The Endless White Lines...

Day 7 – Montreal to Toronto

Today was another driving day – downtown Montreal to downtown Toronto. Apparently 6 hours – although it took 6 hours including two fuel stops and a Tim’s break. A big sign at the border into Ontario stating the fines for speeding did give me momentary pause for thought. Apparently 40km/h over the limit on the highway only incurs a $295 fine. $295?!?! Good value I think!! :D

The only interesting thing on the highway was the extraordinary number of fire engines – they seemed to whiz by every fifteen minutes or so. I never once saw a fire, or any kind of accident, so where they were all going is a mystery.

Toronto itself is considerably larger than the other cities I’ve been to this trip, which is both good and bad. Good, in that there is a lot to see and do. Bad, in that negotiating my way into the downtown area was potentially difficult, especially on a Friday afternoon. But! My trusty little Garmin stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. Straight to the hotel and into the car park.


I walked around a bit in the harbourside area, past the Hockey Hall of Fame (which I’ll go into tomorrow) and of course seeing the CN Tower (also for tomorrow). It was getting dark and a bit cool, so I ducked into a seafood restaurant disguised as a ship docked at the quay. It all looked pretty good, and the service was fine. I was even asked, ‘Would madam like her sole poached or panfried? With potato or rice?’ To which I replied, ‘Panfried please, and with potato.’

Twenty minutes and half a bread roll later, my partially poached sole arrived on a bed of rice. The whole plate was swimming in water – not *really* my idea of authentic seafood. The waiter noticed that I wasn’t eating my meal, and asked if there was a problem. ‘Um, yeah. This isn’t what I ordered. Panfried and with potato? And... cooked?’

After another twenty minutes and the rest of the bread roll, my new and improved (!) meal materialised. Panfried, with potato, but still swimming in water. Hmmm. Edible, but not particularly enjoyable. What made it worse is that everyone else’s meals looked great! The hums of enjoyment coming from all around me just made me hungrier, so I ate half the sodding sole and picked at the potato. The vegetables were the best bit!

After disengaging myself not-so-politely from discussions about dessert, I headed back downtown. One Twix bar and a packet of crisps later, I’m a happy camper once again : )

Tomorrow – the CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, possibly the Art Gallery and maybe some shopping. Oh, and Tim’s. Naturally. Ciao!

Rain rain, go away!

Day 6 – Montreal

Today was a pretty relaxing day. I slept in, missed breakfast, and felt great for it. I headed out of the downtown area towards L’Oratoire St-Joseph, the work of Brother Andre in the early 20th century. Brother Andre was canonised just last week (!) by the pope, so there were a LOT of pilgrims genuflecting their way up the 300 steps.


It was also the first church I’ve been in which had internal escalators – a concept I heartily approve of, I’ve decided :)

After driving back downtown, I headed out into the rain for a walk around the main shopping area of rue Sainte-Catherine. Montreal is the first place I’ve ever been where instead of holding the door open behind you for the person following you in or out of the building, you slam it in their face. Huh. And giving way to old, infirm or disabled people? Forget it! I actually saw a SUV driver sideswipe a woman in a wheelchair who was crossing the street beside me, and drive away without a second glance. Unbelievable.

A donut from Tim Hortons made the day a little brighter though.

Tomorrow – the drive to Toronto! Ontario, here I come!

Quebecois? Mais non...

Day 5 – Quebec and Montreal

The day dawned bright and sunny, and for once, I was up early enough to see it. After breakfast and check-out, I jumped back in the Catmobile and headed into the Old Town of Quebec City. It’s a walled city, divided into the Basse-Ville (lower town) and the Haute-Ville (upper walled town). It’s also the home of the provincial parliament, and the centre of the separatist movement.

For 8am on a Wednesday morning, it was pretty deserted. I realise that the bulk of the city trading is done down in the main downtown area, but still – I was just about the only one walking around, even with a cruise ship in the harbour. The shops didn’t open until 10am, and some were still shut when I left at noon. Luckily the cathedral, basilica and museums were all open.

