I’ve missed a couple of days along the way, so with today being a “day of rest” I thought I could catch us up.

Corning

This is going way back, but I did forget to write about our trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Very very cool. We are not “museum people” but this was fun, educational, interesting, interactive, … Who knew there was so much different science and engineering behind “glass!” We started with a glass etching experience and then went to the hot shop to see them blow a huge glass light fixture. If you have never seen a glass blowing demonstration you really should. Mathematics, Physics, Art, Engineering, it’s all there.

Here is Jane etching her glass. I made a Runestone glass!

Montreal

We drove from Stowe to Montreal, beautiful scenery but we are still too early for the change in color. We knew that going in that we were likely too early for some places and would be too late for others by the time we were finished. But it was pretty. Kind of funny crossing the border. I know it’s no joke, But kind of odd to the average tourist. Do you have any firearms? No. Do you own any firearms? No. Do you have any defensive weapons… like pepper spray or a hunting knife? Ummm no. Does the hatchet for splitting wood count? What about my chef’s knife? We are towing a camper after all. Then there were the questions about alcohol… Of course we have some wine in the camper. Are you visiting anyone? No. Do you know anyone? No. Will you meet anyone? Ummm, I imagine we might meet people while we are camping or eating out… it’s hard to not meet people.

My vision of Montreal was influenced way to much by the Canada pavilion at EPCOT. It was nice, but felt more big city than anything, even in old town. It was cool to see the city at sunset, especially the Olympic stadium in the distance.

In the morning we took a short bike ride, and got an even better view. A very cool structure.

Maybe the oddest thing we saw was a driver missing the corner and plowing into the retaining wall right on the edge of a restaurant. People pulled out their phones and started filming, then the driver and the passenger tried to switch places. It was hard to tell what was going on, and we had to catch our ferry so we didn’t wait until the police came.

Just before we fell asleep Jane said “I smell skunk”. Yes, there it was the distinct smell of skunk. Was there a skunk under the camper? Did one of the stray cats around the campground get into it with a skunk and was now lurking around our campsite? Should I go out into the dark and try to figure it out? In the words of Marlin Perkins “I’ll stay safely in the camper” We will never know, the smell was gone in the morning.

Quebec City

Quebec city definitely had more of an old European vibe to it! We enjoyed our walk, even if it did involve over 310 stairs! We walked and wandered and then enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner in the upper town. After dinner we made our way back through the streets toward the ferry.

And enjoyed the view of Château Frontenac as we headed across the river.

Today is mostly a day of rest, doing laundry and catching up on some work… But we did get in a 26 mile ride along the river this afternoon.

You can see Château Frontenac in the daylight along with a couple of cruise ships. We also saw the last bridge across the river as we head toward the ocean.

The plan for tonight is to relax, have a some burgers at our campsite, and prepare for a long (8 hour) drive tomorrow to New Brunswick. We will be happy to get back to a province where English is the dominant language! It has been so long since we have visited a country where we do not speak the accepted/dominant language. Of course the Canadians are very welcoming, friendly, nice, and do their best to understand us. Especially if we try to greet them in French or say a few words. TIL that when you are biking in Quebec you can’t expect people to understand “on your left” instead one should say “à ta gauche” I’m not sure “on your left” is a universal bike thing, or whether I’m just really bad ad saying it, but it did not get the normal response!