I haven't gotten out of the city for a while, and I've been getting restless (at least too far outside the city, and my wander lust has been kicking in)...
So, during my preparations for getting a bike night together for Ducati owners and enthusiasts with Stuart Parr, at Art of the Italian Two Wheel in Manhattan, I realized I had a long weekend coming up.
 I asked a few friends if they were interested in accompanying me on a quick weekend jaunt up to Quebec, but everyone already had plans for July 4th weekend.
 Luckily, my old traveling companion Jay was feeling similarly stuck in the city, and we decided Wednesday night to leave mid-day Thursday afternoon, and spend the week in Canada.
 I took off of work after lunch, went up to Harlem, and we were on the road by early afternoon.  Unfortunately, a cavalcade of holiday traffic especially getting through Albany, slowed us through the first leg of our journey.
 By the time we hit upstate New York, we were ready to drive FAST, and alas a northern Police officer took notice, where (somewhat unbelievably I got my first speeding ticket) which delayed us another hour or so.
 We finally crossed the US/Canada border around 10:30, and all of the signs abruptly turned exclusively to French.  I have been to Montreal before, but I was struck how foreign this wide-open country felt, although it was only a few hours away, and even the gas station attendants barely spoke English.
Jay and I checked into our hotel on the Rue St. Denis, where an exceedingly helpful innkeep named Pierre showed us to a massive double-room situated on a courtyard above a Jazz Club, in a kind of idyllic urban setting that reminded me more of Europe than North America.
After a few interesting cab rides (with a loquacious Greek gentlemen by name of Johnny), we finally ended up on Crescent Street (sort of the Quebecois version of Bourbon Street in New Orleans) for a few drinks, before finally returning to our hotel where Pierre graciously let us park our bikes under the stoop of the entrance of the hotel.

© 2015 Tigh Loughhead