To Kingston, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec

10 17 09 Sun 45F/8C

On the way to Montreal we looked for a farmer's market in Couburg by Lake Ontario but we did not find it so we stopped in a strip mall and had coffee/tea with a fruit cup - fresh fruit. Have not seen much of that on this trip - one reason we were looking for a farmer's market.

There were fall colors along the lake and we were enjoying the ride while listening to NPR - always interesting. There were no rest stops along the way. There was a sign on the freeway with a gas tank and we took off mostly to go to the bathroom. Then the gas station was 3 km away from the road! It was called gas bar and an attendant pumped the gas. Have not seen that in a long time! Later we saw a Service Center by the freeway - a gas station, KFC and other restaurants.

The next town we stopped in was Kingtson - founded in 1673 by Lake Ontario, St. Laurence and Cataraqui Rivers. The farmer's market was behind City Hall and I finally found my bell peppers, I was wishing for, to eat with our cheeses and tea in the evenings. We also found carrots, apples and nice pastries. The baker was so tired that he did not quite know which pastry was rasberry or cherry. He had been up all night baking.

Around the corner from the market was a restaurant called Aroma - Turkish owner. The waitress came from Victoria, Brittish Columbia, and she was very pleased that we had visited Niagara Falls on the Canadian side and that we had visited Victoria in the past. I had pumpkin soup with sage, salad with different greens, feta, olives, tomatoes, chicken, avocado and bacon and Jalil had Tandoori chicken with nan.

From Kingston we followed the St. Lawrence River to Quebec and Montreal. Life changed in Quebec because of the French. The signs and specially the electronic warning signs across the freeway were only in French. I had not thought about French since High School and Jalil had never studied it. It was amazing that there still was French in my brain, but I managed. As Luna did not operate in Canada, I was relying on my map and guided Jalil to Laval outside Montreal. We had made previous reservations at Econologe. Montreal on the weekend was busy and there were not many vacancies.