Another Bizarro cartoon...

See post below this one for details of my ride around Montreal on a so-called Bixi bike...it was great!

Cycling around Montreal, Canada...a long way from Westerham

Yours truly with his Bixi bike in downtown Montreal

 on 11 August 2012

Nothwithstanding a walk around town early this morning, punctuated as it was by a pleasant breakfast in the aforementioned Presse Café, I resolved to take on a Bixi bike and cycle around Montreal. Now for all of you out there thinking it's dangerous, remember you're basing your assumptions on London and how rubbish it is; this, on the other hand, is totally different. Yes, there's traffic, but nowhere near as much as in London or, in fact, in the UK as a whole.

My Bixi bike down by the harbour. Well worth a ride.

I picked up my Bixi across the road from the hotel and then, after the usual faffing about with getting the bike out of its dock, off I went. I hasten to add that my pal Ken from the office was with me; he, in fact, used his credit card to get the bikes on the road and I later paid for lunch.

We headed off along Sherbrooke and then hung a right into the quieter, more leafier streets, riding for a good mile before turning left and heading west in parallel with Sherbrooke but some way further down. It was very pleasant and very European too. Remember that everybody here speaks French and that there are some language barriers; even those who can speak English find themselves requesting that we slow down so they can understand us. It's really odd being in Canada and finding that everybody speaks French.

The streets were quiet and leafy and there were apartments, nice apartments, lots of them with bikes padlocked to wrought iron balustrades running up steep steps towards front doorways. All very quaint and with a pleasant aroma of Southern European cooking – think garlic and seafood.

Down by the river.

While being bang in the centre of Montreal and just a mile or so from Sherbrooke, we could have been in a peaceful suburb miles from anywhere, it was that serene. Montreal certainly offers an appealing lifestyle that I could certainly get used to.

The scenery varied: one minute quiet apartments, the next rows of shops. One minute it was quaint, the next it was slightly downmarket and then we found ourselves in the Latin quarter and decided to stop for a beer, followed by a short ride to Les 3 Brasseurs on Rue Saint Denis for lunch.

Lunch over we headed for the St Lawrence River and then it was simply a case of retracing our steps back to our respective hotels. I had a steep climb up towards Sherbrooke but when I reached it I turned left and headed down towards the Holiday Inn. I wanted to stay out all day so I turned right up University and then right again, coming round, down Hutchison, or it might have been the next road along and back to the Bixi station from where we had hired the bikes.

It had rained earlier on this morning, but had stopped before I hit the streets around 0810hrs and while rain was promised, there was nothing but heat, albeit greyish skies. Looking out of my hotel window, it's still very pleasant out there: warm with a few clouds and no blue skies to speak of, but nice all the same.

I wont say I'm not tired, because I am and there's a temptation to take a nap, but I won't. Instead I'm here writing the blog and considering another walkabout before calling Ken to decide where to go tonight.

The Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Canada, Saturday August 11th 2012.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Atlanta in Georgia, USA, as I've got an interview there on Monday and then I'm flying home to the UK on Tuesday evening, arriving Wednesday morning.

I'm so glad that I've recorded a bike ride overseas. Whether the same opportunity will present itself in Atlanta, I dont know, but hopefully it will.

I love this cartoon from the newspaper...

Up early for breakfast and a wander around Montreal

Saturday morning around 0815hrs. I stood in the middle 

of the road to take this shot. Isn't life nicer without cars?

The phrase 'wall-to-wall meetings' applied to Friday, but now it's Saturday so officially it's a day off. I was up with lark and wandering around Montreal looking for a café to have breakfast. And to be honest I didn't really find one and ended up going into a place on Sherbrooke, across the road from my hotel.

Now you see it...

What's amazing is that, on a Saturday morning in central Montreal, around a quarter past eight, there's virtually no traffic on the roads. Compare Montreal with London or, dare I say it, even Croydon and check out the pic above for evidence of how quiet things are here.

... now you don't!

So I'm wandering around, I find all the well-known brand names, Claire's Accessories, FCUK, La Senza – yes, even Theo Paphitis has made his mark here – and then I head back up the hill towards Sherbrooke and the Presse Café, which sells a range of pastries and stuff, all the usual fayre you might expect from a coffee shop.

I ordered a cup of tea plus eggs, bacon and toast and while it wasn't the same dimensions as yesterday's mammoth feast downstairs, it was fine and, as you can see from the photos, I finished it, bar a strip or two of bacon. Not bad for just $6.95 with a banana thrown in. The tea, by the way, was much nicer than yesterday's.

Having already walked some distance along Sherbrooke and then down and back up again, this time I headed east (I think) along Sherbrooke (it's a road) and then down into the Latin quarter, back and round again and now I'm back in my hotel.

Shortly, I'll be checking out a Bixi bike. I'll probably ride down to the river and then back again – not that I haven't had my exercise for the day already.

Tomorrow afternoon, I fly down to Atlanta, Georgia with Delta Airlines and then I'm on the red-eye back to the UK, getting back Wednesday morning around 10am.

What's this all about?

An office building named after our former Prime Minister?

I spied this rather odd-sounding office building across the road from that row of Bixi bikes in the previous post.