By Iris Benaroia | Billy Lila, a real estate agent, has internet-dated on and off for about seven years.

She's been on Lavalife, Match, Elite Singles, Ok Cupid and e Harmony, and has found more luck online than off.

It has grown to be the second largest French-speaking city in the world.

Part of the Hochelaga archipelago, the city itself is an island with Mount Royal (233 meters) in the city center.

You might not find your mate, but a good friend or a business associate." Her biggest frustration as a straight, single, over-40 woman, though, has to do with age.

Finding a guy your own age is tough for a gal in midlife.

But it wasn't until 1642 that Paul de Chomedey, the god-fearing Sieur de Maisonneuve, founded a small mission station here.

Enjoy samples of cider at Vermont's Cold Hollow Cider Mill and gift shop.Located in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood, the Musée des Maîtres et Artisans du Québec celebrates Quebec's French-Canadian heritage as well as traditional craftsmanship.A permanent exhibit called "From Master's Hands" presents French-Canadians' tools, furniture, metalwork, and sacred objects from the 1600s through the 1800s.The museum opens its door for free four times a year; check the website for dates.The permanent collection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal is always free to those age 30 and under.The problem, says 50-year-old Lila, is that "most of the hits I get are guys under 34, like 65% of them." She has no interest in a dude with a cougar fantasy.(All of the women we spoke to for this article asked to have their names changed for the sake of privacy.) And yet a single girl's gotta date, and doing it online can seem like a good place to start.She’s busy and finds the system efficient because she can peruse a potential beau anytime that suits her instead of trawling bars."Dating online is fun as long as you're light-hearted about it.Montréal's climate swings between the extremes of high humid heat in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter.Mont-Royal rises 233 meters above the city and is the green lung near the city center.Everyone gets in free the last Sunday of the month.This fine arts museum features European artwork dating to the Middle Ages.A stroll through this lovely park enables the visitor to see monuments to Jacques Cartier and King George VI, to spend some time by Lac-aux-Castors, and to have a look at the cemeteries on the western slope where the city's different ethnic groups have rested in peace together for centuries.From the summit, or rather from a platform below the cross, there unfolds a magnificent panorama of the whole of the 51-kilometer length of the Île de Montréal and the St. On clear days, the view extends to the Adirondack Mountains in the United States of America.