We were up early on Monday morning to make our 8:30 pick up for a Grayline bus tour of Montreal. We have discovered that it is really worth the cost to have a tour when someone else is driving around an area that we don’t know.  Montreal is spread out, there is lots of roadwork and new construction going on and neither of us wanted to drive in the City.  Kathy was able to get on and off the bus, but didn’t take the short walking tours at a couple of the stops.  There was a short walking tour to the Bank of Montreal and to the Church of Notre Dame that we had tried to see yesterday. Surprising how easy it seemed to get there with no marathon!  The guide was quite good and the bus driver was a hoot! The tour took us from the oldest building in Montreal, to the World’s Fair site from 1964, through neighborhoods in Montreal, back to St. Joseph’s.

Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal

We were back at the Hilton Gardens around 2 and hit the road for Quebec. We made it as far as a lovely town called St. Hyacinth, where some of our ancestors had settled.  As we had a late lunch on the road, we skipped dinner, but the hotel Le Dauphin had free laundry, so guess what we spent the evening doing!  After breakfast the next morning, we took off looking for old cemeteries to see if we could find any of our ancestors. Unfortunately, many of the old cemeteries have been moved and we were not able to find any old graves, but we did see the areas that they settled in.

Yamaska River, St. Hyacinthe

When we left St. Hyacinth, it started pouring rain and eventually we needed to stop to eat and have a bio-break. We saw a big truck stop and pulled off the road.  First stop was the bathroom.  As I walked into the bathroom stall, the floor was wet and my shoes were greasy from outside, and I slipped and fell hard on the floor. Ended up with my elbow in the toilet and unable to get up for about 10 minutes.  A lovely Canadian woman helped me figure out how to get up, and nothing seemed broken. I was pretty shaken up and I still had to pee!!! Took care of that in a cleaner stall, and cleaned up the best I could.  Had a quick McDonald’s for lunch and Kathy took over driving because I was still a little shocky.  It was still raining, I was cold and shaking so we decided not to go to Quebec, but rather stop at Trois-Rivieres, which is also a site where some of our ancestors had settled.  (Note:  I am OK, bruised and battered, but nothing is broken.  I did make a Dr. Visit when we got to our friends in Maine and had some X-Rays to confirm that I’m OK.)

Bridget
Day 38, 39