Amphi-Bus Tour

My feet are so tired!  I walked from downtown to Old Montreal today (about 2 miles in heat and humidity), stopped in Chinatown for lunch and ended up at the Amphi Bus tour by the Old Port.

The cute Quebecois tour guide gave most of the tour in French, pausing to make bad jokes in English every now and then.  

It was pretty cool to dip into the St. Lawrence River.  We had a great view of these bizarre apartment buildings created for the 1967 Worlds Fair.  That's the photo at the top of the posting.  A 23 year old Israeli design student came up with the concept for his ph.D dissertation.  They're identical cubes, stacked one atop another to form a pyramid.  Unfortunately, the weight of the cubes was greater than he anticipated, so he didn't get to put a top on the pyramids.  I think they look pretty cool.

I found my way to the Underground city, Montreal's 18 miles of shops, restaurants, theaters and passageways below ground.  I wandered through the train station, several Metro stations, and eventually, I found my way back to the Marriott.  

Feet HURT!  So, I'm just relaxing, waiting for McCain's speech on TV, eating a sandwich I brought back from the Underground City, and realizing that my vacation is just about over.

A couple of impressions I haven't shared with you yet.  This city feels so SAFE.  I've been traveling alone most of the time, walking on the city's streets day and night,  wandering the Underground City, and I have never, ever felt vulnerable.

The people here are very kind.  Even though I don't speak their native language, they have all been patient with my halting French.  

And it's a very clean city.  I was startled when I saw a discarded fast food meal today.  I realized it was the first trash I have seen since I arrived.

It's been a great week.  I'm so lucky to have been able to realize this dream of mine, and it's been fun to be able to write this blog and take you along.

Thanks for reading it.  And thanks for commenting.