29 miles
St. Phillipe, Quebec to Montreal
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| Somewhere along the way to Montreal we passed this garden. |
Shortly after leaving the KOA campground we found a bike route into Montreal. Then, somehow, between detour signs and being routed onto local roads, we lost it. We were on the outskirts of the city with too many roads to choose from and no map with enough detail to show us the way to go. We stopped at a Tim Horton's, hoping to find someone inside who could point us in the right direction. As usual, Rob stayed outside with the bikes.
I should probably explain why it is that Rob is the one who often stays outside with the bikes. First, he's patient and doesn't mind waiting. Sadly, patience is not my forte. I get too restless standing around waiting. And Rob is much more easygoing than I am when it comes to picking a restaurant for a good meal or a motel for a night's rest. If I give a place the thumbs up he never complains about it and if I don't like it then I only have myself to blame. After many years traveling together, we've figured out how to play to our strengths and weaknesses.
Inside Tim Horton's I stopped at a table where four men were sitting, drinking coffee, and asked, "Can one of you tell me how to get to Montreal?" I showed them the map I had.
The men represented a spread of ages, one had to be about as old as me, another slightly younger; the other two looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties. They were wearing the kinds of clothes a carpenter or construction worker might wear - blue jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps. I guessed they were workmen out for their morning coffee break. While one of the younger men pulled out his phone the oldest guy said, "You want to take that road over there," and he pointed outside. "Then go through two lights and take a left..."
One of the other guys interrupted him. "No, she wants to keep going straight until she gets to a gas station on her right."
Then the guy with the cell phone showed me a map which I couldn't follow but it didn't matter because one of the other men said, "No, you don't want to send her that way, there's road construction going on." So I just stood there while they argued amongst themselves, competing to be the one who told me the best way to go. Finally, they came to a consensus and one of the older gentlemen gave me directions which I carefully repeated.
Once outside I said to Rob, "That was too funny. These guys were all falling over each other to be the one to give me directions." And I described the scene, sorry he had missed it.
We could see Montreal across the St. Lawrence River. The best way to get there by bike was to first cross over to Ile Ste-Helene. (If you don't speak French, ile means island.) The island was the site of the 1967 World Expo and is now home to the Parc Jean-Drapeau.
We eventually found our way to the bridge that took us to the island and the park with its maze of roads and signs pointing to a beach, casino, biosphere, amusement park, so many places that we had no idea which way to go so we just picked one. We rode past a temporary stadium where workers were putting up seats and a large piece of metal piping clattered to the ground next to me. Yikes! I rode faster and hoped nothing fell on Rob, who was riding behind me.
We stopped for a picnic lunch outside the biosphere, former home of the United States exhibit and now a Museum of the Environment.
Next to the biosphere was an area in the middle of a courtyard that was all dug up. Stacked nearby were piles of stadium staging. It seemed like a shame to have so much ugliness in the middle of what could be a beautiful park. I saw a park ranger nearby and asked him about all of it.
"Are they getting ready for a big concert?" I asked.
He said, "Yes, but they probably won't be using all of it. They just leave all that there during the summer because we have so many events here."
"What's going on with that garden?"
"They're taking it out so that we can accommodate more people for traffic flow when we have events. It will just be a large walkway."
"That's a shame," I said.
"What's really too bad is that there is a family of ground hogs that lives in there. They'll have to be relocated."
Another small piece of nature gone, taken over by humankind.
Before continuing into Montreal we decided to explore the park a little more. It was quite extensive, with a second island built to accommodate the 1967 World Expo. We found our way onto a bicycle racing circuit, with cyclists speeding by us riding their fancy racing bicycles in their fancy riding clothes, as we toodled along on our slow touring bikes laden with all our gear. We stopped at intersections to look at our map and compare it with the road signs in front of us, but even so we had trouble finding our way and couldn't help but feel like we were riding around in circles, which we were. We did find the swimming beach. It wasn't free and there were crowds of people waiting to get in so we decided to give it a pass.
