Montreal Day 3

June 29, 2010 Le Bar Mont Royal

Good day. I’m sitting here with the World Cup game between Paraguay and Japan on one TV, and Serena Williams’ match at Wimbledon on the other. The bicycle is back in the room ready to go on Thursday. Right now, it’s chained to the radiator. Had a little bit of a scare at the bicycle shop. No one could find the CamelBack backpack that was included in the bike box. It had my lock, my helmet, my gloves, my spare tubes in it. Nothing too important.

So, last night (make that yesterday afternoon) I went to the hostel to take a short rest at around 4:30. I think I rolled over and looked at my watch and saw that it was 7:30. I figured, “OK. Just a couple of more minutes.” Next time I looked at my watch (with the dial light…thank God I got a new watch before this trip), it was 1:30. I guess I needed the sleep a bit, huh?

Anyway…started stirring at about 4:30 and have been going since then. Checked e-mail for a couple of follow-ups to e-mails I sent yesterday. No bad news.

Read a bit more of Tony Horowitz’s Baghdad Without a Map. Pretty good stuff. I also figured out my route out of town and all the way to Ottawa. For those of you playing along at home, I’ll be following Rue St. Denis out of Montreal (only two streets over from where my hostel is); then I’ll pick up Route 344 heading west to Ottawa. Then, I’ll switch over to Route 148 where the two intersect. Route 148 takes me all the way along the north side of the River (not sure which one) and into the small town of Montebello where my motel is: Motel Bel-Eau. It’s right on the main street, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find.

Although cereal and toast is included with the price of the room at the hostel, I elected to wander out for a “real” breakfast this morning. I found a place where I got 2 eggs, bacon, sausage, AND ham, fried potatoes, “baked” beans (their quotation marks, not mine), fruit (melon and pineapple), and tea. Good stuff. Also because I had skipped dinner last night in favor of much needed rest. From there, I wandered down to the bike shop to pick up the bike. I rode it back to the hostel (a bit uncomfortably because the seat was too high). Almost as soon as I got back to the hostel, it began raining pretty good. (Oh, ya. It rained pretty good last night, too. A bit of thunder and lightning for good measure.) So, that put the kibosh on the ride around the city. Oh, well. Not to worry. I’ll have a good go tomorrow.

As I was walking down here from the hostel (in the rain), I just started looking around at all the stuff that is so different from Dubai…tree-lined streets, traffic lights that people actually obey, bicycles out the ying-yang, storefronts instead of malls. Pretty neat stuff. Certainly reminded me that I’m in a very different part of the world. The cashier at the Pharmacy (picked up toothpaste) was veiled. Other than that, I haven’t seen any veiled women and certainly no dishdashas or abeyas. VERY DIFFERENT. But pretty freakin’ expensive. I suppose it’s pretty logical for me to think that based on many of the places that I’m used to frequenting on my holidays. Oh, well.

Oh, yah. Probably the reason that I didn’t need dinner last night because I had a pretty late lunch of a three-cheese pizza at a pretty nice restaurant.

Montreal Day 2

June 28, 2010 Le Bar Mont Royal 10:53 am

It’s already been a very busy day. I started tossing and turning about 6. I guess I needed the sleep pretty badly. I had been up for almost 48 hours. I even managed to sleep through the ceiling fan clicking all night. It would have been pretty miserable trying to sleep without it. No AC in the room (or in the whole hostel).

Apparently, it rained overnight. However, since I’ve been up and out this morning, nothing. It’s still pretty grey, but really only damp and muggy.

I originally went out to get some breakfast, but I really didn’t find anywhere that was serving anything to my liking. So, I just wandered around Rue Mont Royal. I headed down to where Maison de Cyclists was located. Apparently, they don’t do any type of bicycle service. Just a rest stop for the cyclists in the city. I was told that they could GIVE me a box, but not that I could get a bike put back together from INSIDE a box. But the man behind the counter did point me down the street to a place that COULD put it back together for me. That’s where the bike is right now. It’s going to cost me $35. Not bad. When the guys in the shop opened the box (to make sure all the components were still in there, one of them said, “Wow. This is a really nice bike.” I had to agree. I said, “Yes. It is. A REALLY nice bike.” So, I’ll pick it up tomorrow (TUESDAY) morning. Coming out of the bike shop after first inquiring about their putting it back together, I was lucky to walk around the corner and find a taxi station wagon. I made arrangements to meet him back at the Hostel in 45 minutes. He was there a little early, and we had no trouble making it back to the bike shop. $10 for the ride and his help getting the bike in and out of the car. Not too bad.

For a bicycle holiday, I might not have been able to pick a better city in North America to start in. There seems to be a HUGE bicycle culture in Montreal. Bike shops all over the place. Lots of places to lock it up. Great stuff.

I bought a map in La Maison de Cyclists of the Quebec region. I think I have a pretty good plan for getting from the Hostel in Montreal to my hotel for the night of July 1. The map also gives me a pretty good idea about how to get from Quebec City to the border and beyond. Jackman is the first town I’ll be staying in in Maine. It’s on the map. I wonder what the border crossing will be like. I remember a couple of border crossings on previous trips. I would line up with everyone else. Before the toll booth, the line would look something like this: car, car, truck, car, bicycle. Pretty funny stuff.

Back in a bit.

Travel and Arrival in Montreal

June 27, 2010 Charles de Gaulle Airport 7:27am

Not a great flight, but not a horrible flight. When I checked into the airport, I found out that if I wanted an aisle seat in an exit row, I had to have paid online 50pounds or some such thing. Oh, well. I had an aisle seat, and the person in front of me didn’t put her seat back. Not too bad.

