Voyageurs in a Foreign Land

This is Canada, but traveling through Quebec is like traveling in a foreign land. Most of its population is French Canadian and the official Provincial language is French. All signage is in that language. At our campground outside of Montreal, there was a directional sign pointing to “Site Voyageurs” (which translates to Travelers Sites). That’s us – Voyageurs. Bob knows a smattering of French. I know maybe two words… merci and bonjour. Nevertheless, we bumbled our way into Montreal and spent a delightful day in the Parc LaFontaine area in the middle of the city. Montreal is considered the most European city in North America. At noon the air was filled with the peal of bells from all the city’s cathedrals and churches. It was a beautiful sunny day as we sat outside of the Maison des cyclistes Café drinking coffee and watching the many cyclists pedal by. Across the street was the Park, where adults sat on benches and children chased balls and dabbled in ponds. We walked through tree-lined streets of mixed ethnic diversity, with beautiful old brick European-style townhouses with wrought iron railings and ornamentation. We’ll write more about this later. ...P. L. Morningstar