I have a thing about wanting to check out expensive hotels and restaurants. It's fun to see how the one percent lives. And it's also fun to check out the price of a room and look over a menu because, you never know, we might be able to afford it for a special night out. So when I saw the casino off in the distance, I decided we had to go inside. Rob doesn't have the same drive as I do to explore high end places, but after over 30 years together he's learned that the best thing to do is go along with it.
Once outside I said to Rob, "That was too funny. These guys were all falling over each other to be the one to give me directions." And I described the scene, sorry he had missed it.
We could see Montreal across the St. Lawrence River. The best way to get there by bike was to first cross over to Ile Ste-Helene. (If you don't speak French, ile means island.) The island was the site of the 1967 World Expo and is now home to the Parc Jean-Drapeau.
We eventually found our way to the bridge that took us to the island and the park with its maze of roads and signs pointing to a beach, casino, biosphere, amusement park, so many places that we had no idea which way to go so we just picked one. We rode past a temporary stadium where workers were putting up seats and a large piece of metal piping clattered to the ground next to me. Yikes! I rode faster and hoped nothing fell on Rob, who was riding behind me.
We stopped for a picnic lunch outside the biosphere, former home of the United States exhibit and now a Museum of the Environment.
Next to the biosphere was an area in the middle of a courtyard that was all dug up. Stacked nearby were piles of stadium staging. It seemed like a shame to have so much ugliness in the middle of what could be a beautiful park. I saw a park ranger nearby and asked him about all of it.
"Are they getting ready for a big concert?" I asked.
He said, "Yes, but they probably won't be using all of it. They just leave all that there during the summer because we have so many events here."
"What's going on with that garden?"
"They're taking it out so that we can accommodate more people for traffic flow when we have events. It will just be a large walkway."
"That's a shame," I said.
"What's really too bad is that there is a family of ground hogs that lives in there. They'll have to be relocated."
Another small piece of nature gone, taken over by humankind.
Before continuing into Montreal we decided to explore the park a little more. It was quite extensive, with a second island built to accommodate the 1967 World Expo. We found our way onto a bicycle racing circuit, with cyclists speeding by us riding their fancy racing bicycles in their fancy riding clothes, as we toodled along on our slow touring bikes laden with all our gear. We stopped at intersections to look at our map and compare it with the road signs in front of us, but even so we had trouble finding our way and couldn't help but feel like we were riding around in circles, which we were. We did find the swimming beach. It wasn't free and there were crowds of people waiting to get in so we decided to give it a pass.
I have a thing about wanting to check out expensive hotels and restaurants. It's fun to see how the one percent lives. And it's also fun to check out the price of a room and look over a menu because, you never know, we might be able to afford it for a special night out. So when I saw the casino off in the distance, I decided we had to go inside. Rob doesn't have the same drive as I do to explore high end places, but after over 30 years together he's learned that the best thing to do is go along with it.
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| That's the casino, really an architectural work of art. Finding the entrance turned out to be a challenge. |
We finally did find our way inside and walked around a spiral of several floors with betting tables and thousands of gaming machines, people trying their luck, winning just enough money to keep their dreams alive of joining the ranks of the rich. The multi-colored lights only took the edge off the dark atmosphere, a stark contrast to the bright richness of the summer day outside. Before long Rob said, "Let's get out of here."
Then it was on to Montreal where we were immediately struck by how many bicycles were on the roads with many accommodations for the cyclists.
Then it was on to Montreal where we were immediately struck by how many bicycles were on the roads with many accommodations for the cyclists.
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| On many streets bicycles had their own two-way section. |
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| We saw people riding in specialized cycling clothes and regular work clothes. |
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| We saw a number of people riding these shared bikes. |
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| If there weren't specially built bike lanes, there was still no mistake that bikes have a right to the road here. |
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I really have no idea what our exact route was into Montreal. This will have to give you the general idea.
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