This is the 3rd of a series of posts dealing with my 2025 trip to Quebec Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public). Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to add further clarification. These are indicated by “NOW”.
Woke up at 2:30 today but then got another hour's sleep around 4. Part of it's the sounds but I think it's more the humidity. You can work up a sweat in Montreal during this time just from lying down in bealed. I think I saw a marmot when I headed out from ZUM Residences. I found the construction route to Station Édouard-Montpetit and took a Blue line train to Snowdon and an Orange line train to Station Lucien-L'Allier. Other than the commuter train, all transportation today STM/Société de Transport de Montréal. I walked upstairs to Gare Lucien-L'Allier to see if there was an earlier train I could catch; there wasn't (I switched day 4 and 3 because day 4 would be a disaster if I tried it during tomorrow's forecasted thunderstorm.
[NOW: ZUM Residences are at the University of Montreal / Université de Montréal. The Blue Line is Line/Ligne 5 and the Orange Line is Line/Ligne 2.]
I walked around for a bit and then returned to Gare Lucien-L'Allier and took the 11 Exo train to Gare Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in the city of the same name. During previous trips it would have been a separate fare but now it's part of the same fare structure as other transportation in the region. I could have taken it further but the next stop was outside Zone AB. The train arrived in the former station 15 minutes before departure and like the Toronto region's GO Transit trains is a double decker.
I crossed des Rapides Ste-Anne to L'Île-Perrot (the municipality), involving crossing above Île Bellevue and Île Claude before reaching the east side of Île Perrot (the actual island). I ate breakfast at McDonald's; they realized they gave me the wrong breakfast sandwich so I got two. I then got a trade and an oddity comic from Renaissance Librairie. The comic is a flip comic, Spanish, and I think supposed to be a parody/swipe of Marvel characters, one side Spider-Man, the other side X-Men.
[NOW: I folded in a slight oversight noted the next day above.]
I crossed over to Pincourt, also Île-Perrot (the island; there are more municipalities). I crossed Ottawa River to Vaudreuil-Dorion on the mainland. The sky looked like It was going to rain so I didn't go to that park I planned a little southwest. I was going to walk further west but didn't want to pass a police car dealing with someone. I crossed back to Pincourt on Île Perrot and taking a more direct route passed a Dairy Queen with a 1950s logo. I crossed over the other two islands comprising L'Île-Perrot (the municipality) back to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. The downtown area is pretty quaint. I walked to Terminus Macdonald. I let a 405 bus go by wrongly thinking it didn't go to my next destination. I took a 211 bus there. Mesh screen means the pictures were lousy. I got off in Pointe-Claire in another quaint area and headed to the windmill. The windmill wasn't on despite the wind and seems to be missing two of its four blades.
[NOW: Ottawa River is aka Rivière des Outaouais. The windmill is Pointe-Claire Windmill/Moulin à vent de Pointe-Claire.]
A construction detour earlier meant I didn't know when the next bus would be. I walk the waterfront taking photos before heading north to Plaza Pointe-Claire. I visited Librairie Clio, Mega Mag, and Bluenose Collectibles and got a Pepsi at Family Dollar Plus. Aside from being air conditioned, the mall has a nice indie atmosphere to it. I walked north and noticed my cell had gotten a crack, I walked to Complexe Pointe-Claire where I visited Indigo. I crossed the street to CF Fairview. I ate at A&W and visited Renaud-Bray. I found a couple more French trades of The Boys at Boutique Imaginaire. I went outside to Terminus Fairview.
[NOW: What I called Family Dollar Plus appears to be Plaza Dollar.]
I took a 206 bus {more mesh both ways) to Centennial Park in Dollard-des Ormeaux. The water looked green with algae. I took another 206 bus back to Terminus Fairview in Pointe-Claire. I took a 470 bus straight to Station Côte-Vertu in Montreal. I left the area briefly to try to find drinks at a nearby Pharmaprix (=Shoppers Drug Mart). The only one that wasn't overpriced was out of stock. I started to leave but the cashier and security made me stay. The cashier insinuated I was trying to steal a drink because she had seen me lingering at the drinks. I explained I had wanted one but they were overpriced. She and the security guy had me open a couple parts of the bag and show my pockets, Annoyed but cooperative I finally put my bag down and told the security guy to go ahead and take a look, a sentiment I had already by then expressed repeatedly . I was almost hoping he would search it to drive my point home more thoroughly but I guess I had made my point because they let me go.
I returned to the station and took an Orange Line train to Station Place-d'Armes. I got a Pepsi fountain drink at the Couche-Tard in the complex (=Circle K but still uses the same owl that the English version used as Mac's). Another customer tried telling me the Pepsi was no good. I got it anyway. A bit off but still tasty. I got a bit turned around and went through Chinatown before reaching Old Montreal. I visited Bassins Bonsecours for what was supposed to be briefly but had to wait for a freight train to go by before I could visit Marche Bonsecours and then Place Jacques-Cartier.
[NOW: The Couche-Tard is actually at Palais des congrès de Montréal; you can access Station Place-d'Armes from there.]
I walked back to rue Ste-Catherine. Some clueless or rude guy cut past me instead of behind me as I tried to enter Librairie Zone Libre but I made it in soon after. I had dinner at a different Burger King than before. I visited a Jean Coutu and made a note of some possibilities for when I return from Quebec City. I made my way to Station Lucien-L'Allier. Orange Line train to Station Snowdon, Blue to Station Édouard-Montpetit. I then hiked up the staircase a short ways away to get back to the residence. There's a strip for getting bikes up and down but nothing for people with mobility issues, The keyboard on the laptop added quite a bit of time to this by moving text around as I typed. I think that alone has added half an hour to this. Hard to type while muggy when a keyboard is so sensitive.
[NOW: That Burger King, by Square Phillips, has now closed.]
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