Of course, we didn't just follow the official "tourist program" during our first week in Montreal. From the moment we moved our stay from the hotel near the airport to the inner city, we also experienced many small exciting surprises and had really nice moments.
The first two were waiting for us directly upon arrival in the district "Westmount", where we had booked a private room. After a very hilly approach (streets very reminiscent of San Francisco!) we stopped in a street above our accommodation. We had already learned in advance from our host that parking in the street directly in front of the house was not possible, but we could park our bikes in the street above. So we stopped there at the roadside. Andreas looked down on foot to look at the area in advance, where we could stand with our bikes to unload briefly. Kerstin looked around and was greeted first by something large and gray: a squirrel!
Not two minutes after Kerstin stood alone on the street with the bikes, a good-humored middle-aged couple already passed by. They interrupted their walk and stopped to look at the bikes and to inquire where we come from. The two were totally taken by our trip and also told immediately that they even knew Austria and especially Vienna and even still had relatives in Austria. And they surprised Kerstin very much, because they offered that the bikes could be stored in their garage a few streets away for free. Because in the next days it should give again minus degrees and it would be nevertheless a pity around the Bikes! When Andreas came back, Kerstin greeted him with the words: "I have organized a garage for us!"
Andreas was also very surprised and happy about it. Together we followed the couple that showed us the garage and surprised us again. Because: they put out their own car and left us the garage completely alone!
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In a good mood we drove down the street from our private room to unload our luggage. We could hardly have found a safer place: right next to it as neighbors were namely a police station and the local fire department!
When they saw us, the bikes and our luggage on the street, they also waved to us and the guys of the fire department also offered us a garage place - right next to the emergency vehicles! However, we had to decline this offer because we had already committed to the other garage.
While driving back to the garage, the first mishap happened to us. Still quite confused by the foreign language and different colored traffic signs, we overlooked the signs of the one-way street and that we could not drive back the same way we had come. However, we were still able to brake in time. Right next to us there was already a police patrol. The policemen greeted us friendly, grinned and simply pointed with their finger circling in the air that we should point in the other direction! So a really friendly reception, which we would not have expected so!
We were also really lucky with our hostess. An open-minded, cheerful and very sympathetic student, who helped us with several tips and could even explain the individual (for us partly very strange) traffic signs and thus saved us not only possible fines, but also many possible accidents!
One thing we shared with her in any case: the passion for motorcycles! However, her model clearly had the more powerful engine than our bikes: Lego BMW M 1000 RR!
Not only our host, but also her friends were very sympathetic. It was interesting to learn what it is like to live in Montreal or Canada when you come from somewhere else. Some of her friends are originally from Turkey, like her, so they also knew Austria and Europe.
During an unexpected invitation on Holy Saturday to a Ramadan dinner instead of our usual Easter snack, we got the opportunity to exchange with them about the individual traditions, customs, religions and life itself and realized how similar many things are, although supposedly so different.
We also learned a lot of new things (e.g. about the preparation of baklava) and also funny things: e.g. that the word "Hoppala!", which is also used in Austria, actually comes from Turkish and is used in the same way in both countries!
Not only at dinner, but also during the day, we were able to discover a lot of culinary delights in Montreal. Besides the already mentioned and described Poutine, there is for example the famous Smoked Meat in Montreal. We actually wanted to do the brewery tour - but the famous game: at the beginning of April, there was unfortunately not yet!
Our hostess also drew our attention to something special: Pouding Chômeur (translated means something like: "poor man's pudding"). This is a kind of bread (for us it was very similar to our sponge cake dough) that is eaten with a lot of maple syrup. Really delicious!
Photos: 1.) Poutine in different variants 2.) Pouding Chômeur
Maple syrup can really be found everywhere here. During a visit to the Atwater market, we could not help but be amazed. In addition to the usual vegetables, cheeses and meats, we also found several recipes of cheese, pickled meats, jams, etc. with - guess right! - Maple syrup!
