Day 2: Ontario...where Patrick can read signs again

Start: Montreal, QC
End: Toronto, ON
Miles Driven: 361.3 (624.8 total)

The drive from Montreal to Toronto was for the most part uneventful, save the panic following our first gas stop, when the first two stations we came across were closed. Luckily, Shell came through for us and our fear that all gas stations in Canada are closed on Saturday was quashed.

We met up with Katrina's brother, Daniel for dinner and a night on the town. Daniel gave us a walking tour of the University of Toronto campus--complete with ghost stories! We then went for sushi (and teriyaki) at New Generation, followed by an Irish pub crawl. The first stop was O'Gradys (picture above) where we took in the Habs-Leafs game and Patrick enthusiastically introduced Daniel to his first Smithwick's.

Several Smithwick's later, we made our maiden voyage to Pizza Pizza, which is world-renowned for its $6 pizza deal (and that's CANADIAN dollars!) Unfortunately, the pizza comes at a greater price. After much haggling and two separate proofs of purchase via receipts, we were allowed to eat our mediocre medium pepperoni.

We then walked back to Katrina's friend Nicole's house (our gracious hostess) to rest up for our big day on the town tomorrow.

Day 1: Montreal on Ice

Start: Concord, NH
End: Montreal, QC
Miles Driven: 263.5

The morning was spent closing up the apartment and recovering from road trip eve festivities. When the clock struck noon we said our goodbyes at NHDP HQ, set the odometer to zero, and hit the road. We made record time to Montreal in three and a half hours, with the trip's major challenge being Patrick not passing out in the passenger seat from "exhaustion". As we pulled in to town the weather turned south quickly and we checked in amidst a full-fledged ice storm. The Quality Hotel Midtown miraculously survived the neighborhood blackouts.

We took the Metro downtown for dinner and ate at one of Katrina's old favorite places: L'Academie. Patrick devoured 2 baguettes followed by his dinner, much to the disgust of the two women sitting a foot away (somehow we ended up at a table for four with complete strangers).

After dinner, Katrina led a walking tour of Montreal highlighted by her old apartment, the Latin Quarter, and Old Port. Patrick's favorite site was Hotel-de-Ville (as seen above) which is Montreal's historic City Hall.

Road Trip Eve

Our belongings are in storage, the car is packed, and the apartment is empty. Tonight we say goodbye to 50 South St. 2R, our 2nd home the Barley House, and the Capital City. To celebrate the occasion we drank champagne from the finest plastic glasses and will sleep on our "aggressively" hard floor, surely dreaming of the road ahead (and probably Barack Obama's visit to NH which you can by tickets to at http://www.nhdp.org/ElectionCelebration/).