Friday, July 18, 2008

Montreal, QC, July 18th

Montreal, Quebec, remember that other country and they’re having a party ‘Just for me’…actually the party is ‘Just for laughs’ and I picked the right weekend to be in town. More to come, but how about the pictures of today’s ride, which you won’t find? It was one of those days, rain all the way from Quebec City to here that it took a little longer than the 2 ½ hours I figured the 3 hour drive would take and it took a lot out of me for some reason. Probably feeling a little tense when you can’t see the road as well as you should and go by the feel, but the feel was there that I made it without incident.

As for last nights partying, I didn’t make the walk up the hill to where all the other places were open until 3:00. I caught pictures of that street on my way into town before reaching the wall and since it’s the tourist trap, I might as well just hang out at the pub I was in. And the same lesson for the bar tender, you know, how you leave money on the bar to cover your drinks. He told me that I had to pay for my other drinks and that’s where I mentioned the same thing to him as I did Annie, but like he said, that moneys mine (you know, me) and not his and that’s why they don’t take what they need. I put it another way, that the bar is his (you know him) and not mine that whatever is left on the bar he gets when the night is done. Doesn’t that sound about right?

Well, it sure was nice getting that hour back and being able to sleep in a little, but I do remember being woke up in the middle of the night. Apparently someone in the room was snoring loud enough that they were asked to roll over, well maybe those wheat beers aren’t the ones I should’ve had last night, but they tasted so good. Anyway, still got to sleep in and part of that was because I could hear how wet it was outside with the traffic going by. The hostel is in the old part of town and I did capture some pictures while riding around back to the hostel. Narrow streets, many still cobblestone and all of the old buildings which all have something going on. It’s quite the place and must’ve been the part of town surrounded by the wall. No, not the German wall which fell down, but the city wall.

The 400 year celebration that Quebec City is having is really kicking it up a notch that the hostel is full for the weekend that even if I wanted to stay for another day, I couldn’t that it was time to move on, and since I already have reservations, I’ll be making the trip whether rain or shine and the weather was rain. There were a number of people who stopped and talked to me outside the hostel and the one common question other than what kind of gas mileage does the bike get, you know klicks to the liter, but how much did it cost. A few interesting people stopping, but the last one was an older guy from England semi retired doing a lot of traveling like the younger folks I’ve met along the way. Staying at hostels and taking trains, planes and hitchhiking rides to get to where he needs to go. Well, maybe not the hitchhiking, but doing a lot of traveling with no worries about when he needs to be back…remember, semi retired.

The longer people kept me the more it started to sprinkle that it was time to don the rain gear and not worry about getting on the other side of it on my way to Montreal, cuz that was the direction it was coming from. Again, checkout the pictures of the ride, but I did decide against the scenic route, cuz as long as there’s rain, I just want to get there so I can relax and start the partying.

I eventually found the hostel that Kat was so kind to setup for me, but it took a bit of work since I didn’t stop at a visitor’s center on the way into town. I’m sure I went right by it, but was following one of the few signs I understood, the ‘?’ to the center city visitore, info, and sure enough, I have to go back a bit from where I came. You would think the visitors center, ‘?’ would be easy to find, but it was tough following the signs and 8 klicks into downtown after getting off the highway that for the few ‘?’ signs that I did see, sometimes it had me wondering whether I missed a turn somewhere or not. I must’ve of eventually found it cuz I’m unpacked, showered and down on St. Denis street ready to party.

Ok, someone said they speak more English in Montreal than the do Quebec City and that their more friendly than those from Quebec City toward Americans, but so far I’m finding the opposite to be true. The women I stopped to ask for bars, food, etc in Quebec City were willing to help me out, where here I’ve already gotten a few that played the game that they can’t speak English. Oh well, I did find a nice place and had a little lasagna which was great and am now having a few brews with Alain and Gabrielle. Time to finish this story, take the laptop back to the hostel and come out for the party, which according to Pete, my buddy from Wasaga beach, the party starts at 11:00.

Tomorrow you’ll have to see where the travels lead me, because right now I haven’t decided which route or town I’m gonna visit next.

Only city pixs

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