Montreal!

Montreal, a contraction of “Mount Royal” apparently, is about the size of Sydney - 4 million + people. It’s big, bustling and busy. So we were very glad not to have to worry about the car which we dropped off at the airport yesterday before taking a taxi to our Airbnb. In a way we were sad to say goodbye to the car because it had been our only real home for the last eight weeks, and had never skipped a beat even though we had driven over 10,000 kilometres in it. On the other hand it was something of a relief to be free of it, especially for Graham who has been simply amazing as driver throughout. But I felt it too. Being the compulsory passenger can also have its challenges, especially as navigator (not my forte since I can sometimes be what I call dyslexic of right and left directions. When I say left and gesture to the right, Graham droll as ever, calls it “the other left”).

Our studio apartment in Montreal is on Rue William, just on the edge of the historic old town, and today we went out for our first walk. The sun was shining and the streets were filled with all sorts of people: tourists like us; young & old Montreal folk out for the day; apartment dogs taking their owners for a walk: even a few couples getting married. It was all very jolly but we decided after a nice walk and a lunch, we would postpone Gallery and historic landmark viewing until Monday when it won’t be so busy.

Road and other works are going on all over the place and Graham commented that “like Newcastle, Montreal will be great when it’s finished.”Leggi altro