Month: June 2022

6/30/22

Wow, what a cool day!

Linda took me on a bike ride out to St. Helen’s Island, in the St. Lawrence River on the eastern edge of town. I got to see the Biosphere and Habitat 67, both built for Expo 67 in Montreal. (I recently learned that my parents attended Expo 67 here—their first and only time in Montreal—two years before they were married. Cool!)

On the way over there, we passed neat buildings, a Ferris wheel, and the Cirque du Soleil tents. (This is their home city! Apparently they swapped out the blue-and-yellow tents for gray-and-white ones during COVID; not sure if that change was specifically related to the pandemic.)

We passed a cool boat, some colorful stacked shipping containers, and a nice view of the Jacques Cartier Bridge again.

Once we reached the island, Linda returned home and left me to explore the area. I enjoyed the open plazas and green parks there. What a cool place!

On my way back, I got to ride on that iconic Jacques Cartier bridge again. Then I stopped for a late lunch at Copper Branch in the Gay Village area again. I love the blocks-long pedestrian plaza in that business district, with all its colorful accoutrements.

This evening I met up with two of the Marillion friends I had dinner with back in Durham, North Carolina. (Sadly, the third of these friends brought a passport card, rather than her full passport, onto her flight here, and ended up having to fly back to Raleigh/Durham, so she will miss the Marillion weekend. Fortunately, as a hardcore fan, she had seen them perform recently, but still this is a very unfortunate turn of events.)

On the way to meeting up with Tamara and Lawrence—and many other Marillion fans who have now descended upon the city from around the world—I spent some time in a nearby park with a great view of the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral. (More amazing church architecture!)

Tomorrow I will meet my new Servas host, Gabrielle, and I’ll attend the first of three Marillion concerts this weekend!

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6/29/22

Today was a leafy day!

I said goodbye to my wonderful Terrebonne Warmshowers hosts, Mathilde and Ben, and set out on my bike on a beautiful sunny morning. I knew I had to get to my new host before 3:00, because rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the whole afternoon and evening, beginning at 3:00. (The rain did start around 4:00, just after I arrived, although I didn’t end up seeing any lightning, and the rain wasn’t particularly consistent after an hour or so. Still, I didn’t know that this morning!)

I took Mathilde’s suggestion for a longer (at least 20 miles/32 km) but much more green and pleasant/safe route back to Montreal.

I will admit, though, I wasn’t expecting all those hills—oof! I had to walk up at least three of them, huffing and puffing with my 72-lb/33-kg trailer load (and ride the brakes on the way down; I get nervous zooming down hills with that heavy trailer behind me.)

I also took a few wrong turns, so I ended up doing a few extra miles, and also getting onto some segments that were higher-traffic/less pleasant.

Overall, though, it was a beautiful ride. I did feel surprisingly tired when I arrived (just ahead of those clouds!) at my new host Linda’s second-floor apartment; after a bit of conversation, I ended up taking a nap for almost two hours! (We’ll see how I sleep tonight.)

Linda is amazing: she is mathematical, musical, visually artistic (she has published a book of stunning photography from her bike travels in Canada and Europe, and she also draws and paints beautifully); she speaks four languages; she has bicycled all across Canada over five months, camping most of the way… I’m probably forgetting some more things, but these are some of the highlights. She even made me some vegan tofu miso soup, which was warm and ready upon my arrival, which was a perfect snack; and then also made a vegan dinner for the two of us. Then she logged onto her online Japanese class, which will help her with her upcoming travels to Japan in September!

The people I have met on this journey absolutely blow me away. It is such an honor to meet all of them. (Thank you again to anyone reading this who has hosted me thus far, or even just met up with me on my travels. You are all amazing, and I’m so grateful!)

I’m not sure of my plans yet for tomorrow. Maybe listening more to my new Marillion album, so that I can be prepared for their live musical brilliance on the 1st!

