Parlez Vous Francais?

We had originally planned to travel from Niagara Falls through Canada to Montreal Quebec, but Randy started having problems with a tooth and went to the dentist while we were in Niagara.  The dentist gave him antibiotics, but told him that if they didn't work he would need to have root canal or have the tooth pulled.  Since we didn't really want to be in Canada if something happened, we decided to travel the south side of the great lakes and we ended up in Plattsburgh NY - on Lake Champlain.  While he was making a decision on his tooth, we decided to take a day trip to Quebec about 25 miles away.

We knew we wanted to grab a geocache in Quebec so we wouldn't spoil our record of one in every province.but he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of going all the way to Montreal (50 km away.).  I of course had been reading up on Montreal and really wanted to see Old Montreal.  We grabbed the cache we wanted at the visitor's center and I started asking questions about Old Montreal - parking, walking tours etc.  :)

Old Montreal was lively and colorful on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon.  There were street performers, crowds of people and vendors everywhere.  We walked the cobblestone streets, saw all the sidewalk cafes and listened to people speaking French everywhere.  I've had 5 years of French, but that was 47 years ago and I've hardly used it since....I really didn't understand a word they said.


The architecture of the buildings is wonderful.  Montreal has done a wonderful job of making the area people friendly...there are parking lots, signs (mostly in French) and something for everyone. 















There is even a fake beach at the marina...it has beach sand and umbrellas.  People bring their  own chairs.  There is no swimming, but they lie in the sun in their bathing suits. 

 

Driving was a challenge...There were areas closed to traffic...streets were narrow (and we are very wide and long)...the cobblestones were very bumpy...and the signs were all in French...very few had any English on them at all.  When we went to leave we told the gps to take us back, but she didn't know that there were detours.  After going in several circles and tying to find our way out we ended up on a route that had signs indicating "No Trucks"  as we rounded a curve we discovered why...a very narrow underpass.  Luckily, we made it through unscathed - although Randy was stressed.