We were also able to taste something new here that we don't have: Maple Cones. These are small ice cream cones filled with "maple taffy" (i.e. rather solid cool/iced maple syrup). With heavy hearts, we unfortunately had to leave the market without much luggage, since the packing space on our bikes is unfortunately very limited. But we have resolved to try many of the products seen there somewhere in between on the trip yet.
We also got the tip to stop once at a "shugar shack". These are huts, which are operated by the maple farmers, where tastings take place and one can eat there whole courts with maple syrup. So also e.g. steaks, sausages etc. - everything with maple syrup! Who knows - maybe we'll stop by when something like that is right on our route! Then we tell you how it tasted!
Photos: Visit to the Atwater Market with tasting of "Maple Toffee
In addition to the many Canadian delicacies, we of course had to visit the local supermarkets. And lo and behold: Austria sends its regards! In addition to the usual Mozartkugeln, which you seem to get everywhere, there was also something else. With all the Mannerschnitten packages, we also found a lemon slice package with German writing that we probably knew!
In addition to all the good food, one should not forget the movement. And so we arrived at a somewhat longer "walk" (in the end it was about 16 km!) through the neighborhoods also on the Mont Royal. Up there on the (for us) hill is even a nice summit cross! Furthermore, there is a huge cemetery, which is also used by the locals as a running and training track. On the one hand, because real asphalted roads go through and on the other hand because it borders directly on a recreation area or a park. It is also worth seeing because not only the first settler families have their resting place here, but also because it is apparently open to all religions. The difference between the individual religious gravesites could not be greater - and yet all have one thing in common there: their final resting place.
From the park you also have a partial incomparable view down to the city. There is also the "Castor Lake" - a kind of artificial lake, which serves as an ice skating rink in winter, but is not a bathing lake. However, you can picnic all around it. Really idyllic!
Through our hostess we also came to a somewhat different area of the city. Namely, a former industrial zone. It is interesting that the city of Montreal had decided a few years ago that industrial enterprises may only be located in the outskirts. The former buildings in the abandoned industrial zone are now gradually being converted into residential buildings. Also typical of this area are the staircases built on the outside instead of the staircases on the inside. This is due to the fact that taxes had to be paid only for the living space and staircases on the outside did not count as living space. If they were on the inside, however, they were! The houses and their staircases (partly up to the 4th floor) are really worth seeing, because there are hardly two identical houses!
During the walk we also learned something important. It started to storm lightly and the leaves were swirled around in really perfect circles/ swirls. In Montreal, this is a definite sign that it will start raining shortly after! So: watch out for leaves flying in circles!
For a slightly different problem than the weather, we also found a workable solution in Montreal.
Basically, almost all shops/restaurants here have free wifi. However, if you are on the road and need a route planner, you are often dependent on current information (such as road closures and detours) despite downloaded offline maps.
Everyone who has ever dealt with the topic of Canada and telephone knows that Internet and telephone charges are relatively expensive. For example, you can get internet rates for a prepaid cell phone with e.g. 500 MB for 15 CAD net (without sales tax and provincial tax)! Yes - right, there are also MB tariffs here! And if you don't pay attention, the 500 MB are only in 3G quality.
In Europe, you always need a residence for registered phone/internet rates. Therefore, we had simply inquired about a prepaid sim card. However, thanks to a nice and really helpful lady in a cell phone store, we found a completely different solution. Instead of a residence, our ETA number and the postal code of our current residence were sufficient for a normal contract. Bills can also be paid by credit card. The cancellation options are also much easier than here in Europe (although expensive and technically na-ja - at least the service is right). So now we became proud owners of a mobile phone/internet contract with a whole 10GB!
Photo: Planning work for the further stretch of our world tour!
So with these internet possibilities we could plan our motorcycle routes much better than just driving on "ibahabs" and after Montreal Quebec City is next on the plan for our world trip!
To all in Montreal: We hope to see you again!
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