Place Royale was an interesting stop, with a huge fresco depicting Quebec’s heritage painted onto the wall of a building. The church there was relatively non-descript but is an important historical site for French Canadians. A short funiculaire ride up to the higher part of the Old Town later, and I was standing on a balcony overlooking the Basse-ville (lower town) and the St Lawrence river.

The Quebecois guy at the gate to the cable car was particularly Quebecois in outlook – refused to accept any notes, and refused to speak in English – just as well I know how to count in French and I even mumbled a short insult at him as I walked through the barrier. Absolutely spectacular views from the cable car though. The walls around the upper town area are pretty decently preserved and serve to keep the riff raff (ie, cruise ship visitors) out.

The history of the Basilica in the Old Town is pretty amazing. It’s been burned down three times since the 17th century, and each time it’s been rebuilt bigger and better than before. *Apparently* there are some fairly strong anti-fire measures in place this time. Everything in the old town part of the city is really close by – you can walk the entire place in less than half an hour. Stops for tea, biscuits and chocolate may add to the time frame though.

After that, I hit the road and headed south for Montreal. The radio stations were completely in French, aside from one station which was airing an interview about the politics behind the Iraq War. Not impressed. Aerosmith it was, then.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my hotel is right in the middle of downtown Montreal :D After checking in to a huge suite (again, bigger than my apartment – it’s kinda depressing) I headed into the Old Town.

Basilica – check. Museum – check. Lavish mansion – closed for refurbishment. Views of the river – check. Church on every corner – double check. All good!

Back to the hotel for a quick change, then dinner. The clerk at the front desk gave me a recommendation for a Thai restaurant 15 minutes walk from the hotel, so off I set. He neglected, however, to mention the gauntlet of sex shops, nudie girl strip joints and weed clubs along the way. I was starting to feel a bit vulnerable from the homeless gesturing guys when suddenly the restaurant materialised and I ducked in for a fabulous meal. Deep fried ice cream = always good. The walk home was more relaxed, as I figured that no one would accost a woman smelling like peanut sauce who was still licking her fingers.

That’s it from me tonight – I’ll be out and about in Montreal tomorrow, soaking it all in. Ciao!

Nary a moose...

Day 4 – New Brunswick/Quebec

Today was a driving day. I drove across most of New Brunswick, and boy, were the autumn colours out in full force! Beautiful scenery. Sadly – not a single moose to be seen.

The day got off to an unexpectedly late start though. I woke up at 8am, turned off the alarm on my phone, thought ‘OK, time to get up!’ and promptly fell back asleep. My next memory is of the hotel room phone ringing, and a sudden awareness that it was pretty light outside.

The clerk from the front desk: ‘Hello, just wanting to know if you’re planning to stay another night?’
Me: ‘Um, no. What time is it?’
The clerk: ’11.15. Check out time was 11.’
Me: ‘F$%*. I’ll be right down.’
The clerk: ‘No worries.’

A frantic 10 minutes of repacking, tooth-brushing and cursing shortly ensued. By half past 11, I was on the road, munching a banana and a muffin and gulping some orange juice.

My only main stop today on the way to Quebec City was at Great Falls, New Brunswick. The falls are quite spectacular, and the gorge where the water empties into is also pretty cool. Apparently a few weeks ago the falls had run dry, so I was lucky they were switched on today.

A couple of hours later, and I was in Quebec, la belle province! Suddenly all the signs were in French and the drivers were blaring their horns for no apparent reason. Ah, just like France :D

Not much else really happened after that, but just as I was driving into Quebec City towards the hotel I crossed a bridge over St Lawrence River. The other, cantilever, bridge was quite spectacular. So naturally, I checked in to the hotel, jumped back in the car, and drove to a point where I could see the Pont Quebec bridge. Just before the sun fully set. Nice.



So, tomorrow I’m looking round Quebec City before driving down to Montreal. I’m looking forward to checking the old town out.

Over and out.
 

Day Three – Prince Edward Island

Wow. What a great day. I think I’m in love with PEI.