—

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6/28/22

Today was a beautiful day! Perfect temperatures, and lots of time in parks.

I started out at the park just a few blocks away from my hosts: Parc Ecologique de la Coulee. (I just learned that Coulee—as in “Grand Coulee Dam”—is a French Canadian word meaning “ravine.” Sure enough, there was a beautiful ravine in this park.) The park was a wonderful sanctuary: basically just lots of woods, but with wide bikeable gravel paths throughout.

On one edge of the park, it opened up into a sunny green field. From the sign there, I learned another new word: “dameuse” = snowplow.

After sitting on various benches in this park for more than an hour (heavenly!) I decided to head out to the adjoining suburb of Mascouche to try a vegan restaurant called Le Maskwa. (I didn’t think that looked like a French word. I looked it up, and sure enough, “maskwa” is a Cree word, for bear.)

There was a wonderful car-free bike path for much of the distance to the restaurant, which I am finding a lot around Montreal. Unfortunately, as in so many other metro areas, this wonderful infrastructure is often juxtaposed with roads that feel much less safe and welcoming for bikes. I appreciate the pathways whenever I do find them.

The food at this restaurant was superb! Wow. I got the “Le Sicilien” sandwich, which was full of perfectly marinated vegetables. For dessert, I tried a cookie unlike any I’ve ever had: a large, pillowy chocolate-chocolate chip cookie with Speculoos crème inside, and topped with a half Speculoos cookie. After this meal, I was full for many hours afterward. I wish I were here longer, so I could go back and try more things!

Thus fortified, I made my way to another beautiful park in Mascouche, which contained several ponds. On the way, though, I stopped at a supermarket for a few items. One such item was a candy bar for later.

When I arrived at the park and sat on a shady bench to enjoy the pond view, pretty soon I saw one of this area’s beautiful black squirrels. I was enchanted… but before long, this squirrel proved to be another aggressive one. It hopped up onto my bike, somehow sensing that within the bag that hung from the handlebars, there was a sweet treat to be found.

With a gust of wind, the bike tipped over! The squirrel (and a nearby duck) initially scurried away… but not for long. The squirrel returned and ventured into the bag, quickly grabbing the candy (still in its sealed plastic wrapper) and beginning to carry it away in its arms!

I put a stop to this, retrieving the item from the squirrel’s hands, but not surprisingly, the squirrel was not happy with this, and proceeded to jump up onto the park bench next to me over and over again, approaching with a determined look in its eye.

Sorry, squirrel. That marzipan Ritter Sport is mine.

I felt it was time to move on after that, so I set a course back to the house, but not before stopping in the old-town area of Terrebonne, with the beautiful parks I had seen on my way in last night. I got a picture of the dam with the water rushing through it.

When I arrived back at the house, Mathilde was making a vegan dinner of homemade falafel, rice, and salad with lettuce from their garden. We all had a lovely dinner, talking about our various travels.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to Montreal to meet my new host, Linda, and also hopefully meet up with another acquaintance I first met years ago, on another continent.

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6/27/22

What another full day!

I said a fond farewell to Aurelie last night (although we plan to see each other at least once more before I leave town!) and woke up this morning shortly after she left for work. I had some breakfast and took a shower, and then headed out to meet a former Portland dance-community acquaintance, Roxanne, to visit the Montreal Botanical Garden. (On the way I passed another breathtaking church, and had to capture it.)

I had visited the garden once before, in 2019, and was looking forward to seeing it again. Its lush beauty today did not disappoint, and we visited the Alpine garden, Japanese garden, Classical Chinese Garden, and arboretum, among other beautiful natural pathways through the place.

Meanwhile, we talked travel! Roxanne and her husband Johnny left Portland in 2017 to become full-time travelers, mostly in Europe. She shared some great stories and travel tips about Europe, health insurance, overseas medical and dental “tourism” (she strongly suggested I consider getting my next dental surgery in either Hungary or Romania… hmmm…) It sounds like she and Johnny have been having a wonderful time in places like Croatia, Spain, Portugal, and other countries. I do want to get to Europe at some point. It was fun to talk about it.

