grey high rises. There, in the distance, is Parc du Mont Royal, like a dense forest climbing up a hillside.

Just to the north-east, there is La Ronde, an amusement park built for the 1967 world fair. It is all so close I can almost touch it … but then somebody honks their horn.