We found a space large enough within the airport where we re-constituted our bikes – thought getting the pedals on may have been difficult but they went on sweetly. We wondered where we could dispose of the cardboard boxes …… but just at that moment a airport cleaner came along with a large trolley collecting recyclable waste & took the boxes away. Problem solved. 👌
Next problem was to establish a way out of the airport complex safely on our bikes. Asked at Information & received a map plus complicated directions (much like Google Maps gave us) which we attempted to follow. Just as the rain came down!!! We got only beyond the main airport exit & facing a rail line before getting stymied – we couldn’t reconcile where we were with the directions & street names Google Maps provided. Back to the airport where at least two employees had no idea how to get to where we wanted to go without being in a car on major roads. Somewhat daunted I asked a tird person .... a woman standing behind the Icelandic Air desk with no one needing her attention and she provided the ultimate solution. Google had it wrong, suggesting we take a circuitous route of about 8.5km or 35 minutes rather than the 2.3km & 8 min cycle ride we actually needed to make to get to L’Auberge de la Aeroport in Dorval! We made it just before another big downpour!
The hotel wasn’t flash (their website makes it look flasher than it is) by any means but the room was clean & staff friendly if a little too laid back. Locked bikes up next to where the hotel’s restaurant & bar used to be in its heyday, dropped our gear in the room and went across to a rather drab & large Italian Restaurant Focaccio, where we ate a lovely minestrone soup & basil/tomato bruschetta followed by a crème caramel each & our usual cuppa. No one else was dining at that time; it was after 9pm & they closed at 10.
Back in our room we ran a bath & soaked away the travel stiffness, with the hope it would help us sleep. That was a little hard before midnight as there is a constant roar of the airport & from the motorway nearby.
Tues 5th: We took our time getting up & re-packed for our cycle into Montreal. Also, wanted to use the hotel’s wifi to work out some options for travelling across Canada. Check out time was 11am so we breakfasted late-ish for us on packet porridge, toast, peanut butter and berry jelly & tea. All self-service (but no instructions as to what to do or where orange juice etc is kept) on paper plates & polystyrene cups …. we both just had to go & get our own cups from our bags. The woman on duty was amazed we were cycling in Canada; she thought us brave as she hadn’t cycled since teenage years. And, yet Montreal is a ‘cycling city’ with infrastructure. Attitude and inclination is all, I guess.
By 11am our bikes were all packed & we were ready to tackle Montréal via the Lachine Canal route.. The rain that had fair poured overnight still looked threatening but thankfully the clouds disappeared by the time we left & it turned top a warm day. We backtracked our evening route until we reached Gare Dorval, found the underpass into Dorval town & then followed the Route Verte cycle trail along Bord-du-Lac & the Lachine Canal right into the city centre. The initial part of the route was quite park-like following the St Lawrence river and then the Lachine canal but the closer we got into the city the more urban & industrial it became. Lots of old industrial complexes either abandoned or being turned into condos or torn down to make way for new apartment blocks. It seemed like Montreal was all about construction – new housing, new bridges & fly-overs or roads dug up to enable renewal of underground infrastructure. It was quite reminiscent of Chch but on a continental city scale.
Once at the Old Port we stopped for lunch at a taco truck & washed them down with Nestle iced tea. Neither much to speak about but restored some energy for the next 16km to our Warmshowers host’s home in the Montreal East area. As we wove our way through the old town we noted some places we wanted to return to during our two days sightseeing.
On our way out we initially took the wrong street to get on to Route Verte and ended up cycling on a broken footpath alongside a major highway chocker with large trucks! Not the most pleasant but at one intersection Caroline spied the cycle pathway on the other side of some trees so over we went …… a much more pleasant ride after that to speed us onward. As we came up Haigh toward Rue Marseilles we saw the bike shop we had booked our bikes into so making it easier for us to find the next day. As it was too early to arrive at our Warmshowers we hung around drinking tea at an ice cream shop & watching all the school children in their varied uniforms wander on home, chatting with each other.
We arrived at our host’s home just after 4pm to a warm welcome from Anne-Marie. Her home is in a relatively new subdivision of semi-detached houses where children play together outside & safely. Anne-Marie’s daughter Julianne was a little shy to begin with but soon warmed up and even brought her friends in to meet the two Kiwis. Whilst the children (8 & 9 year old) had begun learning English they were not yet confident using it; their parents are encouraging of their learning it as being bilingual is advantageous in adult life. Equally, holding onto their French heritage & Québécois language is vitally important for the family. It was interesting for us to learn about their culture.
We were both pretty tired so whilst Anne-Marie cooked a lovely meal I had a snooze and Caroline changed all the brake pads on her bike. We managed to hold some semblance of a conversation over dinner but by 9pm we went to bed totally worn out. We awoke several times in the night as our body clocks still weren’t adjusted to the 6 hours time difference so we weren’t exactly refreshed the next day!
Wed 6th: By 7.30am Andre had left for work & at 7.45 Anne-Marie took Julianne to school so we were left to our own devices so spent some time researching what we may want to see in Montreal. At 9am we headed out to the local bike shop where I had arranged we would take our bikes. Lovely chap looked over our bikes – mine just needed a regular serive check while he picked up Caroline’s wheels needed a bit or realignment. He guaranteed that they would be ready for pick-up Thursday evening.
