(Note: This is a pretty lame entry but I’m gonna post it anyway. I hope it’s better than nothin’)

It wasn’t listed among our top reasons for traveling to Montreal but the truth is we were looking forward to les boulangeries (the French bakeries). Croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche… Really good reasons to get up in the morning. 🙂

But we couldn’t find any – until this morning when we came upon a Venezuelan/Canadian boulangerie named Cachitos ( they’re basically Venezuelan croissants with ham, cheese, spinach, etc…). Met another  REALLY friendly Canadian and enjoyed a great breakfast spot.

We walked around Old Montreal some more, visited Notre Dame again, talked to more friendly folks, enjoyed happy hour and took a nap.

Fun, busy day!

We had breakfast at Suzette’s Creperie in Vieux (old) Montreal. They served Bunny’s café au lait in a bowl (see photo). 🙂 Met a very friendly couple from Nova Scotia. I (Bunny) asked a question that I’m trying to ask all Canadians: do you like your health care system? They emphatically answered that they loved it. No complaints. Just saying…

We next visited Montreal’s Notre Dame cathedral. We both felt that it was the most beautiful church we’ve ever seen. We went to mass (honest, we did) and when we came out there was a huge crowd of union members marching down the rue de Notre Dame. We followed them until they reached Place de Victoria where they had music and speeches (in English and French). Very cool.

We also visited a Quebec history museum that helped fill in some blanks for these stupid Americans. Travel isn’t travel if you don’t learn anything. 🙂

We walked around the port of Montreal and then back to our flat. We were both pooped. A good day.

One of the above has been sitting in his den all winter eating and drinking .. the other is a bear …😁

So here we are in Canada ( actually the photo is of Marty with a friendly Minnesotan in the airport en route to Montreal). Normally most Americans don’t consider Canada a foreign country. But we’re talking FRENCH Canada here.

One reason we chose to visit Quebec province was because Bunny’s ancestors are French Canadian (on her mom’s side; hence her given name Yvonne). Another reason was to see if we could get French speaking people to smile. Hadn’t had a ton of luck with that in France . (We could use your help Scott ! Ben too!)

Our plan of attack is the same as it was in France (motto: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try…): we go with a smile and a “bonjour!”

We are happy to report our preliminary results: Canadians are friendly, even if they speak French! 🙂

PS: We went to Chinatown for dinner last night and Marty told the waiter “grazie!” The waiter looked confused – so did Marty…

The Montreal, Quebec City and RV across northern US begins. We fly PDX to Montreal on May 7. We then spend 3 nights at a VRBO in Montreal. We pick up a rental car and drive to Levis which is across the St Laurence seaway from Quebec City. We are going to stay 3 nights in Levis. We will be taking the ferry over to Quebec city during the days. We will then drive the car back to Montreal on May 13th to pick up an RV. We will then have till May 28th to get the RV to Vancouver BC. That will be about 3500 miles in 15 days. That’s an average of 233 miles per day. Or about 4 hours of driving time. Sounds like fun !!!!
Anyway we get into Vancouver BC and take a train home on May 29th.
Let the vacation begin !!!