70 miles, 3 hours.

We got up this morning, packed the bike, then headed down the road for gas and breakfast. It was Tamara's first time eating at Tim Hortons.

We were only about 40 miles east of Montreal, so we jumped on the highway and headed in. Once we arrived, we rode around the city for a while, especially near the Olympic Park. The stadium looks pretty rough- it's obvious it had a hard life, and that the Olympics was in town over 30 years ago. The wikipedia article for the stadium is really interesting- I had no idea that iconic stadium was such a disaster.

We then rode through the Golden Square Mile with all its high-end mansions, then up Mont Royal. It's a forested hill above Montreal with some great views. Finally, we rode into the Latin Quarter, onto a street with a ton of hotels. We found one that was acceptable for us: clean, moto parking in an alley, and a reasonable price. It's really cool to stay IN the city- the metro stop is a block away.

We then wandered around the city a bit and watched a wedding at the Christ Church Cathedral. It was kind of cute to go inside and watch the ceremony, then see the whole party come outside for photos.

We also saw some sort of protest. Their flags/signs were labeled CSN, and they were in front of a hotel. We couldn't figure out exactly why- though now that we've been able to search for it, we can see that it's a labor union. But why were they waving signs and why did they have so many people there for a few hours on a Saturday? More searching shows that they are striking hotel workers. They've been on strike for a month.

Part of today's adventure involved trips on the underground, and walking through Montreal's underground city. I think subterranean transit is the way to go. I mean, it's fairly expensive, but it's so much faster than surface transit, and it is really consistent in speed. It's amazing how many people each subway car can hold and how many subway cars fit in a station when you compare it to a bus. For instance, Tri-Met buses hold 30-50 people, a MAX light rail holds 133, and Montreal's system holds over 1400 per train!

The underground city (aka RESO) is visually underwhelming but interesting. I completely understand the idea of going underground in a brutal climate: you may as well avoid the weather. It also frees up the surface for activities that work better in sunlight. I mean, if you are going to be in a mall that doesn't have windows, why tie up a bunch of ground-level warehouses with it?

On a larger level, there are many large and small differences between the hinge-headed Canadians and us Americans to the south. First, the language: I always assumed Quebec was very bilingual. In reality, everything is in French, with a few signs that are bilingual. Everyone speaks French, though most people will speak English with you if asked nicely.

Second, the style and appearance. We were surprised to see a bunch of French-speaking kids at our campground that were blond. Neither one of us had expected to see the Germanic/Nordic influence. I've also been playing a game of "scarf spotting". Americans, on a whole, don't wear scarves for style. Around here there are definitely more. And even though Tamara disagrees with me, I think the Canadian style is fairly distinct from America. There are more layers and I think the look is just a little different.

Finally, it seems like there is a confusing blend between European styles and North American styles- in the people, the cities, and even the cars. It isn't unusual to see small diesel cars, but large SUVs are somewhat prevalent too. People seem to either be somewhat slim and stylish, or have the more American frame (i.e., obese). Certainly the French language makes people seem more European than us, but it seems like there is more than that.