Day 4 “A Bilingual and Multicultural Metropolis”
Destination is Montreal considered one of the most romantic metropolis’s in the province of Québec. Since the city is just over a hundred miles drive from where we are staying in Stowe, Vermont, we will get ourselves an early start.. After three days of a mountainous region and all that it is has to offer (not), I am in the mood for the excitement only a city such as Montréal could provide with its upscale dining, shops and museums.
It will also be interesting to see how the French Canadians react to someone from the “Well Hated United States”. I expect a cold shoulder but hope to be surprised with some form of kindness. Time for tell. Stay tuned.
Je Me Souviens (I Remember)
And I will truly always remember the hospitality of Quebec. Less then five minutes after we drove through the border into Canada, we were pulled over by a cop and given a ticket for speeding. If you are not familiar with the metric system or the French language as was the case for Bill then you will have a little trouble reading the signs. However, having a cop waiting for those poor suckers called Americans to cross into their country with signs that say ‘maximum 90” the first thing that crosses your mind is Hey, they are allowed to drive up to 90 miles per hour on this road. When what they really mean is 90k not 90m. 90k is only 55 miles an hour. Bill was driving 65 miles per hour at the time we were pulled over. Then when she handed us the ticket she told us we had to pay it before WE WERE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY. Worst thing to say to me, I may add. Because though I believe in following the rules and paying my bills in a timely fashion, I do not respond well to being threaten as in being Allowed To Leave the Country. We continued on our route to Montréal though I had a very sour taste in my mouth for these French Canadians.
Then she pulled us over again. What the hell, I thought to myself. This time she wanted the back copy of the ticket for her records. Ok now I felt totally violated and since she pulled us over “again” fifteen minutes after she gave us that ticket, I felt as if we were being followed.
I have been to Canada before but in the English speaking Ontario. I really liked being there and thought a trip back into Canada on the French side would be of interest. I cannot speak French very clearly but I can read the language well thanks to having two years of French in school. While we drove I could read all the signs clearly and was fascinated by my ability to do so. Some road signs were very easy to read such as Nord for North or Quest for West and Bill could make out those signs well. Many others were not so easy so it was fun to tell him what they said.
But after being stopped twice I could not feel comfortable in this country and wanted to turn back around which we did before even getting to our destination. Then I recalled that threat of having to pay that damn ticket before leaving the country. Hell with that, we were leaving before doing so and when we get back home I will think about whether or not I want to pay it. I did not even want to stop to eat, buy gas (which was 92.9 cents a gallon) or even pee in this place. I will keep my American dollars to myself and spend them in America, thank you…
I have to tell you that nothing felt better or safer then pulling up to immigration on the US side and speaking with an American. I was even pleased that he searched our trunk before he allowed us back into Vermont. I took notice that anyone going into Canada just stopped for a moment then drove across the border. But to get back over to the US, you waited in a line. I was never so grateful for a line. And the first thing I did after we crossed the border into Vermont was I peed. Second thing we did was stop and eat. Bill took this opportunity to tell me how very pig headed and stubborn I was. He is oh soooo right.
Some other tidbits of this trip into Quebec besides gas being dirt cheap, most homes still had the old fashion television antennas on their roofs. We drove through a lot of flat farm land. I noticed they had a Burger King, McDonalds and Ford Motor. A lot of French Canadians were driving Buicks. The police did not pull over anyone with Quebec license plates even though they were driving much faster than those with US plates.
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