The day dawned sunny and clear, and I headed out from Truro with a glad heart. My concerns about possibly being caught in the morning rush were unfounded – in fact, I hardly saw any cars on the roads all day. I made good time heading northwest into New Brunswick, and headed up the Trans-Canada Highway onto the Confederation Bridge – 13km long, spanning the Northumberland Strait and linking PEI to the mainland.

PEI is gorgeous. Red cliffs, coloured that way by the high iron content. Rolling hills, farmlands, barns, cows, potato fields, and of course the reds and golds of the fall leaves. There seems to be a church every hundred yards, and small cemeteries scattered across the hillsides. On the north side of the island, there is quite the spectacular surf, with red sand beaches and cliffs facing into the Gulf of St Lawrence. I stopped to watch some lobstermen bringing their catch in, and one of them chased after me with a live lobster!!

By 11am, I was standing in front of Green Gables, the original farmhouse used by LM Montgomery for inspiration. I was the ONLY person visiting. This was good however, as all the guides were keen to talk to someone and I got one of them to take a photo of me in front of the house. It’s very well done in the way it recreates the era, and some beautiful antiques are in there too.


I went for a walk in Lovers Lane (wasn’t really feeling it, being on my own an’ all) and the Haunted Wood (yep, that sure was well named). And of course, the gift shop provided some entertaining moments – I very nearly bought a t shirt saying ‘I heart Gilbert’ but then thought it might be misconstrued by men named Gilbert. ‘I heart raspberry cordial’ just didn’t have the right kind of ring to it.

The gift shop attendant also mentioned that Cows Ice Cream has its factory on PEI. This was very welcome news to me! For the uninitiated – Cows Ice Cream has been judged the best IN THE WORLD last year and I’ve had it once before at Whistler. Well, now I was in the CIC heartland... so naturally I had to go pay my respects



And boy, do I have respect for that ice cream. Yummo. Wowie Cowie and Gooey Mooey are my favourites, I’ve decided. Although vanilla is always my fallback. Exciting news – Cows Cheese is also good!!!! Voted best cheddar by the North American Cheese Association last year. (I would have preferred the organisation to be called the North American Cheese Board, but you can’t have everything in life.)

After recovering from my hyperglycaemic coma, I did a little more driving around the island, before heading back to the bridge. Good thing I did it when I did – the winds in the strait had picked up, and already the heavy trucks had been stopped from using the bridge. The car speed limit had dropped to 60km/h, and the attendant at the toll booth told me that the bridge would likely be shut ten minutes after I was waved through. As it was, my poor little rental car got buffeted around a fair bit on the way back to the mainland. Good job I left when I did or I’d be trapped on that godforsaken hellhole forever...

New Brunswick is quite pretty too, what I’ve seen of it from the highway. Lots of empty road and forest. My view out of the motel window is that of Walmart though – not the most scenic view ever, but tempting to go out and stock up on breakfast items for tomorrow. And maybe a chocolate bar.

Next stop – Quebec!!

Those darn rain gods...

Day Two

I learnt several lessons today.

The first? Never trust a Radio Shack employee when they assure you that a North American GPS system DOES include Canadian street maps as standard. I discovered this early this morning when I thought, ‘I’ll just check that the maps are on here’, and to my chagrin, they were not.

Lesson number 2: never assume that a large car rental company (oooh, for example, Hertz) is able to provide GPS systems for their rental cars. Apparently not. Nor maps, for that matter.

The third, and possibly most important, lesson is that driving around new territory with no mental map, no physical map and no GPS is asking for trouble. I eventually found a WalMart, waited (im)patiently for it to open (what IS it with late opening hours on Sunday anyway??!!) and bought a new GPS. I now have two Garmin GPS boxes in the suitcase. What a waste.

Anyhoo, there I was, with tea, Timbits, GPS, wheels and a plan. So of course the rain gods did a dance and it poured all morning. I drove towards downtown Halifax, only to discover most of the major roads blocked off for road works, and then the main bridge’s toll booth was having construction work done too. Sitting in the car, in the pouring rain, surrounded by deserted (!) road works, I decided to abandon my attempt at exploring downtown Halifax, went rogue and headed bush.