After the garden, I made my way back to Aurelie’s place to pack up my things and head out to my new Warmshowers hosts for tonight and tomorrow, Mathilde and Ben, who coincidentally are also French citizens, and also aim to live a zero-waste lifestyle, like Aurelie. They live in the northern suburb of Terrebonne, and when you factor in my dinner stop along the way, I ended up cycling 20 miles (32 km) to get there! I was ready for a rest and chat with a tall glass of water when I arrived. (They use a stick of charcoal in a glass jar of refrigerated tap water to filter it! I had never heard of this low-waste alternative to a Brita-type water filter.)

The ride over here was very beautiful in parts, crossing bridges and cycling along waterways, right during golden hour.

Tomorrow I plan to check out the forested park across the street from their house, as well as the “old town” that I rode through briefly on my way here. It looked very scenic, including a small island.

—

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6/26/22

The city of Montreal has a really cool “Ruelle Verte” program. The term means “green alleyway,” and neighbors can get together and choose to turn their alleyways into works of art, with murals and other cool decorations, and this is officially supported by the city. There are signs encouraging motorists to slow down for the sake of the “enfants” living near the alleys, and sometimes plantings out on the main streets next to the alleyways, with signage indicating that those neighbors are responsible for these beautification plants (some of which are edible vegetables!)

It was another very hot day today (high of 93F/34C) until the rain started this evening and cooled things down considerably. Aurelie took me out on foot in the early hot sun for a walking tour of some of these alleyway murals in her neighborhood.

Aurelie is a devoted minimalist, who sews many of her own household items to avoid using disposables. I have been so impressed to see all of these items, including the pillowcases on my bed, many tablecloths and cloth napkins, wall decorations (and even a chalkboard she made herself!) and, perhaps most impressively, a “paper towel roll” made up of cloth towels—smooth on one side and terrycloth on the other—that all snap together. (See photo.) Truly impressive!

Along our walk, we stopped at one of at least six zero-waste stores in the city of Montreal. This city is amazing.

After the walk, we came back and rested for a while, and then went out to meet a friend of Aurelie’s who is also passionate about Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as Aurelie and I both are. This woman is also planning to try her first short bike tour in a few weeks, so we encouraged her on that.

On the way to meet her, we passed another beautiful church, so I snapped another pic.

Tomorrow I plan to meet up with a friend I know from Portland’s dance community, who moved to Europe a few years ago. She and her husband are staying in Montreal for a while, near the botanical garden. We will visit the garden together tomorrow!

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6/25/22

Today I got to experience some beautiful sights in this city, led by my fearless host Aurelie, and joined by new local friend Paulo… and all of us on our Bromptons!

First, Aurelie and I took a picnic lunch to nearby Parc Jarry. It is a beautiful big city park nearby with a lake, a swimming pool, and lots of greenspaces where families were hanging out, barbecuing, etc. We dined in a lovely gazebo, which happened to be uninhabited when we arrived.

After lunch, we went over to the ride meeting place of the Jean-Talon Market, an open-air market kind of similar to Seattle’s Pike Place. I saw some of the biggest rhubarb I had ever seen!

We met up with Paulo, and the three of us set out on our adventure.

First we visited St. Joseph’s Oratory of Montreal, a gorgeous cathedral which was unfortunately undergoing construction, but which still looked beautiful from the outside. (There are so many architecturally amazing churches here!)

Then we thought we would visit a large cemetery on Mount Royal, but after scaling a challenging hill (which appeared on the map to be a “shortcut”) we found ourselves at what seemed to be a dead end. But then Paulo went to investigate a bit, and found a narrow, leafy path into the woods. It was a very hot and sunny day, so although we weren’t sure what we would be getting into by following the path, we decided the shade and uncertainty would be a worthwhile adventure.

