Pages

August 31, 2015

Time flies by, when you're having fun!

Our chauffeur to the Masse residence

Aug 27: Arrived at Montreal airport, and got picked up by David, a former scooter commuter, moto-blogger and co-owner of a certain Honda cruiser.

Yours truly meets Black Betty

For the next two days we occupied the Masses' space, made them prepare dinner, ate their food, and emptied their bottles. We didn't jump in their pool though, although we feel that we should have... Well, at the end we took their car.

Vegan and gluten free cuisine à la yours truly
Well done, David!

Aug 28: Got the all-you-can-see-in-one-day tour. Susan and David showed us all the sights that we needed to see, and given the professional approach we are convinced that they must have done this before.

The hosts and their spoiled guests
Montreal
Susan and yours truly doing a tourist thing.
St. Louis Square
Place Jacques Cartier 
 
Formula 1 track - Speed limit 30 km/h?
Roland & David



Habitat 67

On top we had hand rolled signature bagels at St Viateur and fabulous coffee at the Myriad cafe, plus dinner at a bring-your-own-wine gastro pub (Wellington). 

Bring your own wine!

Aug 29: Next morning we left, but not without being treated to another great breakfast made by David. Thanks so much David & Susan for squeezing us into your tight schedule, and spending your time with us. You'll for sure get a premium rating on the moto-blogger trip advisor.

We came for wifi, and left with an empty wallet
At the Iroquois Locks

We had scheduled a meet up along the way in Morrisburg with Karen, another moto-blogger. We followed her along the shoreline of the St. Lawrence river in the area of the The Thousand Islands Archipelago, nestled between the Canadian and US border. What a beautiful and tranquil area. 


Then she lead us to her home, where we dropped our (David's) car, and after Karen showed us the sights of downtown Kingston.

Kingston fortification against the US
View on Kingston from Fort Henry
Kingston Mills Lock of the Rideau Canal

At dawn we returned to her home, where we once again raided our host's fridge, and consumed her wine. A routine that we are meanwhile quite accustomed to. She made us sleep in a tent for this...

Dinner's ready!
Glamping!

Camping as a matter of fact was a wonderful experience after 28 years of the non-camping kind. Haven't slept that well in ages.

Aug 30: We had a healthy breakfast, and chatted until noon before moving on to Algonquin Provincial Park. Meanwhile feeling like locusts, since we had deprived Karen of most of her gluten free and vegan provisions. Karen, thanks again for everything, and especially for all the goodies for the road. They came to good use later in our little cabin in the woods. And there will be another excellent rating for the moto blogger trip advisor.


Three hours later we had arrived at Dreamcatcher Motel, and moved into our home for the next two days. The cabin was equipped with fridge, coffee maker and micro wave in order for us to (somewhat) prepare our own breakfast and dinner.

We picked up a day pass at the visitor center and chose two afternoon hikes in order to stretch our legs: The (rather challenging) Lookout trail of 2km provided the park's signature view overlooking an ocean of forest:


while the Spruce bog trail was an easy hike of 1.5km through a bog.


Spent the evening in front of a camp fire. Life is good!

Got fire, baby!
Vegan&gluten free cheese&cracker















***
Mehr auf Deutsch gibt es dazu hier:

23 comments:

  1. Awesome account so far ... can't wait now for the next post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no, poor Roland ... forgot to send the croissants!

      Delete
    2. Meanwhile he had to make due with gluten free buns the next morning. Not sure that he liked it...

      Delete
    3. Well, you'll just have to return to refill the picnic basket.

      Delete
  2. Wonderful photos of the trip. It looks like beautiful areas you've been to so far. So David is now the former owner of a certain Honda cruiser and a former moto-blogger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And a soon to be former home owner if it goes on like this...

      Delete
  3. Wow, when do you have time to take a breath!? Some great hosting you locusts are enjoying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dom, honestly we didn't. Like locusts we go from home to home and do our thing until we're done...

      Delete
  4. Nice to see you being spoiled by Karen.

    That little cabin looks really nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She wasn't the only one spoiling us, you and Susan did an equally nice job ;-)

      Delete
  5. Looks like a great start to your trip, you certainly manage to fit plenty of sightseeing into each day! Can't wait to see where you go next.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If I recall correctly (and likely I don't), Mr. David Masse of Life on Two Wheels, The Scoot Commute reported that you thundered onto his estate, got lit up like no other, poisoned the well, chased away the cattle, and rode off with all of the beef jerky... Rumor is that you don't even like beef jerky. This ain't the Wild West, y'all. :)

    it appears that you've had wonderful hosts / tour guides so far. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now you tell me, Ry.
      I though this is how the East was won... oh no we mixed up the cardinal points.
      Ah well, the deed is done.

      Delete
  7. So good to see you guys on this side of the pond.

    Glad that you are having such a wonderful time so far. Good food, great bloggers, beautiful countryside.......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandy, we have been lucky, and got spoiled by everybody. Canadians are living up to their standards... they are really nice people.

      Delete
  8. Magnificent! How great to meet up with Karen and David, as well as go exploring. Are you two starting to get the wanderlust again for leaving Europe? ;-) You guys are really doing things in style and really looking forward to the next posts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geoff, there are some thoughts about it, while traveling the area. Nothing's set in stone but you'll never know...

      Delete
  9. A grand account Sonja but then I'm not surprised and a thank you from here to your gracious hosts. I'm lucky to know travelers as good at going as you two are.....trying to learn all that I can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Coop. Honestly it would be less than half the fun without the friends we met along the way. People are awesome!

      Delete
  10. Ed, we'd be back in Montreal on Thursday afternoon. It would be fabulous if you could make it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm glad I read this post after we did our Ottawa tour else I'd have felt really pressured to maintain the standard to which you had become accustomed . 😊

    ReplyDelete
  12. I wonder is there some ukrainian bikes in Canada? Like Dnipro MT and Ural? There is a vast ukrainian diaspora in Canada, you know...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alex, there are some Urals around, but the Soviet brand is much more popular in the US.

      Delete