PEI was a nice place and we could have stayed longer but with things to do and people to see we left the island for a little drive towards Toronto. (about 1000 miles) Moose are supposed to be on the highways and after the winter they can be seen licking the salt rich puddles in the ditches along the highways (salt from the salt spreaders) We took the back roads towards Quebec in the hope of seeing one out of season. Long bumpy roads, some crystal clear lakes, lots of trees but alas no moose.
Around Quebec we decided to stop for the night. It was very surprising to see only French signs on the roads, it was even more surprising that the hotel we booked into not only had a french name but everyone spoke French (some people spoke ONLY French). For an English speaking country to have such a large part of their country speak a different language was a bit weird until you looked at the relative size.
Northern Ireland -5463 square miles
Quebec - 595391 square miles
Canada - 4500 000 Square miles
Quebec - 595391 square miles
Canada - 4500 000 Square miles
A bit more driving past a few more trees got us down to Montreal to stop over with some family friends of Jude's. Liz and Billy Baxter moved out to Montreal in the 80's and we stopped off to see them. Most Northern Irish people never loose their accents even after many years abroad. Liz and Billy where very kind to allow us to stay and they even fed us a fantastic meal. It was a lovely way to share information and stories about friends and family back home despite being so far away.
Another five hours of our epic road trip got us to Toronto and my friends Karen and Cory. Karen had agreed to let us stay with her last time she was home. We had been drinking at the time but I held her to her word. Chatting about old times, old friends and old haunts over several home cooked meals has been great. We've rocked out on the Wii, seen a busker festival downtown and had a fantastic base for exploring various parts of Toronto. With several more days left, at Chez Karen and Cory's it is this sort of generosity once again that has helped this trip become so interesting and pleasurable.
No comments:
Post a Comment