So I got married the second weekend in July. The (not-so) lucky lady and I departed for our honeymoon the day after, and we drove, over the course of two weeks from Harrisburg where we live, to Elmira, NY, Montreal, Quebec City, and La Malbaie. This being the first time driving my car in a foreign country, I was very excited. I did, however, discover it was not what I thought it would be. So here are my thoughts, in list form.
- I thought you Canadians were supposed to be slow drivers. The speeding and tailgating was so bad, I pulled over to let people pass me numerous times. Horrendous.
- I didn't see a turn signal used the entire time I was north of the border.
- THE ROADS ARE T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. This is coming from a Pennsylvanian- our roads are consistently ranked in the bottom 5 in the nation. Most of the surface roads would be better off if you just left them as gravel or even dirt. The highways were awful as well, truly terrible stuff. I put 2,300ish miles on my car, and probably 30K miles worth of wear on my struts and suspension pieces.
- Parking in cities is not as bad as in other major cities I've been in.
- Montreal as a city was incredibly underwhelming, and everything looks like it's falling apart, especially roads, bridges, tunnels, public transit stations, etc. It was also too crowded, touristy, and there was very little to do unless you wanted to eat or shop.
- Quebec was freaking awesome, except for the roads, as discussed before. If anyone goes there, eat at Le Lapin Saute and order the rabbit pie. Top 5 meal of all time for me.
- La Malbaie (the town with the Fairmont hotel/castle in it) was pretty awesome, especially how it got into the 50s overnight. Very beautiful country.
- Was relieved that most everyone spoke English, and didn't get pissy when they speak it, like the Europeans do.
- Underwhelmed by the beer. With the exception of Dieu du Ciel in Montreal, there were very few beer spots we went to that had any beer that piqued my interest. But I guess QC is more of a wine place...
The food was good. The weather was great. Everything else left us a little disappointed. But we still had fun. My car fared well (some may remember the thread where I expressed some concern), didn't give me a lick of trouble. My new tie rod ends are insanely noisy (poly, maybe?), and my exhaust system sprung a sweet leak, but other than that it took everything like a champ.
Comment if you like. Woot.
but seriously, Elmira is a pit IMHO. Montreal, I was there for the F1 weekend a few years back and thought it wa great, but the F1 circus was in town with street parties, etc going on and ibwas busy with the race all weeked too. I loved the architecture there though. Never been to QC but have heard great things about it.
