Montreal

We trundled out of Toronto just after 8:15. There were lots of people around and the traffic was certainly much heavier than it had been over the weekend. It was obviously a workday. it was also return to school for both youngsters and uni students.

Once again we had low cloud and it took most of the morning before the sun managed to break through.

Heading east we passed through undulating countryside. There was more forest than anything else. Cultivated bits had been carved out of the forest and was generally fairly isolated until we got much closer to Montreal.

We had a stop at a place called the Big Apple.

It had all things apple including apple flavoured coffee and, of course, apple pies. We purchased a couple of apples, which we are still to try, at 3 for $2, coffee (I opted for the regular version) and a piece of pie. The pie crust was very tough and shattered rather than being cut. It was OK.

Cemeteries pop up in quite prominent places. This is partly due to the horrible weather during winter as there needs to be easy access to the burial ground. This cemetery was just off the highway near the Big Apple.

Our lunch stop was in the town of Kingston which is on the lake and it is possible to ferries from here. We walked around the town and failed to locate a bakery. There were lots of eateries though. We had purchased fruit in the market and were hoping to grab a roll to go with it but to no avail. I could have got 8 hamburger or hotdog buns but that was not what I had in mind. We need to work out if bakeries, as such, exist in towns in Ontario. I'm sure that we will find them in Quebec.

This building used to be the fire station. Now it houses eateries.

We ate our lunch in sunshine in the town park along with quite a few of our fellow travellers.

This afternoon we did the Thousand Islands Cruise on the St Lawrence. We had done this in 2009 and it seemed a little ho hum. I did take some photos which I will add in just for the record.

One opf the bridges across the St Lawrence

The island on the left is in Canada while the one on the right is in the US. I hope they don't have to take their passport with them when they go over their tiny bridge and move between countries!

Back on the bus we headed towards Montreal arriving after 7pm. It had been a long day and we still had to eat. Fortunately there were loads of places nearby where we could get food and, in the end, we went to the food court in the nearby Eaton Centre which had lots of choice. This also gave us a chance to check out the underground city and some of the extensive passages that run throughout the central city area connecting shops, businesses, public transport and offices.

Trevor has done a write up for most of the full day we spent in Montreal so check out his post.

After we did our various tours and returned to our hotel I headed out to walk to the top of Mont Royal. It really isn't all that high and the paths, once I got to the park, were very gentle. Some of the roads bu to the park were much steeper than the tracks within the Mont Royal park.

Uni started this week and I encountered a significant number of uni students as I walked past McGill Uni. I had a chuckle at the slogan on a t-shirt that was being sold just outside one of the gates: Harvard the McGill of the USA. I thought that was quite good.

Bike lines are marked on many streets in Montreal. It does not stopp the odd car from parking in that lane, though

A collection of bikes outside of McGill uni

The tracks in Mont Royal were generally well shaded

Some of the trees are showing autumn colour

The cross on the top of Mont Royal. This is lit up at night and visable from many places in the city below

View from the Chalet du Mont Royal

Some of the gardens at the chalet

The chalet looking across its forecourt

More views across the city from the chalet

Mounted police patrol the park

I encountered a lot of people using the tracks and trails in the park. They were all ages. Some were running others on bikes but the majority were walking.

Before leaving Montreal we visited the Olympic site.

Next stop Quebec!