Going Underground: Touring Montreal's RÉSO

It's ten below zero F, snowing, and I have some shopping to do.  What do I care?   

It's less than a four-minute walk to the subway station and I'll spend most of my day roaming the city in climate-controlled comfort. 

Montreal's streets are a traffic nightmare, but beneath them lies another city and this one is only for pedestrians. Officially it's known as RÉSO, for réseau (network, as in a network of tunnels) but everyone refers to it as The Underground City or La Ville Souterraine.  It's the largest public underground complex in the world and over 500,000 people walk through at least a portion of it every weekday.  

The underground city has over 33 kilometers of walkways that link nine metro stations and four major shopping centers.  It includes hotels, apartment complexes, the central train station, banks, condominiums, museums, universities, theaters, cinemas, the regional bus station, the Bell Centre, and convention centers, and is connected to 80% of all office space and 35% of all retail space in the downtown. There are more than 150 points of entry and it's spread over 12 square kilometers (4.6 sq mi.).  This is just the portion that's open to the public; who knows how many miles of maintenance tunnels and private corridors exist?  However, the practical reality is that anyone who works, studies, or lives adjacent to a subway station is part of this vast complex regardless of how many miles they are from the downtown core.

I exit the Peel metro station into Les Cours Mont-Royal. This elegant commercial center is filled with high-end designers like Armani, Valentino, Prada, Givenchy, Versace, and the Canadian DKNY flagship store.  Developed on the site of the famous Mont Royal Hotel, certain highlights, most notably the tiled ceiling and beaded chandelier on the third floor level, were incorporated into the grand atrium. I discover a raised fashion catwalk in front of DKNY with a staircase that seems to ascend between skyscrapers beneath a vast glass roof. I could wear an Italian suit in this public food court and blend right in. Food vendors at this venue have less-familiar names like Sukiyaki (Japanese), Mme Vanellis (pastas and pizza), Villa Madina (Mediterranean), and Au Vieux Duluth (Greek), and seating is beneath crystal chandeliers.  Not bad for fast food.

A few steps down and around the corner, and haute couture is left abruptly behind for more plebeian retail ventures.  Less than 100 yards separates the Les Cours Mont-Royal food court from one located in the Carrefour Industrial Alliance complex, but never the twain shall meet.  This is one of the city's WiFi hotspots, and Montreal's largest discount clothing store and the Paramount cinema are immediately overhead.  This draws a different, younger crowd and both the retail shops and fast food vendors reflect this abrupt demographic shift.