Sep 11, 2013

A bit of a dilemma this morning. Montreal had a forecast of 33c and humid but had been told if we stayed north of the St Lawrence River the road would be more curvy BUT there was a heavy cold front coming in from the north so instead we decided to cut and run and came into Montreal via the freeway / motorway / highway / parkway (whatever it is called here). We were in for a late lunch and got a tip from the bellboy who was rapt with our bikes of a great spot to go for yummy food. By the way the 33c hasn't eventuated and we had rain or drizzly mist and wet roads nearly all the way to Montreal. The roads only dried out when we were well along the city freeway and we still have low cloud with the tops of multi storey buildings disappearing into the mist.



Waiting for our table at ‘Olive + gourmando’ which was really hopping. We sat down at 2.30pm after waiting 10minutes for a table (seat about 50) and it was well worth waiting for DELICIOUS. People continued to queue for tables the whole time we were there and the lunch crowd gradually moved on to the afternoon coffee and cake crowd



We had just left the café when we saw this W Model Kenworth trying to see-saw his way around a corner and then shortly after we met him coming back to attack the street from a different angle and started pumping out something from somewhere. Certainly the right size motor for the job!



This building has been a hospital / hospice for a couple of hundred years. The partially demolished wall was to make way for St Pierre Street to the St Pierre River



An impressive couple of buildings at the end of St Pierre Street (goes down beside our hotel) onto the old dock area on the river. Across the river we found an ugly example of modern architecture (as well as a couple of other examples I won’t include here) and a massive silo arrangement with rusting metal and broken windows everywhere we looked.

Bits and Bobs:



An interesting ‘No Parking’ sign we found at the Ottawa Civilisation Museum – basically ‘Park here and you will visit court and the judge and their gavel will deal with you’



Have seen many of these throughout Canada, just missed one for Moose as well, and might find another one later on.



On our way to lunch Norm said “Oh I just had a terrible sinking feeling” when I asked what he was talking about he pointed to the sign above.



Spotted this on our way to lunch also. They were very small one way streets; perhaps it is to discourage racing through the streets….or excessive noise….who knows. Never seen one before.



On our table at lunch.

Last night’s Accommodation:



Minto Suite Hotel
185 Lyon Street North
Ottawa ON K1R 7Y4

The Hotel was a nice place to drop for a couple of nights. Comfortable space within the hotel and our room, lovely restaurant and facilities and the staff are great. Convenient with all we wanted to see. Small kitchen so possible to be self-contained if wanted. Couldn’t ask for more. Bikes are safely tucked away in the underground car park so happy about that and we were free to roam this great capital city of Canada. Taxi at the door all hours. Good value for money.

We also shared a lovely dinner in the adjacent Prime 360 Steakhouse with Sharen and Ken.