Michigan through Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury, Ontario to glorious Montreal

  July 18, 2015:
A 7 hour drive on this day so there were few stops or sights.  We thought going up through the Hiawatha Forest on Lake Superior might be scenic but not so much and the horseflies were swarming the car.  We should have gone to the beautiful Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.   Check out the pictures on the north side of the Michigan peninsula in google maps.  Next time.  We said that a lot because we didn't spend a year on this trip exploring all that people suggested we see.

We drove on crossing into Canada through Sault Ste. Marie, an historic spot where missionaries started converting traders and Native peoples to Catholicism in the 1600s.  It's a major bridge between Lake Superior and Huron and a port with locks connecting the two lakes for shipping.  The town is pretty industrial. 

As we approached the customs booths we had our usual discussion of which line to creep along in because it's never clear whether trucks can go with cars or RVs, and whatever.  It's about a half hour wait or more for the 3 questions with the show of passports:  "Where are you going?  How long will you stay?  Did you bring anything new in with you?"

On to Sudbury, Ontario where we found the Red Carpet Inn and Suites, a "modest motel with dining and free Wi-Fi."  The price was right, but the area was not pretty and again industrial and just worn out.  The motel smelled of stale smoke and old furniture/carpets.   We didn't even sleep in the beds. We got our sleeping bags and lay on top of the bedspread because the sheets were stained.   We left for the movies and saw the hysterical "Trainwreck" with Amy Shummer.  Some walked out because the dialogue was so sexually explicit.  I have to admit we were the only ones laughing at some of the jokes.

No pretty pix of this place.

Next, a 7.5 hour drive to Montreal, Quebec on the Trans-Canada Highway, route 17 through Ottawa.  Let's just say it was a long day. We'd been sitting so much that at one coffee stop I got out, turned up the radio, and jumped up and down and danced in the parking lot for exercise. A few stares, but mostly just smiles. 
The scenery along the way was much as New England, woods but even though the map shows the area dotted with lakes and ponds we saw few from the car.  Not a scenic byway.

July 19-21
 We approached with trepidation the next place we'd reserved for two nights, Hotel Bonaparte, in old town Montreal.  After  3 nights of questionable places we were ready for a luxury splurge.  Of course all the signs are in French so it's a nice foreign feel and the buildings substantial and beautiful.  Whenever we said anything in French from oui to Bonjour people switched to English immediately.  Everyone speaks French.  
I traveled to Montreal as a child with my parents, when my sister lived there, and another time when my niece went to college at McGill University about 20 years ago;  Drew's first time.  It is really a magical, wonderful place with much to see and history to learn. 


The lobby of the hotel is nice with reproductions of famous paintings with, of course, the one with Napoleon Bonaparte on his rearing horse.  The 3rd floor room was terrific, very nicely appointed, the french windows (I'd been hoping for) opened onto a garden below, the room spacious, simple, clean, and comfortable. 

We highly recommend this former home and now hotel with it's 5 star understated restaurant and bar. Food was incredible with pictures of the food in next blog.  It was hard not to eat there both nights for dinner -- it was just amazing. 

Here is my view at breakfast through large windows onto the street.

Here's our walk around the city on a little bit of a cloudy evening:
Montreal city hall

Notre Dame cathedral and the inside dome.

 Kids posing in front of the cathedral 

Notre Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

 In front of the waterfront garden

Ropes course for fun on the riverfront



Jardins Nelson restaurant on the open plaza, Place Jacques-Cartier at night - it has a jazz combo play while eating under the stars and tents. We ate here the second night.  House in front here and gardens in back courtyard eating area.  This plaza is the center of old town.

a side street

One day we "hiked" the top of Mount Royal, the big hill in the center of Montreal.  One side is high end residential and the other side is a large park overlooking the city.
We started at this statue.

 We walked up the paths on one side.
Saw the city from the top.   The white dome biosphere in the background.

The many steps that we took down,

Parks are everywhere, very open pretty city.

We went to the famed underground malls and shops and ate at this fast food all wood seating area with painted trompe l'oeil of a library and fireplace on the wall.  Fast food in Montreal is a far cry from that in the US.

Just as we left Montreal we had our first rainy day.  We planned to go to the Botanical Gardens and really only had time to do the conservatory indoor gardens.

 Nicely labeled plants, and there was a nice store to find gifts.

Off we went toward New Hampshire, home, the granite state.  Next a reflection and "the best of the trip".