Finally escaped from the US and made it to Canada.

Amtrak tried to delay my escape by having the train arrive 3 1/2 hours late into Montreal but I'm here now. Nice to get somewhere a little bit colder. Last day in New York the temperature was somewhere around 37C. Fortunately here it is only 30!

Managed to find all the important things in Montreal within an hour: train station, hostel I booked to stay in, pizza take away, and Irish bar. Got to cover the essentials to make yourself feel at home!

Spent a couple of days exploring the city and surroundings. The Underground is an interesting concept. The guide says that the Canadians got fed up with cold winters and hot summers, so they built a level below ground that has a large number of shops, restaurants, etc. Apparently it extends for over 30 km. I did manage to cover a little bit of it but spent most of my time above ground exploring the history of the city. As well as that had a nice stroll (!) up Mont Royal to get the view over the city. Didn't actually see much 'cos the tress were a bit high but did find a nice lake up on the hill.

Got treated to another firework display. There is an international firework display competition going on and I happened to be there on one of the nights when they had a display. It was impressive - definetly better than 4th July display in NY. Also got to see the first set of Canadians dressing up to re-enact something from history. Seems to be a common thing - every where you go (even when I got on the bus from Montreal to Quebec City), you're bound to find at last a tenth of the locals n period dress for the benefit of us tourists.

Day 2 was mostly spent on the two islands in the St Lawrence: St Helene and Notre Dame which together form the Parc Jean Drapeau. Spent all morning in the biosphere looking at and doing all sorts of sciency things. If you ever go to Montreal with kids, this is highly recommended. After that I strolled across to the second island (where the Olympic rowing was held in 1976). Paused to look at a map to work out where abouts I was to find that if I took a step backwards I'd be standing on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (where the Canadian F1 Grand Prix is held).

So on to Quebec City.


P.S. the Yankees won on Monday night despite A-Rod having a nightmare at bat and in the field.