Back to the starting point Montreal and the return journey via detours

After about 4 hours of flight time, I finally arrived back in Montreal and it was already 7 o'clock due to the time difference, so my night was accordingly short. Nevertheless, I did something on the same day and after a 1-hour bus ride from the train station, I arrived at my old acquaintance Ron's place. But at first he wasn't there and I had to wait for him. In the meantime, I was at his tenant's and friend's place to drop off my things. Spontaneously, I also helped him carry a dishwasher from the car into the apartment. Ron has returned by now and we drove together to his small vegetable garden, which is located in a community garden. There we also met Imad and Simon, who warmly greeted us, as Imad had also been away from Montreal for 3 months and they saw each other again for the first time. Together we harvested some vegetables from the garden and watered them a bit.

In the evening, we cooked together with 2 other couchsurfers from Austria and prepared corn on the cob with butter and salt. Then we went to Mont Royal again and looked at the city in the twilight, and up here you can also see many raccoons.
On Thursday, I met Simon, his girlfriend Natanièle, and Imad in Laurier Park. It had a small outdoor pool and we went swimming there. However, Simon had to leave early because he still had preparations to make for the mini-house exhibition at Old Port in Montreal over the weekend.
I made an appointment with another couchsurfer from French Switzerland and a former colleague I worked with in Calgary to go axe throwing. It was a very fun game and the goal was to throw the different axes onto the target as accurately as possible. The two black dots counted the most points, but only if you announced them beforehand. And I succeeded in doing just that with my last throw. In total, I won 2 out of 3 rounds very confidently. Afterwards, we went to a sports bar and treated ourselves to a beer.
On Friday, I went with Ron to visit his friends in the countryside. They live about 1.5 hours outside of Montreal and on the way, we stopped at a farm shop to replenish our corn supply. Then we drove to different acquaintances and he showed me their large properties. Afterwards, we drove to a nearby river that was relatively warm and good for swimming. The current was also weak enough that you could swim in place and not drift away.
On the way back, despite the calm day but unfortunately a very restless last night, I fell asleep, but in the evening we all watched a film from Quebec together.
On Saturday, I went to the Old Port of Montreal, where the mini-house festival was held, which was part of an ecological exhibition. There I visited Simon's booth, which, unlike most other exhibitors, did not try to sell anything, but instead provided explanatory videos about the construction of a mini-house for free. Currently, it is still under construction outside of Montreal. However, he only asked for donations for this expensive project and you could win overnight stays in the mini-house once it is completed. I also made a donation and he has already promised me a stay there.
In addition to this exhibition, there were other festivals at the Old Port of Montreal, such as a yoga festival, an oriental festival, and a poutine festival, where you could find fries in different variations. However, I only took a quick look and then went back home. Just in time for coffee time, I met up with the other couchsurfer at a café called Anticafe, where you don't pay for coffee but by the hour. They also offered food such as small cakes, cookies, toast with peanut butter, and hummus with carrots, and one wonders how the whole business can be profitable with only $3 per hour ($2 for each additional hour). The atmosphere reminded me of a large communal flat, as you still had to wash the dishes yourself here. It was a nice place to hang out.
On Sunday, I went to Marché Jean Talon, which has expanded even further in the summer and where the local farmers from Quebec offered their goods. Here, too, you could try a variety of products at the market, and I bought some asparagus and apples for the coming week.
Afterwards, I went to the main street of the Italian quarter, where the last day of Italian Week was taking place. In addition to coffee tastings, new pizza flavors from Dr. Oetker (?), and wine, there was a Fiat 500 exhibition. There was also a cannoli competition where various bakeries and cafes tried to convince a jury of their pastries. Afterwards, cannolis were distributed to the crowd, and it was a first-come, first-served situation. After surviving the fights there, I met up with Louis, whom I had compared to a German translation with a French text back then. Together, we went out for sushi before going to an opening concert by a string quartet in the evening. I really enjoyed it overall and it was great to listen to. Afterwards, we went for a beer and ended the evening that way.

