St Cath in my humble opinion represents the main busy-bee area for shopping, commerce, pedestrian sights, sounds and smells of downtown MTL. It really is a kaleidoscope for your sensory perception. Visual, auditory, scent and of course taste. It's a wonderful place for a social anthropologist or the everyday citizen-visitor to come experience Montreal and the vibe of the city in centre-ville. This street runs a long way. A long long way from east to west. You can check out the pink balls (put up in summer of 2016) over in the east end Gay Village or head to the west end of St Cath where a plethora of Asian restaurants- cafes of super high quality inexpensive food can be found. Sure the vibe is completely different in summertime. This is in my opinion when MTL comes most alive. Starting around F1 weekend (1st weekend of June) it's the start of the summer festival season. Street festivals and people can be found at all hours of the day soaking in the sun feeling joyful and enjoying the awesomeness of our fleeting warm southern type weather. Winter can be harsh. Wind can whip through St Cath like a wind tunnel. This is the time where people appear to be moving to their destination at a much faster pace or to connect to the underground tunnels and modes of transportation to take us to and from the downtown. To come to MTL is to visit St Cath. Be courteous to others and try not to get run over by a honking car as pedestrians play secondary roles in the ecosystem of traffic in downtown MTL.