We were only ready to leave Toronto by about midday because although we had fantastic intentions of being out of there earlier, we were unfortunately feeling lazy and lethargic and so it was a slow start to a long day.
Our 550km ride to Montreal…
The traffic getting out of Toronto was one of the craziest I have ever encountered. We had 550km to do to Montreal today and by the time we had done 100km, and were still in largely bumper to bumper traffic since Toronto, I had images of us getting to our hotel tonight after midnight!! In addition to midday heat, the problem with leaving so late is that the days feel so much longer and it is not unusual to start to get that late afternoon drowsy sensation that can only be cured by an IV fed gallon of espresso, or a hobo snooze on the side of the road! Guess which one we did!!
Packing the fat girl! Our daily 30 minute exercise!!
This was at km 75 outside Toronto. It didn’t really end for much of the ride to Montreal but it eased up considerably after about 100km.
We have always heard about the French influence in Canada but arriving into the province of Quebec makes you realise that the word “influence” is inadequate for the almost complete Francophone dominance in the area!! Street signs, billboards, traffic information and every other public literary display makes you question whether you are still in North America at all! Arriving into Montreal simply enforces this notion and coming into Vieux Montreal (The old city) brings the whole sensation home as you could effectively be driving in Paris, so beautiful and quaint is this place!!
We are spending the next 3 nights at a fantastic hotel called the Nelligan and upon check in we were advised that we had been upgraded to the Penthouse suite courtesy of the Hotel! BONUS!! Tomorrow we explore but tonight we eat and sleep!!
Pete
September 2, 2013 at 12:05 am
Comparison with Prudeau/Patagonia/Bolivia says it all..Never again complain about CA traffic