The next day, I spontaneously took a day trip to Quebec City and the Montmorency Falls. Normally, I reject this type of trip because, as here, you have to book additional extras besides the actual trip, as was the case here. We first stopped at the waterfalls and despite the limited time of only an hour, we were able to explore them well and also had a bit of physical exertion due to the nearly 500 steps to climb. The waterfall is the largest in the province of Quebec and even higher than Niagara Falls. Then we drove to a copper mine and around noon we had lunch at an international buffet restaurant, but I had brought my own lunch. Then we finally arrived in Quebec and first visited the observation tower, from which you had a 360° view of the city. There was also information about the different buildings, attractions, and the history of the city. Afterwards, we could wander around the old town for about 2.5 hours and admire the beautiful buildings like Notre Dame and the Chateau Frontenac, as well as the Parliament building. When it started to rain, we took the bus back to Montreal. When I arrived home, I tried to plan my short trip to Iceland a bit and find some interesting places around Reykjavik.

On Tuesday, I spent some more time with Simon and JP, who were tidying up their backyard together with the neighbors. In between, I talked to Claas on Facebook one last time and had a video call with someone from Canada. Afterwards, we had dinner at Simon's place and I rode my bike, for which Simon had lent me the key for my time in Montreal, back home. Just like in Vancouver, you could take bikes from public bike stations here and ride through the city for a certain period of time before returning it to another station. The next day, I packed everything for the departure and went to see Simon again, gave him the key, picked up my forgotten charger, and thanked him again for the time. Simon told me that next year in summer he wanted to go to Germany to visit old friends in Munich and he said that he definitely wanted to make a detour to the north. In the late afternoon, I made my way to the airport and took the direct bus connection there. Apparently, many people had to go to the airport and not everyone could be taken on the line, but I was lucky because I got on the bus early. During the flight, I tried to sleep a little and so I only arrived in Keflavik at 7 o'clock in the morning and immediately made my way to the car rental. However, it took a bit longer there because I noticed some more small scratches on the car and reported them. Then finally we got started and I did the Golden Circle behind Reykjavik. On the way, there were many different waterfalls like Burofoss, Oxarafoss, Bruarfoss, the mighty Gulfoss, and the equally worth seeing Faxi. The Thingvellir National Park, where Europe's oldest parliament was founded and where the Eurasian and Western continental plates meet, was also on the way. There was also a geyser that erupts every 8-10 minutes and shoots up a large hot water fountain from the ground. All these natural spectacles so close together were very impressive. On the way, looking for a hidden waterfall, I met 2 Slovenian girls and together we visited some of the aforementioned main attractions. In the evening, they went in a different direction and I went to a hot spring, which can also be considered rather hidden as it was not as crowded as the Blue Lagoon. There, I relaxed a bit after all the driving during the day.

The next day, I was already headed towards Copenhagen in the evening, so in the morning I went to the very beautiful and walkable Seljalandsfoss. Next to it, behind a campsite, was the Gljúfrabúi waterfall, and the drive to both waterfalls was worth it and very beautiful to see. Then I made my way back to Reykjavik and initially wanted to do a short hike that the two girls had told me about, but I couldn't find the trail for it and I decided to visit a crater and hike there for a while. Then I drove to Reykjavik and there I couldn't find a parking space initially due to the poor parking situation. I found one a bit outside and due to the limited time, I could only see a little bit of the city. Unfortunately, I arrived 8 minutes late to return the rented car and had to pay over 30€ for it because the employee was writing the ticket just as I arrived. Those were very expensive 8 minutes for me. After returning the car to the rental company, I finally made it to Copenhagen again, this time on time. I arrived in the evening and went straight to my accommodation, which is very close to the main train station. When I arrived at the hostel, I made my bed and just went straight to sleep. The next morning, I took a guided walking tour of Copenhagen and then explored the city a bit on my own. Then I had something to eat at the hostel before taking the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg. Afterwards, I finally took the familiar Metronom train to Hemmoor, where only Claas knew that I would be coming home that day... So I was able to surprise a large part of my friends and family on this train...