New York City – Day 4

I had breakfast in the room again today, and then grabbed my coffee in the hotel market, and took it over to Pershing Square where I could see Grand Central Station while I drank it.

I then walked to the bike share station and borrowed a bike to ride to the High Line. I was still within my 24 hour period that I paid for yesterday, but needed to keep the ride under 30 minutes so as not to incur additional charges.

I use Google maps to give me the directions to follow to get to my destination, but I started down 2nd Avenue it started giving me incorrect directions. GPS works very poorly in the area where we’re staying because the buildings are so tall. Take a look at one of the walks that I recorded on Strava. So I had to turn off the Google directions because they were constant but incorrect. When I rode back later in the day from an area where the buildings weren’t as tall it worked just fine.

There was a nice bike lane on 2nd Avenue with lots of cyclists using it. At the traffic lights for the first eight or 10 blocks there were traffic cops ensuring that the traffic flowed smoothly. When the light was red for me, but there was no cross traffic, and I slowed down the cop waved me to continue on through. I also saw a lot of traffic cops out in the afternoon the last couple days when school was getting out. Traffic moves rather sedately here but doesn’t seem to become overly congested. It’s easy to keep pace or even go faster on a bike.

The bike lane ended, but the street became quite quiet, and I didn’t mind sharing with the small amount of traffic there was.

I passed the familiar name and architecture of Gramercy Park and rode around the block to have a look and take some pictures.

I came across this street that is physically closed off during school hours to motor vehicles. I learned from this website that it is not uncommon here.

At that point I realized I was getting close to 30 minutes so I went to a docking station to find it entirely full. I use the app to find another docking station, which was also full. At this point I had almost run out of time. I thought I recalled that the app had a button where you can get 15 more minutes if the dock is full, but I couldn’t find it. I tried to do a live chat but no one came on to respond right away so I found a third station and docked there. I was charged $4.36, but I received a refund tonight based on the comment I made when I submitted feedback at the end of the ride.

From there I took the bike out again and finished the ride to the High Line. This was my first sight of the High Line, along with another one of those stacked car parking lots.

The High Line was even better than I had imagined. I spent most of the day there. It is accessed by staircases or elevators.

There was street level rail on the west side of Manhattan from the 1840s. But it meant there were 105 street level crossings, and many pedestrian deaths, so in 1929 after decades of debate the a massive infrastructure project to eliminate the street level rail was begun. It became known as the High Line. It opened in 1934 and was elevated 9 m above the street. It was designed to connect directly to the upper floor loading docks of factories and warehouses. It was known as the “lifeline of New York”. But in the 1960s industrial use began to decline on Manhattan’s west side. The southernmost nine blocks of the High Line were demolished. Another five blocks were demolished in the 1990s.

1980 was the last year that a train used it. Over time nature reclaimed it and it was only visible to the few inhabitants of adjacent buildings. In 1980 two locals met at a community planning meeting where plans to demolish the High Line were discussed. They formed a nonprofit group called Friends of the High Line to advocate for its preservation. In 2002 they formed a partnership with the city and the plans to demolish the High Line were reversed. In 2005 the transportation company that owned it donated the remaining section under the federal Rails to Trails program. From 2009 to 2019 the nonprofit group began opening the High Line one section at a time.

The High Line connects the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, and Hudson Yards. Next Spring it will connect to Penn Station to the East, and Hudson River Park to the West sometime in the future.

Volunteers look after the gardens. Bikes are not allowed on the High Line, but I did see these tricycles being used to aid in the gardening.

It’s much quieter up on the High Lines than it is at street level. New York is a very noisy place. There is a constant background hum with the staccato of car horns.

I was excited to visit The Vessel by Heatherwick Studio at Hudson Yards. It is an interactive artwork comprised of 154 interconnecting flights of stairs and almost 2500 individual steps and 80 landings. Unfortunately, four people have committed suicide here and it is currently closed. It was still stunning to see even though I couldn’t climb up.

There were hundreds places to sit in the big open area around it and the subway station entrance, and I had lunch there.

I headed back to the High Line to walk south to the other end.

There is so much to see. The High Line itself has some narrow sections, some wide sections, many places to sit and enjoy the sun. Places to look at the streets below. The High Line has spurred an enormous amount of new development adjacent to the line.

The Whitney Museum is at the south end. When I got there I was ready for a coffee and as I stood on a corner in the Meatpacking District a man in a red hat and shoes approached me and started talking to me. After a couple minutes he asked me if I knew who he was. I said I did not. He said I am the Mayor of the Meatpacking District. Google it. I did and he has quite an interesting story. I asked him for advice on where to get coffee and we parted ways.

