Avec du crappy driving

Well, thanks to our friends at Jetsgo, we drove 12 hours on Thursday from Sussex, New Brunswick, to Montreal. The original plan was to fly, but that's hard to do without plane tickets. Or an airline for that matter. I was happy to drive, cause then we don't have to worry about shipping our set, we're in control, we have a vehicle, etc. So we headed from Canada's bilingual province to Canada's French province. At one of the stops, Jeremy and I headed to a restaurant to go to the bathroom. Ten years of French Immersion paid off when I asked the hostess; "Ou sont les toilettes?" Mme Warnery would be proud. Rhonda's French is infinitely better than mine, but Jeremy's French is far more hilarious. Basically, he'll preface English words with "Avec du." "Avec du go!" "Avec du right of way!" "Avec du loud!"
Something that has always bothered me is people who say that Edmonton is home to Canada's worst drivers. I don't understand their basis for saying this, and usually it's because of some obscure fact they heard once upon a time. So I decided at the beginning of tour to see if there was a city with worse drivers than Edmonton.
In Montreal, they don't believe in lanes. They believe in horns. Driving on the freeway is like a work of art; the lane changes are so fast, so frequent, in such tight places and so completely unannounced that it's a miracle that there isn't an accident every five seconds. Neither do they believe in signaling. Old Montreal is a series of one-lane, one-way streets with random pedestrians and double-parked cars. There's an advance green at every second intersection, you can't turn right on a red light, and few people care about either of those rules. Keep in mind we were navigating this whole thing in a fifteen-seater van.
You have to see it to believe it. So I've come to the conclusion; no, Edmonton drivers aren't the worst. Montreal drivers are FAR worse. Even the pedestrians are bad; I've never seen so many jaywalkers on the median.
So although being in a fifteen-seater was a bit of a disadvantage, it had some perks. One of them being the raspberry and cherry turnovers we found under the seat. Someone had left them from the last time it had been rented, and they were fresh, so...we ate them!
Regardless of their disastrous traffic situation, Montreal is a beautiful city of brick buildings and iron staircases. There's so much history. We visited the Notre Dame Basilica. It is AMAZING. I've never seen anything like it. It's huge and ornate, made almost entirely out of wood, contains a 7000-pipe organ and a smaller 2000-pipe organ, a 20-ton bronze sculpture, stained glass windows depicting Quebec's history, and countless sculptures of Biblical characters. And for four dollars, you can light a four-day prayer candle to the saint of your choice. Or Jesus.
If I could used one word to describe the feeling of Montreal, it would be empty. There's a spiritual desperation, a lack of hope that pervades the people there. It may be my own preconception of the culture, but I could sense it. I could feel how much they need God.
As is required for anyone who goes to Quebec, we ate tortillere and poutine for lunch one day. We took the bus home from the mall one day, which was an experience for Jonathan. Before that, he'd taken two city buses in his life. Two! I think I've taken 700. Then, on Sunday afternoon, our billet decided to make a drink for us. He blended fresh chopped garlic and ginger with water and a protein shake mix. Not wanting to be the wimp, I said I'd try it. Unfortunately for me, I got the bottom of the mix where all the garlic and ginger had settled. I braced myself, swallowed, choked, then almost threw it up. Uuuuggh. The thought still makes me nauseous.
Well, I'd better stop before I write a novel. That was Montreal, and we now have a week off in Ottawa. Should be fun! I'll keep you posted!