Our second day in Quebec and Montreal started with a gray dawn and a hint of rain in the air. Phil, Mary, Anne and I walked a couple of blocks down Sainte Denis to breakfast at the Café Cherrie. It was much less crowded then the night before. In fact all of Montreal was much less crowded then the night before. The bustling sidewalks of Saturday night were replaced by empty streets, plenty of parking spaces and shuttered stores. I had my traditional egg breakfast, I forget what everyone else had. Phil and Mary treated us. After breakfast we returned to the Hotel Anne Ma Soeur Anne to pack up the car and check out.
Phil planned on biking from Montréal to the Outdoor Lodge at Glen Sutton, so he departed after we had the car loaded. Mary, Anne and I decided to spend some time further exploring Montreal. The expected rain started to move in as we drove up to Mont Royal, to walk. Mont Royal is the hill for which Montreal is named. The name of the town was changed courtesy of an Italian map maker. The rain kept the park from being too crowded. Normally on a Sunday parking is a problem. We walked around for an hour, me getting more wet from perspiration then from precipitation.
Our next stop was the Architecture Museum. The guidebook claimed that this is arguably one of the best Architecture Museum in the world. I was not disappointed. The museum is divided into two parts, the original Victorian mansion, which is the centerpiece of the museum and a modern U-shaped building that surrounds the mansion and houses the galleries. None of the galleries have permanent exhibits and the shows we saw were heavy into the video media. My favorite piece, one I am sure was lost on the ladies, was a room that featured surround-sound video of one of those racing video games. The rainstorm drizzle turned to an intense downpour, while we were inside the Victorian mansion. Most of the mansion has been tuned over to administrative functions, but a study and the winter garden rooms retain the regal magic of the mansion’s second empire period. After the museum we had a Chinese lunch of noodles and crispy beef.
After lunch we drove down to the Eastern Townships, the area were the lodge is situated. We spent some time looking for Phil along the Route Verte bike paths and arrived at Glen Sutton late. We were greeted by Stephen and Joy, the proprieters of the Outdoor Lodge at Glen Sutton, Jennifer, who helped and on later days Ann, the cook. Mark and Merri were already there when we arrived, but Stu, Nancy and Karie were delayed even later after being stranded in Virginia for five hours. Dinner was Salmon loaf, potatoes, green beans, salad, lemon meringue pie to die for. Eventually, the last three members of our party arrived and after their diner our conversation turned to tales of travel and hopes for the morrow’s bike ride.