Last week passed quite quick and after a couple of relaxing days in Canada, we are back in Toronto and our common holidays come to an end. We had rented a huge Chrysler (I like to call him ‘Big Daddy’) for a comfy ride, but the main reason was that it has a large trunk: all the luggage plus the complete luggage for the IBR plus my complete motorcycle gear had to go in there. So we have visited Montréal, Québec and Toronto, with Québec probably being our favorite. Where Montréal seems to be an American city with a European touch, Québec is like a European city with an American touch. At least the Old Town. It was probably the highlight of this short trip. I can’t resist to share this anecdote: when standing on the historic citadel of Québec ( the only one in Northern America), looking down to the St. Lawrence stream that converts into a fjord, a US tourist asked the guide: “Is this the US, on the other side of the river?”. The tour guide stayed calm and replied with a very subtle amusement in his voice:” No Ma’am, the border would be some 2 hours driving from here”. The historic part of the city is very beautiful, even for European standards. The French spoken in the province of Québec gave me a hard time, the accent is quite different from the French spoken in France, sometimes I had to ask a lot to repeat the last sentence….

Ville Basse, Québec

Chateau Frontenac (actually it’s a hotel)

It was quite hot and humid these days, with heavy thunderstorms in the evenings. But today, we got a nice, sunny day in Toronto, going up the huge CN tower, visiting the Steam Whistle micro brewery and the St Lawrence market.

Let’s hope the breakfast was not too heavy this morning…

This is a real big Willie! CN Tower, Toronto, 557 m. We were in the upper ring (447 m)!

Toronto downtown

I admit, I didn’t expect this…(St. Lawrence Market)

I have now prepared all my luggage for tomorrow, the first real (short) riding day on American soil.