Niagara Falls

Since I have managed to get way behind on our blog, I am going to skip past a few details to catch up. From Montreal, we drove along Lake Superior and Lake Ontario to Four Mile Creek State Park in New York. From there, we visited Niagara Falls, which was only 15 min. away. I don't know if it was the rainy weather, but it felt more like checking one of those huge tourist attractions off the list than a rewarding experience. The Falls are spectacular, and we took the time to walk over the bridge to view them from the Canadian side. They have really managed to turn this into a Disneyland-like place: thrill-seeking rides, wax museums, and arcade rooms galore. There's really nothing else to do here, so we played a few of those motorcycle racing and shooting games. I think I quenched at least five years of needing to enter one of those places again, but I wouldn't put money on shaune: if left alone, I have a strong feeling I would find him riding one of those plastic motorcycles, shifting gears, dazed by the video screen.

A week was about 6 days too long here, but Shaune got some work done, which put us in a good place for our next stop: Chicago! We were in the prime of upstate New York's apple season, and nearly every block were stands selling baskets full of a variety of apples. We were also lucky to catch the tomato season up here, one week longer than we had anticipated for fresh tomatoes.

Biking the Lachine Canal

Montreal

Determined to see why everyone talks beams about Montreal as one of the greatest cities, we decided to drive in with our bikes early on the morning we were set to leave. We started near the beginning of the Lachine canal, a bike path that stretches 15 miles along the canal. The canal was once filed in after it was no longer used for shipping, but in the 70s the city began revitalizing the area. It was our first sunny day, and the biking along the canal was fantastic. Old warehouses were being converted into lofts, and you could see how quickly this area is changing. We happened to hit bike rush hour: many locals use the path to get to and from work. We had uninterrupted views of the city, as well as the biosphere that seems to float up from the trees like a gigantic air bubble.

At last, Montreal has redeemed itself. After a few hours biking, we got back to the RV in time to pack up and head out. On to Niagara Falls!

Montreal Botanical Gardens

On Sunday, we spent the entire day at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. It was pretty spectacular, despite the threatening weather. Montreal's is the second largest botanical garden in the world (London's is the largest). We were lucky to catch the annual lantern festival in the Chinese gardens. Here are a few pictures.

Week in Montreal

September 3-10

A week at this campsite was probably three days too long, but we both took advantage of the wireless Internet service and access to Montreal.

Getting into Montreal was quite expensive using public transportation, so we chanced it and drove our car in. Fortunately, we found a place to park near Old Town and spent the day walking around. Montreal definitely has a European feel, I would say most comparable to Brussels. We walked through Chinatown, Old Town, and the Plateau area, where we had the famous smoked meat sandwiches standing up at a little Hungarian meat shop. They were likely the same as the ones sold just down the road at Schwartz, the one that made a mention in the guidebooks. The architecture in Old Town isn't that spectacular, a bit dark and conservative, but there were some interesting contemporary art galleries. One in particular focused on graffiti artwork, which is ubiquitous in Montreal.

Montreal is definitely a hip city, with an abundance of cafes, clothing boutiques and restaurants. One of the best outdoor markets that I have ever visited, the Jean-Talon market in the northern part of town near Little Italy, nearly made the entire trip worth it for me. I don't think I have ever seen such variety, all of which was from the Quebec area. Strawberries, blackberries, purple, red, white, yellow potatoes, small and large leeks, huge bunches of basil and parsley, baskets of red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, and on and on. There were also more high-end stalls selling exotic mushrooms, smoked meats, cheeses, etc. I was pretty much in heaven. It was here that I realized what was missing in my backpack travels throughout Asia: I was never able to actually buy and cook any of the fresh food that I always drooled over at the markets. It is so wonderful to shop at these places on our travels and bring back bags of local food to cook up.

On the road to Montreal

September 2-3, 2008

There really is no direct way of getting from Acadia National Park to Montreal, so we settled in on the state roads and wound our way through small New England towns and hilly terrain for a few days. The drive through rural Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont was spectacular. The New England we have seen so far boasts a subtle beauty: rail roads skirting gentle rivers, iron bridges straddling the banks of towns, old church steeples breaking the sky, and sleepy bed and breakfasts open for business. The leaves were just starting to change, I imagine a few weeks later the hillsides will be bursting will vibrant colors.

Although the backroads are far more interesting, we were averaging about 30 mph, so it took us a few days and one Wal-Mart stop (one of the best views from the White Mountains) to get to the Canadian border. Our GPS system malfunctioned in Canada, and put us on some terrible single track roads for about 30 miles. Arriving at our new campground, the very large Camping Alouette 15 minutes outside of Montreal, was completely different than either of us had imagined. Situated in an farming valley dotted with cornfields, warehouses, and factories, the area didn't seem to offer very many redeeming qualities, as far as we could tell. Actually, since our campground was just off the Interstate 20, it was probably the least appealing spot so far.

To make matters worse, many of the campers here were retirees living in their motorhomes permanently. The highlight of the day seemed to be sweeping off the front mat and adjusting the awning. Not exactly our thing, but it was the closest spot to the city.

More photos of Acadia

I thought I would devote this posting to photos from Acadia. From top:
Pete near Otter Cliffs
View of Otter Cliffs on a hike


Windswept Boris at 5am on a trip to watch sunrise over Cadillac Mountain.
Sunrise (it was cloudy)


One of the carriage roads, the leaves were just starting to change.

Week in Acadia

Aug. 22-Sept. 2, 2008

Despite a bad Internet connection, we ended up spending over a week in Acadia. Shaune did most of his work at an Internet cafe in the quaint town of Southwest Harbor. Most of our time was spent hiking, kayaking, cooking, and reading, which made for a pretty great week. Acadia is absolutely gorgeous, pristine, with loads to do. We had great weather as well, the evenings and mornings were cool and the days were warm and sunny. But, I have never seen such huge mosquitoes in my lifetime. They came out in full force around 6pm, and hovered around like miniature aircrafts until way after dark. We built enormous fires every night, which helped slightly.

Aside from that, we renewed our addiction to the card game Shithead (which occupied countless hours on islands in Thailand). One highlight were the times that we went on long bike rides on the Carriage Roads that snaked around the crystal clear glacier lakes and through the hillsides. Commissioned by Rockefeller in the early 1900s as a retreat into nature on horse-drawn buggies, the roads wind through the park for 45 miles and are mostly used for cyclists and enthusiastic walkers. Built for horse buggies, the gradual gradient is absolutely perfect for cycling. I can't imagine a more beautiful place to cycle. Along the way, beautiful stone bridges that Rockefeller also had built, designed after his favorite bridge in Central Park, NYC, dotted the landscape. It would be worth coming to Acadia purely to experience these incredible Carriage Roads.

We also spent quite a bit of time searching for the best deal on live lobster. We finally found it for 6.50 a pound, which is quite a deal for hardshell lobster. We cooked it twice, and it was absolutely delicious. We tried the softshell as well, the difference is quite significant. The meat was tastier and sweeter than that of the hardshell, but there was so much water and much less meat that by the time you worked your way through the lobster, you were left with much less. It makes sense that the softshells are two to three dollars less per pound. Pete absolutely hated the lobsters, though, and was extremely afraid. It was almost as bad as his tong phobia. I guess I can't blame him, since when we got them home, I made the mistake of putting one of them on the counter top, where it crawled around and fell down while I wasn't looking.