From there we caught the Metro (bought a 3 day travel card) into the centre where we spent a bit of time visiting mobile phone stores to see what deals they may offer for visitors …. not many options really unless one has a Canadian address & ID – just chatr & Virgin mobile’s. Finally extricated ourselves from the main street shopping complexes & became tourists.
Took in Chinatown & Historic centre before calling in for lunch at Lov vege Restaurant, which had been recommended to us. Well worth seeking out as the food was excellent & service pleasantly attentive. Not so keen on the practice here of having one price on the menu (or on any purchase) & then putting the VAT/GST on top of that afterwards PLUS the expectation of a standard tip of 15%. I don’t like having to do maths in my head each time I decide to make a purchase!
With our energies renewed we went to the Museum of Montreal in order to get a better understanding of the city. It was most interesting as it offered an insight into just how important and transformational Expo_67 was for the city. Their dynamic & somewhat forceful mayor of the time, Jean_Drapeau, wanted a city that could play on the world stage; many of the schemes that he initiated would probably not get permission today due to the environmental change/damage they caused. Just to stage the Expo the island of St Helen was enlarged with some of the material used to do that coming from the Montreal Metro system, which was being created at that time.
The museum also highlighted the fraught history between the French and English, and also linked the story of the city to the archeological dig taking place just outside the front doors of the museum. The dig is taking place where the first Parliament of a United Canada once stood but was burnt down by Tory rioters in 1849 who feared a loss of their privileges should French influence get an upper hand.
After about 2 hours reading all the information we left to just wander around the old town taking photos of the buildings & gardens. Popped into le petit dep cafe for a cuppa; watched other tourists come in to take photos & leave having ticked it off on their list of 'Must dos'. We didn't know about it so just chanced on it .... and they provided nice teas! Enjoyed watching & listening to a trumpet player in Victoria Square whose funky tunes had a group of Chinese tourists dancing. As we wandered on we found The Village – the gay area of Montreal with rainbow flags defining the area; it was quite substantial but on a Wednesday night not exactly humming. Eventually caught the Metro back to our base where we chatted for a bit with our hosts but not for long as we were bushed.
Thur 7th: Our focus on this day was the Biosphere Environment Centre on the Expo Island now called Parc Jean Drapeau. The weather was a little wet so Anne-Marie dropped us at the Metro on her way to work. It continued to rain for some time and, as we had arrived before 10am opening time, we had to wait outside the Biosphere in the rain. At least had the Naturally Canadian photo display outside to look at.
In the end we spent about 4 hours at the Biosphere as the 10 sections were truly fascinating and well produced. I paid particular attention to the ‘Tic-Tac-Tox’ section where the question was posed, “Which pollution is the worst – air or water?” I have some new ideas for our team at ECan now as water and air issues are two of the key education areas we work with schools on. I found the climate change section to be very informative – not that I didn’t understand the issues beforehand – as we gained a Canadian perspective on things. We also attended a 30 min presentation by one of the scientist working at the Biosphere who has contributed to IPCC reports. Learnt a number of new things in the tribute to Buckminster Fuller section (Spaceship Earth) – he was the guy who developed geodesic domes. Anyway, I could rave on for ages about the wonders of the Biosphere but I won’t, except to say that Christchurch could do with such a centre – educative, informative & entertaining.
As there is no café at the Biosphere we took ourselves off to Aupres de ma Blonde, a restaurant that had been recommended to Caroline by her cousin. It is situated in the Quartier Latin so we moseyed around there for a while looking at the old houses with attics and basements with metal steps up to the first floor but headed into the café as rain threatened again. Blonde was a bit quiet when we arrived around 3pm and didn’t have much to offer for vegos but I ordered the Croque Végétarien while Caroline had the Broccoli soup. I tried s local IPA beer but wasn’t that impressed. Popped across the road to the Vegan grocery to check out what they had on offer & bought some snack bars to have while cycling. As we wandered back to the Metro we saw Mamie Clafoutis, a patisserie that looked promising so in we went to taste some of their products – I chose a pistachio slice & C a lemon meringue tart – and have a decent cup of tea. YUM!
Our next stop on our way to the bike shop was Parc Olympique, the site of 1976 Olympics – had hoped to look inside the Biodome but it was 5pm by the time we got there & it had just closed. Looked around the complex marveling at its scale but also noting the work currently being undertaken to maintain the concrete structures & the paving. The cable car that takes people up to the top of the stadium was working but the reputedly stunning views from the top weren’t enough of a draw card to convince us to purchase a ticket. Onward to pick up our bikes from Marseille Bicycles - $115 CAD bill for the two wasn’t too bad for full service. Our bikes certainly felt much smoother to ride.
Back with our hosts we enjoyed an evening of conversation over a Spaghetti squash meal – a most interesting vegetable that I must look into growing back home. Julianne was reluctant to see us go the next day but I gave her some stickers of NZ birds to remind her of our visit. We packed much of our gear up & onto our bikes ready for an early start the next day then retired for the night. Three days of exploring a little bit or Montreal had come to an end. The reality is that MTL is another of those cities that needs more than 3 days to get to know it ....... ah well, another time perhaps!
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