Montreal & Ottawa Day Trip

Day 41:  Oh Canada, you are more than lumber jacks, maple syrup and hockey.  You do have more to offer! 

Sleep happened in a Wal-Mart near Shawinigan, Quebec. Everything was French (the ads, signs, newspapers, etc.) and we were a little worried. What if our GPS lady starts speaking instructions in French??? As soon as we talked about this, her next instruction was basically in French because the street names are in French. She has a great accent!

Montreal was a very different vibe than Old Quebec City. Their old buildings weren’t like we drove into a village and instead popped into a growing city. English used to be the primary language used for government and schools, so the old government buildings we saw had English engravings.

“I think Montreal has a really big coloring problem” as we passed through the old industrial parts of Montreal hosting different kinds of graffiti on the buildings, “these poor kids don’t get enough paper!”

Let’s get these people some crayons instead!

Chad and I found a coffee shop called Crew Collective & Café, located inside a cathedral-like, old, 1920s bank. It was impressive walking up the large steps, through the golden encased door and under massive chandeliers. They also bragged about having really fast WiFi.

We ordered two London fog teas, a croissant, and a lemon cake (sour! Chad loved it) from where the bank tellers used to conduct work. Now, baristas run the till and make espressos right on the counter. It’s also one of the most Instagram-ed coffee shops in Montreal.

(the sunlight wasn’t the best and the pictures were super exposed! I tried lol This is where having a nice camera would be handy).

Sad news: our laptops aren’t ‘advanced’ enough with the right equipment to even pick up on the frequency for the REALLY fast internet. Our phones were able to detect it and I blogged on the Samsung. We are talking upload speeds like *snaps fingers*, like that fast. Wonderful!

The afternoon was spent exploring a few of the streets and trying a couple macaroons (yes, we haven’t had macaroons before!) at Maison Christian Faure.

They were pretty good and didn’t last long. It’s kind of a bummer that they cost $3.50+ a piece……… they’re so tiny! Chad argued they come from a really big macaroon processing plant and are shipped all over the world in plastic containers. This could be a thing (making them not as authentic), but they still taste good haha.

It's obvious we are tourists because we walk around pointing at everything... mainly, me. I point at everything. Control yourself, Katie haha. Chad also found an indoor mall with a large fountain.

Chad had located a bagel shop and we hopped back into the car to drive to the neighborhood. When we arrived, the streets were FLOODED with people. It was like being in people rush hour. Chad pulled into a residential parking spot, I hopped out and walked briskly to the bakery down the street.

There was a line at least 10 people deep and thankfully there was a sign for the menu with both English and French text. Cash only. Crap. I only had the card and we are saving the $5 bill in the car for unexpected tolls. In a hurry, I decided to skip the bagels until we could use our card or come across more Canadian currency. Better luck next time!

The main street had stripped lanes and arrows above the ones we were allowed to drive in. They shift lanes based on the traffic time of day..... it was so confusing at first! (picture above).

We hopped back in the car and hit our second major city of the day: Ottawa. On Google Maps, there was a little red circle that said “Ottawa Flood”. Uh??? Are we even able to go to the city? Not sure! We went anyway. Sights from the highway driving into Ottawa were filled with flooded farm fields!

I searched for buffets (we haven’t had much to eat today 😉) and found Tucker’s Marketplace. It was super yummy! Large varieties of salads, seafood, hunks of meat and a hibachi bar for noodle dishes. Chad and I hit it. There was at least two rounds of people who filtered through their meals while we finished our long episode. Our favorite was the basil tortellini.

The waitress told us that across the river it was flooded and we could see it if we went for a walk. Done. While walking over to the river, we met some people that were from Toronto and they had also done a few crazy road trip adventures through the States. Small world! They even offered to take a picture of us. Thanks!

Chad caught up with his brother (Happy Birthday Matthew!) while looking over the ledge at the swollen river. There was also a man-made little canal that apparently freezes solid during the winter and people ice skate to work, school, etc. Sounds super cool!

Chad wanted to help light up the picture for me since the natural light was fading....

Full, happy and VERY tired, we drove about 45 minutes to a Wal-Mart for rest. It was one of the nicest Wal-Marts we have slept at in Canada and we felt kinda uncomfortable lol. There were no car campers or RVs! So, we found a spot in the back and settled in.

Right when we were about to fall asleep, two SUVs pulled up literally two spaces away from us and joined the sleeping parade. But why so close!?! The occupants of both cars got out (maybe two or three people??), started to unload gear and worked in the semi-dark (parking lot lights were pretty decent) to set up a tent. They literally camped at Wal-Mart on the grass next to the lot! It was a nice little green tent, but I appreciated the solid car more.

No friendly Minnesota ‘hello’ was issued (restrain yourself lol) and we went to sleep. We were out like a light with our full bellies.