Mont Tremblant and Ottawa

From Montreal, we continued to Mont Tremblant National Park. Those who think of the word National Park as referring to the nation of Canada have not accounted for the Francophone Canadians: they consider their province of Quebec to be their own nation, and so entry to this park is not free like all other true national parks this year due to Canada's 150th birthday, but rather requires payment. Overall, there is a different mood and attitude among the people in Quebec, which is directly noticeable. The Francophone Canadians are much more reserved in everything compared to the Anglo-Canadians. Since we definitely wanted to spend 2 days in this park and didn't want to drive in and out for sleeping (because you're not allowed to just stay overnight in the parks), we booked a campsite. When we arrived at our pitch number, we found nothing more than a clearing in the woods, without electricity, water or anything else. Our previous free pitches were no less than this. Fortunately, there was still a public water point in the park, which we found by chance.

Unfortunately, hiking the trails in the park was very unpleasant due to the abundance of mosquitoes and black flies, which didn't actually sting despite the masses of insect repellent, but incessantly attacked. Humidity levels around 90% were not very conducive to hiking either. However, the park offers beautiful trails and impressive nature. For example, the 15 km long trail to the second highest peak in the park, Pic Johannson, led us past watercourses of all sizes and rewarded us with a magnificent view into the mountainous distance. It was also remarkable that we only encountered about 4 people during this trail and we were mostly surrounded by untouched nature. However, when we came to the other side of the mountain massif, we experienced the exact opposite. In the picturesque village of Mont Tremblant, which reminded us of an amusement park with its colorful and almost artificial houses, there was a crowd of people and there were entertainment options at every corner. On the same day, a triathlon also ended there, further driving up the number of visitors.

Our next destination was Ottawa, the capital of Canada. But before that, we first looked for a place to sleep in the evening. After a long search, we finally found a small clearing in the woods near fields (which are fertilized in Quebec until they overflow). Unfortunately, it was the ideal habitat for mosquitoes. Since we had already been plagued by mosquitoes and the like before, and Trudy is equipped with mosquito nets, we didn't worry too much. However, when we wanted to go to sleep, it started and didn't want to stop: a constant buzzing around our heads and ears. At first, there were only 2-3 mosquitoes, which we caught more or less quickly, but it didn't stop. Every time we were about to fall asleep again, the next disgusting noise in our ears and every time 1-2 new mosquitoes. Despite the late hour, we eventually decided to drive further towards Ottawa. Shortly before Ottawa, we parked again in a Walmart parking lot and tried to fall asleep. A few dead mosquitoes later (there were actually more of those damn things), we finally succeeded. In total, we killed over 20 mosquitoes that night, and 2 of them had to pay for it the next morning. We don't know if we let them in when opening and closing the door or if they found a way into the vehicle elsewhere.

The next day, a sunny Sunday, we went to Ottawa, visibly exhausted. There, we took a little tour through the very pleasant and beautiful city, which was filled with motivated and cheering people due to a marathon. In the afternoon, we met Luise, Ramon's great aunt, and her husband Fred, who live in Ottawa and invited us for dinner. The same warmth and hospitality that we received from Luise and Fred was extended to us the next day when we met Kelly, one of Luise's daughters, and her family. They offered us a bed for the next night and a hot shower, which we gladly accepted, especially since earlier that day, during another tour of the city, we got soaked down to our underwear.