Day 17 - Ottawa ON to Montreal QC

Luckily check out time is 1200 noon which afforded us plenty of time to go and watch the changing of the guard out on Parliment Hill. This event began as a morning routine back in 1959 and is based on the same routine performed at Buckingham Palace.

It was a glorious morning with temperatures in the high twenties. It was impressive to see the soldiers in their serge uniforms and bear skin hats. It reminded me when I was on military parade at the dockyard in Bermuda. I was part of the colour guard and had been standing out in the blazing Bermudan sun for too long. A couple of us had already passed out (fainted), a tricky situation when you have bayonets attached. I felt myself loosing control, my vision turned yellow so I came to attention, did a turn and marched off and got the approval of the gunnery Sargent.

I've included some photos of the guards as well as the band. I was also interested to see the guard commander inspecting each rifle barrel during the inspection. Don't know if I'd feel comfortable sticking a rifle in my face even though I know it's not loaded.

After the changing of the guard we packed up and left. Our hotel was just by the Ottawa River and within moments we were across the bridge in Gatineau Quebec where all of a sudden all of the road signs were in French only. Most we could figure out, some other warning type messages were a bit more challenging so we drove on, ignoring them hoping we wouldn't disappear into a big hole or something

Getting into Montreal was a real challenge as there were considerable road works all around the hotel and Detour signs everywhere. We joked that Detour was going to be the new name of Montreal as it was on more signs. Finally managed to checked in and decided to go explore.
The sun was hot and temperatures were now around 30 degrees.
We walked down to the Old Port and Old Montreal before finding a restaurant on place Jaques Cartier where we needed a pitcher of beer to quench our thirst. We also tried poutine for the first time. I know it's served all over Canada but I wanted my poutine to come from Quebec. Have to say it was delicious but what's not to like? Fries and gravy and the cheese curds were icing on the cake.

A final fun picture is the I took while walking past a bar. Here they have Budweiser dispensers with a spigot. A bit better than a plain ordinary pitcher don't you think.