Peggy’s Cove... apparently the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. I have no idea why - it’s small, not particularly pretty and the paint is peeling. The top of it is red though, so I have to allocate points for style. Between the wind, rain and dense concentration of geriatrics, it’s a wonder I got out of the car at all, but I managed to snap a few shots, inveigle a passerby to take a few of me (long story involving foreign languages, him falling over a rock and me nearly walking into the sea in despair), resist the temptation to buy a personalised mood ring (wtf?) and nearly run down a herd of slow-moving gerries on the way out. Things were definitely picking up.


I decided to take a look at Mahone Bay, having overheard someone at the lighthouse say it was worth a look. On the way there the rain stopped, and I decided to take the coastal route. Imagine my surprise to see a sign saying, ‘Welcome to Queensland!!’. What the...? Apparently my home state is also the name of a tin-pot town here in Nova Scotia. I planned to stop and take a photo of the sign, but a minute later there was a sign for the next town, so I couldn’t be bothered. But I did find a beach.

Mahone Bay is quite picturesque. Churches, steeples, bay, boats, cafes. All good. $12 for a ham sandwich seemed a bit steep but I was beyond caring by then and wolfed it down in front of the horrified sandwich artiste, chasing it down with a bottle of juice. I think she was waiting for the accompanying belch from the ill-mannered savage, but I managed (just) to contain it.

Finding myself so close to Lunenberg, I went there next. UNESCO heritage site, ya know ;). Again, very cool place with some interesting buildings and piers. A very kind couple took some pictures of me although the chap took about ten minutes to figure out how to use the Nikon. I wondered if he was going to keep it there for a while, but eventually it turned out ok.

Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, I drove the 120km to the hotel and promptly died. Resurrecting myself an hour or so later for a bath and dinner, my day is done. Tomorrow – Prince Edward Island. Gil had better be there....

It's so much later than it feels....

Day One

Well, I’ve made it to Toronto – even if it’s only the airport. Just over half way to Nova Scotia from Vancouver. I’m transferring to Halifax in an hour or so, then my trip across the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario really gets going.

My aims for this trip? Well, I’ve never been to eastern Canada, so this’ll be all new territory for me. It’s October, so the fall colours should (hopefully) be out in full. I’m going alone, so this will be a good opportunity to recharge my inner equilibrium. Plus I don’t have to pander to anyone else’s wishes – I’m a free agent and I can be as selfish as I like!!

So, what’s been happening so far then? I got up at 6am, got into a taxi at 6.15am, and managed in the interval to get dressed appropriately and remember to lock the door on the way out. Well, I *think* I locked the door. Hmmm. Oh well. I managed to somehow print my own boarding passes AND luggage tags at the airport, AND stick the tags onto my suitcase. The miracles of modern technology eh? The coolest bit was when I gave myself the same seat number on both flights – only have to remember one alphanumeric code today. Score.

The fun really began when it transpired that I was sitting next to a woman with her baby for the 4 hour flight to Toronto. I didn’t endear myself to her when I was asked at the gate if I minded sitting next to a baby, and I didn’t hear it too well. My response? ‘Sorry, a what? A BABY??’ Compressed lips from the mother. Gurgles from the baby. Confusion from me. Sympathy from the airline representative.

And in retribution, that baby cried the whole fricking way. I think the mother is responsible.

On a positive note – I’ve had Tim Hortons for breakfast AND lunch today :D In two different time zones. I’m going for three from three.

Halifax!

I looooove being upgraded to a suite. It’s bigger than my apartment! Better decorated and slightly cleaner too. The TVs (note, I used the plural) are 36inch plasmas and I have the choice of two different sofas (in different rooms, no less). I’m about to try out the shower and I have high hopes for a Jacuzzi bath experience too :)

Always good when there is a goody bag of treats waiting for you in the room. I’m abandoning hopes of a Tim trifecta and settling for popcorn and crackers. My watch says that it's 9pm, but somehow it only feels like 5pm... hmmm....

So ends day one :)