And it was! We ended up having to walk our bikes most of the way, since the path was narrow, steep, and/or full of roots at times, but before too long, we found ourselves at an incredible viewpoint, which amazingly neither of them had visited before.

We stood at the top and reveled for a while, enjoying the view, and then began a slow descent, also on a tricky path. Very shortly after the summit, we found another amazing view, just off to the left: we were now facing east rather than north.

The descent after that was pretty challenging. (See the photo of Aurelie carrying her bike with a full front pack.) But we all made it without injury, and reached the entrance to the cemetery. As it turned out, though, the cemetery was not really passable by bike, so we ended up turning around and heading instead for a lovely restaurant with a beautiful enclosed patio.

Some Americans who waited with us in line outside struck up a conversation about our “cool” bikes, which was fun.

Over the meal, we enjoyed some good conversation about traveling, and then Paulo had to say goodbye because he had to tend to his “ducklings”—the three 20-something American Warmshowers guests sleeping on his living room floor. They were planning to awaken at 4 am to bicycle all the way to Ottawa in one day(!!) so he wanted to have a chance to say goodbye before they went to bed.

Aurelie and I then meandered slowly back to her place, through perfectly golden-hour-lit streets. We have been relaxing on the balcony ever since.

I’m not sure yet what tomorrow will hold. I had been loosely planning to visit Quebec City, but between my concern about the cost and logistics of the train travel, the fact that English speakers are more scarce there than here, and not having been able to find a host, I’m thinking I may stay here in Montreal instead. I have several local friends I’m hoping to see, so perhaps I can meet up with one or more of them tomorrow.

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6/24/22

OK. I will start by acknowledging the Supreme Court decision. It is a devastating blow to my country, and especially to anyone there with a uterus. My Facebook feed is full of outrage and heartbreak. I share those feelings, and I know there is much cultural and political work to be done in the coming years. I don’t have much more to say about it here, though. On this journey I have been living as much as I can in the present moment and in the beauty of nature and of the human connections I’m making, and so I’m choosing to focus on that now.

So…

Today was another beautiful day. I said goodbye this morning to my wonderful Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Warmshowers host, Gaby, and headed out along the Richelieu River toward Chambly, before peeling off to the west to get to Montreal.

The rain had cleared up. The sun had come out. The bike paths were every bit as breathtaking as Gaby and Aurelie had told me they would be. Wow.

Later in the afternoon, I felt the heat and humidity increasing, and by the time I met up with Aurelie in the early evening, I was definitely ready for a rest! I had stopped just before meeting her (and just after crossing the unbelievable Jacques Cartier Bridge, over Ile de Sainte Helene—Saint Helen’s Island—where Expo 1967 was held and which I hope to explore later) for a late lunch at the all vegan Copper Branch restaurant along Rue Sainte Catherine. That bridge was one of the longest, and also most impressive-looking, I have ever crossed. (You can just get a glimpse of its peaks from afar, in the one photo.) But it was a haul! Lots of bike traffic in the narrow bike lane, two hills within the bridge… it was an experience. Off to the right, I could see the roller coasters of the La Ronde theme park. I wish I could have taken photos of them, but that bike path was clearly not the place to do so.

After my meal, I climbed another short but steep hill (I walked the second half of it) to find Aurelie waiting for me at the top, cheering me on in the company of her own Brompton (named Archie!)

I met Aurelie within the past year, in a Facebook Brompton bicycling group. She is a very interesting and inspiring person! She moved to Montreal from her native land of France about ten years ago, and she lives a minimalist lifestyle. She works as a documentary filmmaker, specializing in short films about people in eastern Canada who live minimalist lifestyles, live in tiny houses, etc. (Take a look at her YouTube channel! Lots of very inspiring short films. They are all in French, but many have English subtitles.) She travels to these locations on her Brompton, often with the same Radical Design Chubby trailer that I use!

