Montreal

As expected, the night ended at 3 o'clock. It's always a strange feeling to wake up in a different bed - especially after such a long time. I slept well, even though my apartment is on a busy street, but the bedroom faces the back. In the morning, I had some root beer with a cookie. I really love that stuff now. I always have a few in Germany too, but here I'm right at the source. A&W makes the best, in my opinion, but they didn't have it at the small store where I went shopping.

Since the apartment is only 2 minutes away from a metro station, there is no need to drive into Montreal by car. Parking here is pretty cheap compared to American cities, but a day pass costs only 10 Canadian dollars - equivalent to 6.68 euros. With that, you can take the bus and metro as often as you want until 12 midnight. Masks are also mandatory in public transport here. When I forgot to put mine on in the bus later, the bus driver kindly mentioned it. Canadian virtue, friendliness.

My first stop takes me to St. Viateur Bagel Shop in Mont Royal. I watched the episode 'Montreal' of 'Somebody feed Phil' on Netflix and really wanted to go there. The guy can be annoying sometimes, but the show is really good. Phil didn't promise too much, the bagel is an experience. Classic with cream cheese, salmon, tomato, onions, and capers, you could become addicted to it, even though the price is more than reasonable. 11 dollars. It's funny that the lady at the counter had never heard of Phil. When I looked at her shaking my head, she apologized laughing. She probably doesn't have Netflix. However, I don't recommend her to eat bagels in Germany either. She wants to know what to eat instead. I mention our variety of rolls. But I think after the bagel confession, she doesn't really believe me. I can read it in her eyes that if you can't make good bagels, you also fail with rolls.

The Mont-Royal district looks like an artist's quarter, with many small shops and is not downtown, of course. After strolling down the endless street, I take the bus to the next metro station and go to Mac Gill. That's where the university is (William Shatner was enrolled here) and that's really downtown. I wander among the skyscrapers and am amazed at how tall they are. In our country, only Frankfurt is somewhat comparable. And I find it fascinating, but not permanently. I'm not a big city person.

The beer I drink in an Irish pub outside is from Belgium. The waitress asks me about the vaccination. I show her my Luca app and of course, she can't scan it. She laughs. At least she believes me. Only tourists with vaccination are allowed in at the moment anyway.

I take the metro again, this time towards Notre Dame de Montreal and Old Port. Notre Dame is much smaller than the French model, but it's still intact. I don't find the harbor very interesting. And I notice how I'm getting tireder and tireder, even though it's only 3 o'clock. So I make my way to the last stop for today.

'Ma Poule Mouillée' actually means my wet chicken, but it means scaredy-cat and is a Portuguese restaurant. They supposedly have the best poutine, the Canadian national dish of fries, sauce, and cheese - with a Portuguese twist. Unfortunately, it turns out that you can't eat there on-site, so I just take the food with me. Why do I have an oven? And indeed, the dish is truly unique. I've rarely eaten something so delicious. The twist is chicken and chorizo, and just the chicken alone is worth coming for. On the bus ride home, I see that they didn't even take over KFC. It's called PFK here - Poulet Frit Kentucky. Unbelievable.

I'm really looking forward to the fact that tomorrow my road trip really begins. I'll be staying overnight in Quebec. What happens in between? Let's see...