Montreal is a beautiful city, but it is a large city and all the signs are in French, so we have done our share of getting lost. We did figure out the bus system (with some help) and took it into the city the first two days. The first day was more just getting our bearings, hitting the information place, and doing the stupid stuff we always seem to do the first day in cities, i.e., picking the first decent looking restaurant we saw, and paying a large amount of money for a very mediocre meal, stopping for a drink later in the afternoon and paying $30 for a glass of wine each, etc. On the positive side, we did a lot of walking and saw a very impressive evening show at the Notre Dame Cathedral. And we found our way back to the bus station!

In the next couple of days, we visited neighborhoods I had read about on internet sites. We were walking for blocks looking for an Afghanistan restaurant named Khyber Pass when we asked directions. Coincidentally, the two men, one Moroccan and one Iranian, were looking for the same restaurant, so we walked together. During the conversation, the Iranian man suggested that one day during our visit, we should go to a restaurant run by friends of his -
Byblo Café. He told us to be sure to tell them that Babak had sent us. The next day we followed his suggestion. When we told the owner of the referral, she took over. Altho she gave us a menu and told us about the daily specials, when we chose those, she told us we were wrong and then told us the 5 or 6 “small plates” we should order…..and of course we did…..and it was delicious. Very different from all the other middle eastern food we have had. When we ordered the hot soup, she also brought the cold one. Even though we did not order dessert, one appeared on our table. When I ordered coffee at the end of the lunch, she came running over to tell me I must have tea instead. I am not sure why she put us through the exercise of even ordering, but it was a delightful experience.

Another highlight of that day was the Marche Jean-Talon, a beautiful outdoor market. The produce and flowers were beautiful, and it was surrounded by specialty stores – bakeries, spice shops, cheese shops, ethnic food shops, etc. If I wanted to live in any one place (which I certainly don’t), it would be near a market like that one.

A canal was built years ago to re-route commercial traffic around the rapids in the St. Lawrence river. The canal is now only used for pleasure craft and a great multi-purpose trail has been built beside it – La Chine Historical Trail. Saturday, we took our bikes into town and couldn’t believe that we found a free (and available) parking lot at one of the trail entrances. Parking is always a challenge for us in any non-English speaking city since we are never sure what is legal and what isn’t, and live in horror of trying to get our Jeep out of the pound.

Anyway, we ended up cycling about 20 miles, including a stop at the Atwater Market, not quite as nice as Jean-Talon, but still great. I found an Italian market with great looking paninis, so carbs-be-damned, I ordered a ham, brie, and pesto sandwich, hot, gooey, and crispy, right out of the panini machine. My first big splurge in months, and I didn’t regret a minute of it. Besides, you can’t possibly gain weight when you cycle 20 miles, can you?

Sunday, we went back to our parking space and cycled the other direction, although as it turned out , it wasn’t in the right direction. We found ourselves going over a bridge to an island, with a long line of very aggressive bikers following us, keeping us from stopping and turning around. But, we did end up exploring the island and found that it held the track for the Formula One races, which made for a great biking track. We left the island and returned to our car to decide where we went wrong, and found the direction towards Old Montreal. Since they were celebrating St. Jean-Baptiste Day, the annual commemoration of the French settling Quebec province, there were lots of activities, and we spent a pleasant hour listening to a small orchestra playing Beatles tunes. Although we only rode about 10 miles, my legs were plenty sore from the day before, and I was pretty whiny before we made it back to the car.

Montreal is a beautiful and very international city, with lots of great little neighborhoods and the fact that we did more biking and walking than riding in the car gave us a much better feel for it. I would recommend it.

Now, off to Quebec City……

We have landed in Montreal, although have not been to the city yet. We had two somewhat predictably frustrating days on the road – nothing bad happened, but each day we ended up in rush hour traffic and then took one wrong turn finding our campground – they don’t tend to have those nice big parking lots where you can make a Winnie u-turn. And whatever the Canadians spend their 46% income taxes on, it isn’t their highways! (As we were bouncing down the road, I heard a crash and saw that the piece of ceiling molding had fallen off over the stove, taking the plastic vent cover from the microwave with it!) Those times are a little like childbirth – luckily we forget them quickly, or wouldn’t ever do it again - but then the rewards are well worth it! Monday night we stayed at a beautiful provincial park right on Lake Ontario – our site overlooked the water. We considered staying a second night there, but the weather on Tuesday was pretty gloomy and we moved on.

I knew that the province of Quebec is French speaking, but I guess I didn’t realize how exclusively French it is – all the road sign, all the brochures we have received so far, etc. And me without my French dictionary. We have been told the people can be very rude to English speakers, but I tend to think that is more a big city issue – Mom and I made it in Paris, so we should be able to make it here. After all, I groveled for a living for 35 years, so a little groveling to get a great meal shouldn’t be a big deal.

We are now watching Canadian TV (I forgot to shut the door to the compartment that holds the DirecTV receiver which jiggled loose and it fell right in my lap, ripping out the cable that hooks to the satellite – a trip to a Radio Shack is scheduled for today). But meanwhile, I am becoming a loyal watcher of Canadian Idol – they just made it to the final 22 J Luckily, they have English speaking as well as French speaking news programs.

There is a train station just 2 km away and a bus station a bit further, so are going to try to do all mass transit while we are here – we are 18 miles outside the city. This weekend is a 3 day holiday (we have a knack for hitting those), and we have been advised not to take the car in. There is a great canal bike trail, so assuming we can take them on the train, are looking forward to that,

Our next stop was Detroit, where we stayed with daughter Karen and her husband, James while we visited friends and family. We found that we have two superstar grandson baseball players and enjoyed several games.

We had a wonderful time in Grand Rapids with my son, Stephen and his girlfriend, Julie at Stephen's friends, Jill and Doug's wedding. On Friday, the four of us drove to Saugatuck for a great lunch and a short walk on the beach of Lake Michigan.

We left Jojoba Hills SKP RV Resort in Aguanga CA on April 20, and headed to Iowa to spend a month with my Mom and sister, Sarah, in Indianola and to get Mom's house ready to sell - one of those experiences we all dread, but must endure. At least with our lifestyle, it will take our kids about 1/2 hour to do the same some day!!

After leaving, we spent 2 nights in Coal City, IL with Boomer friends Linda and Sonny Kingsbury (and wannabee, Janet Planeta :-)) and are now in Crystal MI visiting Jojoba Hills friends, Bill and Sharon Hepburn, on their beautiful island. Our next stop will be 9 days in Detroit visiting family and friends, and then back to Grand Rapids, and finally, the beginning of our adventure to the Maritime Provinces.