Tomorrow, she is organizing a Brompton ride here in Montreal in my honor! I don’t know how many people will be able to attend, but I’m excited to hopefully meet a new local or two.

Today is also the national holiday of Quebec, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. (It may seem odd to those outside of Quebec—including me—that a province would have a “national” holiday, but this is how people here refer to it. I don’t know too much about the history, culture, and politics of the province of Quebec, but I do know it is very deep for those who call this place home.) As I traveled today, I saw many large holiday celebrations in public parks, and lots of people in group rides on the bike paths (not sure if that was because of the holiday, but I guessed so?) and I noticed that many restaurants and shops were closed.

Aurelie led me on the final segment of my bike ride, from the “Gay Village” part of town (where the Marillion shows will be held next week, at the L’Olympia concert venue) back to her apartment, where we rested on the lovely balcony in perfect evening weather, and ate a wonderful tapas-style al fresco dinner she had prepared.

I’m excited for the rest of my time here in Montreal (and hopefully also Quebec City)!

—

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6/23/22

Wow. It did rain last night. And most of today. I am so glad I chose to stay here in St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu today instead of trying to bike to Montreal; I would have been absolutely miserable.

So I stayed indoors today, and worked on finding lodging for my next few places, as well as having two great Zoom conversations with two interesting women in—coincidence of coincidences—Kentucky. (I have scarcely ever talked to anyone in or even from Kentucky, but I happened to meet these two—who don’t know each other—recently through different Facebook groups.)

It felt cool to dip my toe back into the realm of “magical meetings.” I did so many of them during the year before I embarked on this journey, but since being on the road, it’s been all I can do to even keep up a semblance of communication with close friends and family. The constant moving around makes it difficult to block out times to talk when I can have sufficient comfort and privacy and mental/emotional presence to make it worthwhile for both parties.

As I dream into my next “chapter” after this year’s journey, I envision similar travel, but with more housesitting for a week or two at a stretch, rather than staying with different hosts every few nights. I’m loving meeting all these new hosts, but after a year I think I’ll be ready for a bit more privacy and downtime.

When my host Gaby returned from work this evening, he made us a delicious rice-and-dal dinner, and then since the rain had mostly stopped, he took me into the “old town” part of St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and we walked along the river and canal path. The river is not deep enough here for most boats to pass, so more than a century ago, they built the adjacent canal for that purpose. And just within the past few years, a new river bridge went in. I really liked the modern industrial style of the bridgehead.

The forecast shows clouds tomorrow, but no rain after 7 am, so my modified plan is in place to bike to Montreal and meet up with my Brompton friend Aurelie!

—

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6/22/22

Today was another bicycling day, 39 miles. (Or should I say, 63 kilometers! Gotta get used to this metric stuff for the next several weeks…)

The weather cooperated, with pleasant temps and even a tailwind for most of the way! Unfortunately I think I got a bit of sunburn on my arms; not enough sunscreen, I guess. Pretty mild, though.

I left the lodge just after 10:00 am, and pedaled through mile after mile of beautiful bucolic scenery, first in Vermont and then in Quebec.

Crossing the border went very smoothly. I only had to wait for one car ahead of me. I can now say that I have crossed into Canada by car, bus, train, boat, plane… and now, finally, by pedal power! Other than simply walking across, I think that is every possible way.

I did have a bit of a snafu with my phone service. Although my Verizon plan promised unlimited talk, text, and data in Canada (at no extra charge!) I found that once I crossed the border, service got very spotty and shoddy, to the point that my phone was pretty much unusable for most of the day. I could have stressed out about it, but mostly chose not to: I still had access to my map (though not the directions, without internet) and the address of my new Warmshowers host Gaby here in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. I used this to navigate and find his place just fine, although unfortunately I wasn’t able to text him ahead of time as we had agreed, and therefore he also couldn’t text me the code to get in before he arrived. It was OK, though; I hung out in a nearby park until he got home from work. (And I eventually found that restarting the phone did seem to help, although I have WiFi here at the house now, too.)

