Frugalapolis

Actually, this is day 1 pictures which I realized were missing when I wrote yesterdays post. But we were in Montreal on Saturday and Sunday. The action is on Charlotte Street in the Village. There were barricades blocking the street so everyone can walk in the road. The street is lined with overhead balls on strings that reflect the lights, and that is cool too. The night we walked around there was a Festival of Color with marching groups dancing in costume and playing music. It had a Caribbean flair to it.

We had some poutine in a resto on one of the side streets, I can't get enough of that stuff. We also road bikes on the bike paths along the river to see the unique apartments called Habitat 67.

Parade on Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street in the Village

Shop in The Village

Charlotte Street bikes

Poutine at Dirty Pizza resto

Mont Royal stairs to top of park

Bixi Bikes

Here is a link to all Montreal photos Montreal Photos

We started our Canada and New England adventure in Montreal, Quebec, and for the geographically challenged that is in Canada which is really part of North America, but it felt like we were in Europe. No shit. The signs were in French, the money was Canadian, and it was in the same time zone as Florida. How cool is that! Wicked cool, I tell you.

We spent two days in Montreal before heading to Quebec City to board the beautiful Adventure of the Seas ship which would sail us through Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts and finally back to Florida over a 13 day journey. And it was a great one. I would recommend this itinerary to anyone, and we hope to do it again the year after next.

October is autumn weather in Canada. We had weather in the 40's and 50's the entire time, never thought of wearing shorts. We wore our winter jackets many days, and just the liner jacket all the other days. This was a biking vacation for us, as we brought our folding bikes on the trip and used them in all the ports. In Montreal, we opted to use the city share bikes, called bixi bikes. It was $5 for 24 hours unlimited use, (but the exchange rate made it $3.88). You download the app and check out the bike which you can ride for 30 minutes before you return it. If you want to ride more, just check it out again. We opted to ride to different destinations, then walk around and pick up another bike at another bike stand. The bike stands were plentiful and spread out all over the city. We biked about 10 miles each day.

There is lots to see and do in Montreal. They have wonderful bike paths, lots of bikes, the gay village with live street entertainment, over 50 murals are painted on buildings, there is Mont Royal, and an amusement park in town. Too much to do for a weekend, we'll need to come back.

We stayed at a nice hotel Hotel Le Dauphin which has an urban décor which was cool, high ceilings, wood floors and a nice Apple Mac computer in each room. We used our Chase Reward points to book. We had some great poutine every day in Canada too! Probably why I gained a couple pounds on the trip.