The French Connection

After a year of forgetting I finally am getting around to uploading the photos from my trip through Quebec and New Brunswick. This time last year Archer chewed through the camera cable and made loading these last few photos onto my computer impossible on the trip. Here are the missing photos from those two days ....

Archer tried to get me up at 5am this morning. I said no way and he let me sleep until 6:07am. It was a beautiful day in Pembroke, Ontario and we hit the road after a quick stop at McDonald’s for my breakfast and a much needed coffee.

After Leeloo tried to kill herself we got safely on the highway again. One major stress for much of this trip has been anticipating Montreal. I wasn’t too worried about Ottawa since the highway was pretty much a straight shot right through and I’m used to travelling on the Deerfoot 500 in Calgary. Montreal was a little more serious.

The French, as we know, are a bit of a different breed. All along the way I was watching for the provincial signs on the right hand side of the highway. Every single province put them on the right hand side. The French? No chance. I almost missed this sign because it was on the left hand side between the two highways. Honestly ... what are they trying to pull?

I saw nothing of Montreal except a brief impression that most of the road I was travelling on was elevated. It was incredibly stressful, fast, confusing. I was in a heavy, awkward rig surrounded by busy Frogs in a big damn French hurry. There were signs that kept indicating the highway I wanted but way earlier than I intended to get off the 40 I was on. Fortunately I trusted my instincts and managed to get to Highway 25 without getting lost.

A tunnel! I didn’t know there was a tunnel! The Somebody Lafontaine Tunnel. Did I mention Montreal is in Quebec? Just as in Alberta they make no provisions for French, in Quebec they make no provisions for English. You can’t read French? Shrug. A great bloody warning sign as you enter the tunnel told me to be aware of something: Watch for stopping? Don't stop? Whatever.  

Through the tunnel and out the other side and we safely survived the Montreal gauntlet. It was a cool tunnel, I rarely get to drive through tunnels so it was a real treat. Please ignore the fact I was taking photos in the tunnel while driving ...

Also, what the heck is this guy supposed to be? He was on quite a few of the silos in the Quebec  countryside ... man the French are so weird.

It really is a totally different culture – may as well be a different country really. Not that I want Quebec to separate as they continually threaten – just that the cultural difference is so marked that it seems like the only common ground is our currency. You know? At the restaurant I stopped in to get dinner a girl who’s English wasn’t very good had to get another waitress who had only slightly better English.

This is the St. Laurence River. It. Is. Huge. I followed it all the way up from Montreal to New Brunswick. Did I mention it is huge?

Finally here is the photo of the ‘French moose’ sign I took in Quebec versus the ‘moose’ sign in Ontario. Hysterical. The Quebec moose has its nose in the air and is walking with dignity across the sign … not like the Ontario moose who seems to be involved in some sort of performing arts. Even French moose are different.

Tomorrow will see me in Nova Scotia if all things go smoothly. I’ll be staying with my parents overnight and then a quick drive to my new house. Phew – we’re almost there.