Montreal

The following picture was taken from the side window of the RV traveling at about 50 MPH so it it not the best but I thought it was too interesting  not to post it.

This is a buffer wall along the freeway going into Montreal.  Instead of a solid wall of cinder blocks or cement there are these windows set in.  I assume the windows are out of plexiglass or something similar but surely not glass.  Anyway because of those windows the wall was not so fort-like as most of them are. 

Well, I do not like Montreal!  That isn't like me but I can't help it, the thought of going back there makes me shudder. 

It started about here...

On entering Quebec Province and heading east I decided to get off the freeway for a while so I could experience a feel for this very French part of Canada.  And then the rain started, and it came down hard.

I had been told I should not drive in downtown Montreal but to park instead across the St. Lawrence River from the city and take a bus.

Why, you ask?  Because the streets are very narrow and there is a huge amount of construction on the streets right now.  But the rain got me confused and I ended up going over the bridge into the city before I could turn around.  And once I was in the city I was detoured up and down so many streets I could not get back on the bridge.

Betsy, the GPS, was almost crying with the constant detours--well maybe not the GPS but I was close to tears.  It did not help that all the signs were in French and very foreign to me.

And then I came to an overpass that was too low--by several inches--for me to go under! (I absolutely refuse to hit another thing.)   But what was I to do? It was a one-way street!  I pulled to the curb and endured the dirty looks from the other drivers as they went around me.  As soon as the street was empty I did a hurried boot-leg turn and drove two blocks the wrong way on a one-way street--shaking all the way.

And that was not the only low overpass I came to where I had to back up and turn around.  And all those people on the streets were having so much fun, and all I could do was drive in circles.

I spent the entire afternoon driving--no where.  As evening approached I found a city parking lot with     some hotel vans and city buses parked in it.  Maybe I could fit in without being noticed.  I actually hoped someone would call the police--preferably a bi-lingual one--who would help me get out of the city.

The next morning I just started pushing east until I left the outskirts of town and finally I found a bridge that would take me to the opposite side of the river.

Good Grief!  I just spent two days in Montreal and never once got out of the RV!