I was at the airport in plenty of time and checked right in. The bicycle and my bag both were checked all the way through to Montreal. Good stuff. We’ll see what kind of shape the box arrives in. I sat in the Irish Village and ate a club sandwich (not bad). Really the only thing I had to eat all day. I also got to watch a great deal of the USA-Ghana game. I had to leave to go to the gate just before overtime started. As I got to the terminal here, I found a newspaper which had the score in it. Oh, well. Next time.

It’s so exciting to be typing on my new computer here at the terminal. I might even try it out on the plane.

My flight out of here is at 11. Plenty of time to sit around. Oh, well. That flight takes just about as much time as the first one did…about 7 hours. Our flight this morning was about an hour late leaving the airport. We still arrived pretty much on time. Let’s see how the next leg goes.

While having a glass of wine for breakfast, I just wrote one of the e-mails that I wanted to send off but didn’t get to before leaving Dubai: the topic of the QEP. I’m essentially suggesting that the focus has to be on some aspect of Student Writing. Of course, some people might think I’m biased. However, this is an issue which still is a problem at the university at ALL levels of students. It seems to make sense to me. And, obviously, if I’m going to be the guy doing the bulk of the writing and the research, doesn’t it make sense to pick a topic in which I have some expertise. I now that’s not the ONLY criteria, but it is probably something to be considered.

Oh, ya. At the store at the airport on departure, I picked up the following:

1) The latest edition of Vanity Fair (not a great issue, but I always enjoy their writing);

2) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (I think I gave away all of my own copies)

3) A 4 GB memory card for my camera. I’m only bringing one camera and one lens on this trip. I picked up a VERY expensive 18-200mm lens on Saturday before leaving. It’s a lens made specifically by NIKON. The old mid-range zoom I was using was made by SIGMA and just wasn’t of the same quality.

About ½ way to the airport I remembered that I forgot my Lonely Planet New England as well as my Rough Guide New England as well as one of the three road maps I had of Eastern Canada and New England. Somewhat unfortunate, but not earth-shattering. Oh, well. If those are the worst things I have forgotten, I should be in good shape.

Security here in Charles de Gaulle Airport was pretty severe. In addition, I’ll bet I walked (as did everyone else) about 3km to get from our plane to the departure terminal for my on-going flight. Pretty amazing. I’m wearing sandals, so I didn’t have to take my shoes off.

The weekend before I left, I spoke with Jeremy Lawrence, the Editor of Esquire: Middle East about the EXPO article, and he told me that they had saved space for it in the September issue. It was too late for the July issue (which was a double-issue), so September was the only option. Good stuff.

It is now 9 am (1 pm Dubai time) and I have only two more hours before I head off to Montreal. As I have said previously, it is always an interesting experience to wake up in one country and go to sleep in another. I didn’t sleep at all on the flight from Dubai to Paris. And, I haven’t slept here at the airport. We’ll see what happens between here and Montreal. On the flight to here I read a little bit (interesting article in Vanity Fair on the 20^th anniversary of the making of the Thriller video by Michael Jackson and John Landis). But I mostly watched movies. I watched Love Actually, a cute, harmless movie. I watched Pretty Woman. I watched MOST of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. We landed when there were about 15 minutes left in the film. If I have the opportunity, I’ll have to watch it on the way to Montreal to see how it all comes out.

I’m so glad that I was able to send the bike box and the bag full of clothes (mostly bike clothes) through as check-in. As I walk around the de Gaulle airport carrying only my backpack, it’s great.

Books I’ve brought with me to read to contribute to Ph.D. study (if it ever happens) are

Motoring with Mohammed

Baghdad Without a Map

Down the Nile in a Fisherman’s Skiff

Should keep me busy for a while. I’m not sure how many books on Middle East Travel Literature I’ll find in the Canadian bookstores. I’d also like to find a copy of Edward Said’s Orientalism. Let’ s keep our fingers crossed.

Some bar in Montreal 6:41pm

I’ve just come from another bar where I had a lengthy discussion with Lisa Patterson, a woman who grew up in Florida but is now firmly entrenched in Montreal. She is a 4/5-star Chef. We talked a bit about New Orleans and some other food related items. But what originally got t he conversation going was when she first came into the bar and wanted to talk about finding her roommate (female) in bed with her boyfriend. Pretty important stuff. During our conversation, she would occasionally go outside to smoke a cigarette. It was during her last cigarette break that I decided to leave. She came after me and asked me to stay to continue the conversation. I just didn’t think that was a good idea.

I finally got checked into the Auberge Mauva at about 5:05pm this afternoon. The woman who finally showed up had to call her boss to verify everything even though I showed her the e-mail which confirmed my reservation. It’s a nice room with a big double-bed and plenty of room. But the bathroom is down the hall. No worries. I’ll probably stay somewhere else when I come back to Montreal from Ottawa.

I saw some of the Argentina-Mexico World Cup match. Argentina won pretty handily. I got to see one goal for each team in the second half. Apparently, when I was in the air today, Germany took care of England pretty handily 4-1. I think Germany plays Argentina now. Should be quite a matchup.

I think I’ve scouted out a bike shop for tomorrow to drop the bike off. Then on Tuesday, I’ll be able to take it for a spin and then head out to Ottawa on the 1^st of July.

I’ve received word that AUD will be contributing $1,000 to both of my rides. Quite generous. Good stuff all around.

Dinner of nachos and a burger. Pretty good stuff.

Last minute stuff

Dear all,

Welcome to the blog for Summer 2010. Should be putting about 2,000 km on the bike this summer. We'll see what happens.

It is Saturday morning in Dubai, and I'm running around trying to get a couple of last minute things done before heading to the airport at about 9:30.

Let's hope I get it all done.

I'll be in touch from Canada.

Have a great summer everyone.