Bienvenue - Montreal

Leaving Quebec City

I rode my bicycle down the cobbled streets of the old city to La Gare du Palais in Quebec City, which was sleepy and uncrowded at 6am on a Monday morning. At the station I pulled off my panniers and turned the bike over to the ViaRail attendants, who wheeled it away to some safe and secure compartment before I boarded. The passenger car was sleek, modern and clean, with a single row of seats on the right and a double row on the left. I got a comfortable single seat by the window. I’d only had time for coffee in my room before I left, and was already hungry when I arrived at the station, so I ordered a yogurt parfait, a bit pricey as usual with on-board meals. But it was satisfying enough to make me sleepy and I ended up napping for most of the three-hour trip, until the train neared Laval, I think.

A café on rue Rachel Est

The train station in Montreal was big, busy and a bit confusing. After retrieving my bicycle I wheeled it through the crowds to the food court area - always trying to stay ahead of my appetite - where I had a hearty deli sandwich and more coffee, while consulting my city maps to figure out how to get to the B&B where I’d made a reservation. There was street construction going on around the station and I chose the wrong exit, circling the block before I could get going in the right direction. The city traffic was intimidating and I walked my bike on the sidewalk until I got away from the downtown core.

The B&B was on a quiet side-street on The Plateau, between the lively neighborhoods of the Latin Quarter, the Village, Outremont, Parc Lafontaine and Parc Mont Royal. It was close to La Maison des Cyclistes on rue Rachel Est, the headquarters of VéloQuébec, the organization behind the development of La Route Verte bicycle route system, which is what inspired my interest in travelling to Quebec several years ago. (I’ll devote a post to that later.)

rue Laval, Montreal

Parc Lafontaine

Unfortunately, or maybe I should have expected it, there was street construction in progress on rue Rachel, and the little cross-streets nearest the B&B weren’t continuous, dead-ending and reappearing a few blocks farther on, instead of connecting to main thorougfares. With the constantly changing street detours during the ten days I stayed in the neighborhood, I frequently overshot my turns and had to back-track and circle around before I could get back to my home-base. Ten days was just long enough to begin to get oriented, and then I had to leave.

But at least it gave me lots of chances to canvas the area, and I burned more calories walking than bicycling, so I was able to eat heartily three times a day and still lose weight.

The city was hot and humid in late August. My first night there I got take-out grilled chicken from a Portuguese place and had a picnic at Parc Lafontaine, which became my preferred dinner spot.