Awake: 6:06am Temp 30 sleep 7+06 partly cloudy overnight @
Stowe, VT.
@ 9:00am while walking to the office to sign up for 2 more days camping,
Terry & Joanne arrive from their Sugarbush hangout. They are our ride to
Montréal so I don’t want to miss that. We leave Stowe @ 9:15am & arrive in
Montréal, Quebec @ Terry’s son’s home @ 11:45am; it was a very smooth &
comfortable trip with only a 5 min border crossing time. We spend about 30
min @ Joe’s house before walking down the street to have lunch @ the
bistro: “St. Viateur Bagel & Café.” We talk, eat & get to know Joe & his
girlfriend Kate a little better. During our time inside the café, light
rain moves into the area……then Joe volunteers to drive Terry’s car & give
us a splendid auto tour of Montréal city: the different ethnic
neighborhoods; old town Montréal; shopping districts; the 1976 Olympic
Village & BIG dome; University of Montréal campus auto tour; Saint Joseph
Oratory Church & too many areas too numerous to list. It was the best 2 hr
tour of Montréal Kathy & I have ever had. The crème de la crème of our
tour came during our stop @ McGill University where we looked @ fruit
flies & worms under the 100 power electronic microscope. Joe, a doctor of
neurobiology, has been teaching & doing research in his lab with these
critters for quite some time.
What a coincidence: Kathy & I have also been doing research for sometime
on fruit flies in our motorhome: how to gently pick them out of our wine
glass when they’ve had too much to drink & fall in; how to zap them during
our dinner without zapping ourselves & how to spot the freeloaders when
they are hitching a ride from the supermarkets to our home on wheels. Joe
couldn’t help us with our dilemma & we couldn’t shed any more light on his
project other than what he already had. Seeing those microscopic worms
wiggle when he shot ultra violet light on them was oh-so mystical. He then
drops us off @ our Taj Mahal Hotel where we check in; he will pick us up @
7:30 for an 8:00pm dinner @ the “La-Porte” meaning “the door” restaurant.
Our Taj Mahal hotel rooms were so-so. They were listed as 2.5 stars out of
5 on the “Hotels.com” internet site. Joanne & Terry had no problem with
their room; we, on the other hand, had a room heater that wouldn’t
heat…..moved to another room where the heater was uncontrollable unless
one shut it off….so we warmed the room up, then shut off the heat. As they
always say: you get what you pay for! Terry & Joanne just lucked out.
Joe called his mom & gave us a 10 min heads up for pickup. Parking spaces
are limited in this area & that is why Joe drove the car back to his house
& parked. 15 min after pickup, he drops us off @ “The Door” restaurant &
then drives off to find a parking spot. Standing @ the doorway was Kate;
she had taken the Metro to meet us there. And then, she tells us….there is
a problem; she & Joe had eaten @ this restaurant several times about 2 yrs
ago when it was a great little Italian restaurant. Now she discovers the
restaurant has changed hands, changed names, is French owned & operated &
we are committed. When they looked on line & in the phone book, the number
& name of the Italian restaurant was listed at this address, but not so!
OK, its déjà vu; like yesterday @ the Chef’s Table, we order the least
meal possible & eat extra rolls. Kathy & I share a small cod fish & a few
bites of potato for a not so fair price. Afterward, I walk with Joe to his
parking spot 4 blocks away & this time, back near our hotel, we find a
suitable parking spot. We are in our hotel room @ 10:45pm. Such an
interesting city!
Lights out: 11:58pm
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