Perth/Montreal

There are so many times when I think about Montreal, and how much I miss it. When I visited in the winter, despite the cold weather I fell in love with the city all over again.

Montreal and Perth are neck and neck in the e

valuation of best cities to live in overall, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.

Here are the results, 1-25:   

1. Zurich, Switzerland

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Geneva, Switzerland

4. Vancouver, Canada

5. Auckland, New Zealand

6. Dusseldorf, Germany

7. Munich, Germany

8. Frankfurt, Germany

9. Bern, Switzerland

10. Sydney, Australia

11. Copenhagen, Denmark

12. Wellington, New Zealand

13.

 Amsterdam, Netherlands

14. Brussels, Belgium

15. Toronto, Canada

16. Berlin, Germany

17. Melbourne, Australia

18. Luxembourg, Luxembourg

19. Ottawa, Canada

20. Stockholm, Sweden

21. Perth, Australia

22. Montreal, Canada

23. Nuremberg, Germany

24. Oslo, Norway

25. Dublin, Ireland

Important criteria are safety, educat

ion, hygiene, recreation, political-economic stability and public transportation. 

Perth receives its high score for comfortable-

beautiful weather, proximity to the ocean and beaches, parks, low unemployment rate, cleanliness, etc. As a city Perth loses out in terms of burglary rates, high housing costs, public transit, being one of the most isolated cities in the world and limited options for going out.

Personally, I think Perth is a beautiful city. I would give it major points for a lot of the people, the foliage, animals and birds, the weather, great asian restaurants and proximity to beautiful places like Margaret River...I would say that its drawbacks are that things are very spread out, making a night out a bit annoying, unless you're in Northbridge clubbing. The isolation factor is a problem in terms of travel - it can be difficult, time co

nsuming and expensive to get anywhere, since Perth is so far from everything. The transport system is not that great. Perth is pricey, but wages are good. Shopping is not great at all, I have problems finding decent clothes and shoes here.

Montreal gets points for recreation, culture, lo

w housing costs, education and universities,relatively low crime, public transport. It loses out with traffic/roads, the rough winters, taxes, politics and the language tension in Quebec.

For me, Montreal is excellent, there is always something to do.  It is a city with a lot of culture, there is great nightlife. And hockey! Summers are great, and it's when the city puts on festivals, the most fun for me is the Montreal Jazz Festival. M

ontreal has a really good music scene. Since it's central, it's easy to travel to Europe, the US and the Caribbean, among other places. Public transport is good, although late at night it can be troublesome.

The weather can be a problem - the winters are very cold, and very long. Public transport is relatively expensive, the roads and traffic are pretty bad. One big problem is the political instability and the tension between languages. I'll elaborate on some of this another time.

It's a tough one...

Maybe it's just best to go with one closer to the top of the list.