Meanwhile, I enjoyed all the fun new signs in this country, although I admit I was intimidated by the language barrier. I’ve been a bit nervous about that for weeks. I have visited Quebec once before—in May of 2019, for the same Montreal Marillion Weekend I’ll be attending next week—and found it a bit challenging to be surrounded by spoken and written French everywhere, since I don’t speak it. At that time and place, I found that everyone I encountered could and would speak English with me if I replied to their “bonjour” greeting with a smile and a “hi,” and I’m trusting that will be the case this time, as well. But even so, it adds a bit of stress for me to be in a place where the language does not flow easily for me. I’m used to living a very verbal life, and also striking up conversations with strangers as I travel.

I did manage to navigate a natural-foods store, though, and pick up several vegan sweet treats. (All I needed to say was “Merci!” as I left the register.)

Gaby had prepared a vegan meal ahead of time for dinner; although he is not completely vegan himself—and I had not yet mentioned that I was, because I didn’t want to presume that he would provide meals—he said he had noticed that his Warmshowers guests seem to prefer vegan meals. Cool!

We ate on the back patio, overlooking his vegetable garden, and ended up talking culture and politics for hours. I learned a few things about Canada. It was all very interesting, and I was extra appreciative for his engagement and enthusiasm: he is Quebecois, so French is his native language and he struggled occasionally to find the right English words. It was a wonderfully warm welcome for me into this country, and this new chapter of my journey.

Tomorrow I had planned to make one more riding day, into Montreal. The forecast is not looking at all pleasant for that. Gaby has graciously offered to let me stay another night here if I need it. I’ll see how the weather shapes up in the morning, and decide then.

—

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6/21/22

Well, it’s the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. I notice that sunset here on North Hero Island is 8:42, which is significantly earlier than Portland’s 9:02. I hadn’t realized there were parts of the US where the solstice sunset was before 9:00. Still, it’s the longest day of the year.

The day wasn’t as sunny as I would have liked, and in fact I got sprinkled on a few times, but thankfully nothing more than a bit of drizzle. And the 35-mile journey from Burlington to North Hero Island, via the Colchester Causeway Trail, was as beautiful as everyone had told me it would be.

This is a rail-trail, and a long segment of it goes out into the lake, with water on both sides of the trail.

When they took out the train tracks to turn it into a bike and pedestrian trail, they also took out the short bridge in one section of it, in order to allow easier passage of boats. This means that the trail is impassable unless you take the Local Motion bike ferry. The ferry—which only covers about a 50-yard distance—runs on weekends during the cooler season of the year, but this week (perfect timing for me!) it resumed daily service.

I spoke to the gregarious ferry-dock volunteer, Dave (hi, Dave!) who loved hearing about my journey, as did the ferry operators once I boarded. Dave collected my $5 donation fare while sharing some tips on how to proceed up South Hero after the ferry.

The farmland there was beautiful. I stopped to eat my packed lunch at a winery along the way that designated itself as a bikeway rest stop, and met two women visiting the area from Seattle! They had grown up in Vermont and Massachusetts, respectively, and had flown back to visit their earlier homes, and rented bikes to do some touring together while they were here. (Hi, Becky and Alison!)

Before too much longer, I arrived at my motel on North Hero. After all my wonderful human connections with my hosts over the past few months, I admit I’m relishing the quiet downtime and privacy in the room tonight. (Amazingly, I think the last time I needed to get a hotel was in Savannah, back in early April. Which is a good thing, because this place cost me a pretty penny! But it was worth it to be able to take this particular route.)

I expect I will sleep soundly tonight. Tomorrow, it will be another 39 miles in the saddle, including crossing the border into Canada, before arriving at the home of my Warmshowers host in the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

Happy solstice to all!

—

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