Up and away out of Hawkesbury this morning after breakfast at Burger King. Yum.
Gas was 110.9 for regular.
On to Montreal 86 kms away, led by Hal. You can see below a picture of Jan in the navigator's seat plugging in Hal's power and getting him awake and in a good mood. Within about 5 minutes she was surrounded by maps, guidebooks, breakfast, coffee, and Hal. He was right on today, getting us to the Hotel with Jan watching him and me carefully in some very tense traffic. This bunch of road warriors is without doubt the worst so far for speed and abrupt moves without warning.
Then we were off to Old Montreal to see the sights, take pictures, and have a late lunch when we tired of the centuries-old churches that are wall to wall in this town. And we thought Chilliwack was the bible belt. The people we met were warm and friendly without exception and we did our best to represent the gauche coast that is our home.
Then off to Atwater Market (similar in concept and appearance to Grandville Island Market) to meet a friend of Leanne and Tara's, Peter Manson, who is highly educated in the french language and has become immersed in Quebec culture. Had a great visit over dinner and talked about old times and Quebec politics. A distinct society indeed.
Quebec in general and Montreal in particular has the feel of a foreign country in language and culture. Not bad or good, just very different from the Canada that we know. Imagine a unilingual francophone in Vancouver .... its just like that here for Jan and I. More and more I see that old phrase of 'two solitudes' is real, and I fear that we are not really one country in spite of the pomp and pagentry of parliament hill.
Home to the hotel after dinner and Jan is doing laundry while I am doing the web page. I think I got the easier task. Off to London tomorrow evening to see L and T.
