16 August – 20 August

From Sault Saint Marie I made a late start with just two short days to Montreal and nothing eventful scenery or roadwise to report, just semi rural farm country and most of it all green.  I headed for the town of Sudbury which was a little like Wollongong with several smelter towers where they mine nickel, had lunch in a ‘gourmet’ deli bakery which had lost the plot, but the quiche was fairly decent and where salads contain no greenery (?)   I was surprised to see the town’s parking cop come inside to ask if anyone owned the blue Ford parked outside, because the meter had expired and she was about to issue a parking ticket – how polite ?  You’d never get a second chance like that in Sydney !

Finally, some peace and quiet. ZZZZZZZZZZ.....

I opted for a nice quiet campground off the beaten track south of the town and was pleasently surprised with a nice lakeside vista on lush green grass. $20 thank you, but worth a good nights sleep to make up for the lousy campground 2 nights earlier.  Another uninteresting ride this time into Ottawa the nations’ capital,

Some old building in Ottawa...

struggled to find the tourist information centre despite great signage, but it just kept sending me to a parking station, so god knows where it was ?  I tried the Public Library for some internet access but they only gave it out to members of their own clan, so a trip to nearby Starbucks got me online and I found the city’s own campground just outside town.  Nice spot, but as usual the tent sites always get the crap location facing the expressway, no picnic tables, warm showers and $26 ?

A few happy snaps from the bike while riding through the middle of

Another old building.

town was all I had to say about Ottawa.  Looked nice but I had a better date down the road at Montreal.  The GPS got me to my hotel just on 1pm and I locked my bike to a pole around the corner of the hotel.  Bikes can park on any corner for free.  The hotel location was very good and only CA$95/night which was great value, the is an’ IKEA’ hotel and I got a room facing the city on the 10th floor which was great.

The view from my ‘IKEA’ hotel room.

Minimalist furnished but very practical and suited me perfectly.  I opted for takeaway sushi and Heineken beer for dinner, nice to get some decent city food, I needed it.

Next day I jumped aboard the city’s Bixi bicycle rental system, which has stations all over town and for $5/day you can grab a bike, ride it across town, park it back in a another station and if less than 30 minutes, it’s free and a great way to get around.

Does 'Bixi' mean bike in French ?

This system is coming to Melbourne and eventually Clover wants it in Sydney too, so get ready for it.  Montreal is very bicycle friendly and I loved that aspect, but as for the rest….

I am now starting to think if Canada is losing the plot or has already lost it ?  The first observation which I find disturbing is the multi ethnicity of this city, there is every race from every country in the world and as far as white Canadian born, English speaking citizens, they are definately in the minority here.  I don’t think Australia has much to worry about in terms of multi-culturalism, but I would not like to see it turn out like what Canada is today.

I don’t get the French thing here either, I might as well be in Paris or maybe France should just annexe these cities because there is nothing Canadian about them… it’s really weird ?  The bread is good but don’t drink the coffee – BLAH !  and if you want to really have a laugh, head down to Chinatown and listen to the Chinese speak French – that is just plain Kooky !  I better shut up now before the Gendarmes come knocking !

Well disciplined... bus queue.

The Patisserie's are 'dangerous' !

Lacrosse is not permitted while driving a motor vehicle.

Bike friendly city. Check where the cars park.

The Posties have little prams, poor diddums..

...and I thought the French do good coffee ?

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