Another drive

In writing the last post, I remembered my first trip to Montreal (I haven't been back in a long time--I should really go soon). It was New Year's Eve, years ago, I wanted to do something different (the year before, I was in Times Square). The drive to Albany was uneventful--the Catskills looked great with snow. But about halfway through the Adirondacks, it started to snow. Now, I was in between exits--a long way in between--and I'm starting to think, climbing ever higher into the mountains, that this may not have been too bright.

Nevermind. Ten minutes later, the snow didn't seem bad, and I pushed on. As I got past Plattsburgh, the landscape became rather bleak--flat, featureless, desert-like. The view didn't change much over the border, except for all the Cuban cigars shops just inside Quebec. Electrical transmission towers marched relentlessly alongside the highway. Winters here must be hard, I thought. Am I ever going to reach Montreal? Chugging along, I'm mindful of my speed (I don't want to be stopped by the police--my French is awful). Then, off in the distance, I see a black hump poking up into the gray sky. What is that? Am I seeing things? I get closer, then I realize--it's Mont Royal.

A new city is about to be discovered.