Test your geographical knowledge of Montreal

Spacing Montreal seems to be riding a wave of renewed blogosphere interest in Montreal. In the past two years, a bunch of good blogs with unique perspectives on the city have been launched, including Walking Turcot Yards, Coolopolis and Expo Lounge.

Fagstein is another one with frequent posts on media, culture, politics and urban issues in Montreal. When transit fares went up at the beginning of the year, it was Fagstein, and not the STM’s website or any of the major newspapers, that had the clearest and most concise list of what had changed.

One of the best things about Fagstein, though, are the occasional geographical challenges. There have been ten editions so far, each offering questions on arcane geographical trivia like this:

What do the following names have in common:

• Ste. Catherine
• Ontario
• Dorchester
• René Lévesque
• De la Gauchetière

that they do not have in common with the following:

• De Maisonneuve
• St. Jacques
• St. Antoine
• Viger
• Hochelaga

(The answer took four days to be revealed: “The first five names are the names of streets in Montreal-East and Pointe-aux-Trembles that are unconnected with their downtown namesakes. The second list is names that are not of streets in the east end, and Sherbrooke and Notre-Dame are contiguous all the way downtown.”)

Thanks to Fagstein’s quizzes, I now know even more obscure, conversation-killing facts about Montreal. It’s great fun. Keep an eye out for the next installment of the geography trivia.