The province of Quebec might be called a poor man's Europe. Or Europe for beginners. It has an exchange rate, but teh currency is still dollars and cents. It has a foreign language, but nearly everybody also speaks English. It's road signs read French, but people drive American cars.

Yet to cast Quebec and its two main cities, Montreal and quebec City, into the role of "Europe 101" for U.S. travelers is just a beginning. Montreal, and provincial capital Quebec City, about 150 miles apart, (and some 1,700 from Fargo-Moorhead) claim a distinct North American culture of their own, a sometimes startling melange of French and English on an American plate.

Quebec City, elder of the two, is one of North Americas oldest settlements, established twelve years before the Pilgrims sailed. Thoroughly French, for another century and one-half North America's premier commercial and military capital built fortifications to fight off British opportunism until finally capitulating in 1759. The conquerors, fearing further attacks, added to the fortifications. Visitors still may visit the citadel and stone walls. Montreal was settled a little later, in 1642, and was at first the less important of the two French colonies. Big ships then could not reach past Quebec City up the shallow St. Lawrence.

But Montreal did play a major role in the French fur trade. It was home to many of the voyageurs who paddled Minnesota's Boundary Waters for the majority of the 17th and 18th centuries. Montreal, too, attracted the British, who gained it finally along with Quebec just before the American Revolution. Less known is that revolutionary rebels from the American colonies also conquered Montreal--for six months America ruled this Canadian city, in hopes the French too would revolt against King George III. They didn't.

That common history so important to our own nation makes these two cities more than just a bit of Europe. And 200 years of British-French tension explains the almost schizophrenic bilingualism today. No shop or street signs can be in English, according to provincial law, despite that a strong minority of residents call English their mother tongue.

Yet streets like "rue Rene Levesque" jut into "rue Stanley," vigorously French neighboring staunching English. "I went to an English-speaking high school," said an artist in Quebec City's outdoor art market, with pride, in a city that looks as thoroughly French as Lyons. "I had to learn French for self-defence." An anglophone Quebec boutique clerk confided, "Sure, they'll answer in English now, but after the tourist season, you'd better not speak to anyone in English here."

From the Francophone side, Montreal's 4 French-language daily newspapers leave readers with a distinctly anti-Anglo aftertaste, although to Anglophone tourists they show no hostility. And the city's English-language daily, The Gazette, seems unmistakably anti-francophone.

Always "we" and "they": it is no wonder the province of Quebec seethes with the secessionist debate. It's all the more fascinating for visitors like us who are looking for something really different on our continent, yet still know they can drink the water.

Montreal offers all the amenities of a major city, plus the charm of the Old Quarter and its excellent ethnic restaurants, especially French. Quebec City offers the squiggly narrow streets of Europe's old towns, and the only city wall in North America, good dining, art shopping, and sightseeing. In fact, while the more urban Montreal has the top stores and a stunning botanical garden, which includes a Japanese and Chinese garden and extensive bonsai collection, Quebec City is a strollers' delight. Dozens of boutiques offer unusual gifts, and specialize in fine art.

Walking in the old city is best, but keep in mind that Quebec City is build on a bluff, and divided a lower city and upper city. A network of stairways (one is named "break-neck stairs") connect the two. When you're tired of step aerobics, you can of course take public transport or the funicular railway.

Both cities are not cheap, but non-Canadians may apply for a tax rebate of up to 15 percent on merchandise and lodging. And while Quebec City has tarted up its old town to the point where it brushes the definition of tourist trap. Yet if you're going to Montreal, you really owe it to your apprciation of the area to make a visit. Don't worry about the language barrier--they'll greet you in French, but nearly always switch to English with a friendly smile. This is not, after all, Paris.

For more information: Tourist Bureau, Gouvernement du Quebec, 800 Place Victoria, bureau 316, Montreal H4Z 1B7 Canada. Tel: 1-800-363-7777.


CUTLINE, CUT AND PASTE UNDER PHOTO:
The Plains of Abraham offer a brooding site for a stroll. On this battlefield France lost the colony to the British during the French and Indian Wars.