This is the second in a series of posts covering my trip to Eastern
Canada in September 2019, adapting emails originally sent to friends. I
use NOW to refer to any updates since I did the trip.
Last night there was a thunder and lightning and car alarm storm.
Got up just before 5. Got on the 501 streetcar (Toronto Transit). With
the new streetcars You have to pay from a machine in the middle.
Strangely the transfer said 301 not 501. Confirmed 501 upon exiting. I
briefly visited Yonge-Dundas Squad. The 24 hour McDonald's near the
hostel from 2016 was closed for machine upgrades. A nearby Burger King
didn't open until 7. Checked McDonald's again and then bought
breakfast from Circle K.
[NOW: The hostel was Parkdale Hostellerie.]
I got on the Megabus
at Toronto Coach Terminal; my pre-purchased seat gave me an upper front
view from the double decker. The first part of the day was pretty misty
on the bus ride. At times during the trip it was so sunny I was fighting
sleep. We weren't allowed to get off briefly during the one stopover in
Kingston.
The bus entered the province of
Quebec. Note that for next few reports I won't bother with accented
letters unless autocorrect picks them up. Three things are noticeable
about Quebec signs: the French, obviously, comma instead of periods for
decimal points, and speed *minimum* signage.\
[NOW: Where applicable I've added accents for the blog posts.]
As
the bus entered Montreal it hit construction not far from 2019. Got off
at the Megabus depot and made my way to Auberge Bishop. It was too
early for check in so I dropped off some stuff. and had lunch at
McDonald's on rue St-Catherines, the same one that I first visited
during my first visit here; slight wait to find a seat. I visited
1,000,000 Comix, Capitaine Quebec (comic shop), and Cheap Thrills. I
returned to the hostel just before the 2 pm check in time and was
allowed to check in then.
[NOW: Auberge Bishop and 1,000,000 Comix have closed.]
I wandered rue
St-Catherine and hit construction near the first pedestrian only area. I
visited Renaud Bray in Complexes Desjardines, Librairie Zone Libre
(French only bookstore), Boutique Volume (got a Blu-ray and some
francophone DVDs), and Archambault. I hit another pedestrian area of
rue St-Catherines, le village gai (I think you can translate it). As
before, they had pink bulbs overheard, but not there were bulbs subbing
for the other colours of the rainbow, with pink subbing for red and I
think violet. Towards the end it started to rain.
To
get some overhead views, I crossed pont Jacques-Cartier (Jacquess
Cartier), with rain soon subsiding, over the two islands comprising Parc
Jean-Drapeau (Île Notre-Dame and Île Sainte-Hélène) to Longueuil. I briefly
got off and returned to the bridge, this time getting off at Île
Notre-Dame. I was on the wrong side of the bridge but there's an
underground path with some historical info leading to the proper side.
I
visited the area with the Biosphere and Metro Station and walked into
some mist spray to cool off. I returned to the area of the bridge I
left off from and got off on the main island of Montreal (Île de
Montreal). On rue Ontario I saw the gare d'autocars and hoped I was
right that the Orleans Express stops there. But then I saw an Orléans
Express bus. That works. Useful for tomorrow.
I briefly wandered up rue St-Denis the numbers jump from the 2000s to
the 3400s) but most of the stores I wanted to visit had closed for the
day, so before going too far I turned around. I cut through Parc
St-Louis and then another street which is so steep the sidewalk has a
staircase. I passed through Chinatown and made my way to Vieux Montreal
(Old Montreal). The McDonald's there is normally pricey but not with
the coupon codes. Both machines this day worked properly, but unlike the
BC and ON kiosks, these still have the "Light" option before "Remove"
before items you don't want, like BC used to have.
[NOW: BC Mcdonald's recently brought back the Light option.]
As with 2016 there
is construction at the cobbled streets. I seems that they are replacing
the older kind of cobbled roads with more comfortable cobbled roads that
are not as reflective of the old days sadly. I cut back through
Chinatown and made my way back to the hostel. Noticed I have a tear
in... the seating area of my body. Seems to happen sometimes on
vacation, maybe due to reduced access to washrooms or maybe too much
fast food. Also lost my locker key somewhere so had to have the lock
broken. If that's the worst that happens this trip I'll be happy.
[NOW: The tear was on my body not clothes; the key turned up too late.]
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