Trois Riveres to Montreal

We got off the ship at just after 8:50 am for another tour of Quebec and then a drive to the Quebec City airport. We weren't flying, but had reserved a car so we could drive to Montreal. It was a nice car, a Chrysler with some good features.

We drove back into Quebec City and found a market that was near where our ship was still docked, that Dawn wanted to go to. After that, we went to a restaurant that we had been told had good poutine, and had lunch.  Then, it was time to head off towards Montreal.

We took a secondary road along the south side of the St. Lawrence River. It was slower, going through many small communities, but very picturesque. It reminded us a lot of the Fraser Valley, and also what we remember of Southern Ontario when we took a trip there. Around 5:00, I was starting to get tired, so I suggested we head into Trois Riviere and find a hotel for the night. It was dark by the time we got there, but with the help of the GPS, we found one that still had a room.

The next morning, we went for breakfast at the hotel, and then headed off toward Montreal. We looked for a place near the P.E. Trudeau Airport because that was where we were to turn the car in. We found a Best Western just minutes away from the airport, and once checked in, we went for a drive to downtown Montreal to see if we could get a tour of the Bell Centre, where Montreal Canadiens play.

Well, we found it, but there was no way we were going to find a place to park. Talk about congestion. It is located right in the downtown area, and there is lots of construction going on in that area. Some roads were closed, and many were one-way (of course I tried to go down some of these, much to the chagrin of other drivers), but all was well.

Once we decided we had enough of the traffic, we headed back to the hotel. Who knew that rush hour in Montreal starts at 1:30 pm? What an adventure - wrong turns, doubling back, missed turns, etc. - but GPS Jill got us back to the hotel, after a long while. We decided to stay there for the evening, and went downstairs to their restaurant for supper.

The next day, we had to return the car by noon. Being so close to the airport, it didn't take us long to get there, but of course we were early. I had made reservations on the 1:14 train to Ottawa, and on the shuttle from the airport to the train station. The reservation indicated that we might have to wait up to half an hour for the shuttle.  Of course, one arrive right away and we got on for the drive to the train.

Now, this was about 11:00, and our train was scheduled for 1:14 pm. The shuttle took about 10 minutes to get to the train station, which was right across the street from the hotel we stayed at. Who knew? Well, we had quite a wait for our train, but it was quite interesting sitting in this nice waiting room, watching all the trains that went through here on the route from Montreal to Toronto.

Finally, it was our turn, and we got on to head off to Ottawa.