I did have my heart set on a cookie and the place he suggested just had pastries so I carried on to the Chelsea market. It’s a fascinating old building and I found coffee and cookies there.

There are a lot of eating areas set up on the streets that are public and the one outside Chelsea market intrigued me. I sat there for a few minutes but then the allure of the Highline caused me to pack up and head back up. I found a place to lounge to finish my coffee and cookies.

Having finished exploring the Highline I headed to Little Island just a couple minutes away on the river. It is 2.4 acre park in the Hudson River with entrances at West 13th and 14th St. It is built on the remains of Pier 54 where in 1912 the survivors of the Titanic arrived to safety.

The remains of the pier were damaged during hurricane Sandy and it has been reimagined as an “immersive experience with nature and art”.

It was a very busy place today and I can see why it would require timed tickets to visit in the warmer months.

I noticed an excellent protected bike lane on my way there so I decided to ride back along the Hudson. Google wanted to send me up through the city almost right away but I stayed on the waterfront until 48th St.

This is the intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Then I turned and rode east towards where Michael was working to meet him.

I have had several people ask me about the rearview mirror i wear on my glasses when I ride including one driver today.

The first place I tried to dock the bike was closed for some reason and I ended up running overtime by the time I got to the next docking station. When you are not on a pass it cost $3.99 to unlock the bike and as long as you return it within the 30 minutes there are no further charges. But the overage is only charged at $.23 a minute so I didn’t bother complaining this time.

Michael met me at a bench near the dock and we walked back through Union Station.

I’m feeling pretty tired this evening. I’m up to two blisters on my toes. We rested for a while and I had a shower before we went out to pick up dinner and bring it back to the room.

It was another fabulous day. I haven’t yet decided what to do tomorrow as rain is forecast for the day. But it is the St. Patrick’s Day parade which apparently has been happening here since 1762 so I might go and check that out. I did bring an umbrella and my rain slicker. I’ll decide in the morning when I see what the day looks like.

New York City – Day 3

I started the day with breakfast in the room consisting of the raspberries that I bought on the street yesterday, oatmeal from the hotel shop, and tea made with the kettle and tea bags provided by the front desk.

I decided that I would walk down 42nd St. past Bryant Park, to Broadway, explore Times Square, continue walking through Hell’s Kitchen to the Hudson River to ride on the Hudson river Greenway to the Cloisters at the north end of the island.

I passed this wonderful building just before I got to Broadway.

Then I started seeing signs that Times Square was near. It can be such a busy place that they have a sign telling pedestrians to keep moving.

The last time I was in Times Square most of the space was taken up by roadway and parked cars. A few years ago under Michael Bloomsburg the city transformed a lot of the car oriented space into bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and patios.

The Transportation Commissioner Jennette Sadek Kahn, who worked for Bloomberg, knew that there would be a lot of backlash generated by removing space for cars. People tend to try to protect the status quo. Times Square was the first space they tackled. They decided that the key would be to transform the place quickly and cheaply, on a temporary basis, so that people could see what the new space actually looked like and felt like, and didn’t have to imagine it. They started on a Friday evening and used cheap plastic tables and chairs and straw bales to mark out the patios. It was well enough received that they were able to invest more in the space, and when a mayoral candidate a few years later suggested that he would turn the space back over to cars, people protected the new status quo, and he lost the election.

Times Square is an almost overwhelming space. Massive screens constantly changing. Music, Disney characters, crowds, people taking pictures, shopping, eating, drinking, resting, people watching.

After exploring Times Square I continued walking through Hell‘s kitchen. Some of the Marvel movies and shows are set in Hell’s Kitchen, but I didn’t see any superheroes. It did have a very different feel from Times Square with lots of rundown scenes, but also bike lanes, a bike share station, a Porsche dealership, and the cruise ship docks.

Real estate was obviously expensive enough to make it worthwhile to have some of these stacked car parking lots.

Today I decided to purchase a 24 hour bike share pass for $15. It provided me with unlimited included 30 minute rides. As there are extra charges for going over 30 minutes I had to keep an eye on the clock and regularly dock the bike to end the ride, and then immediately take it out again to start the clock over.

The Hudson River Greenway was a completely separated multiuse path that mostly followed the river and was often under 12th Avenue and the Henry Hudson Parkway. The highway was generally high enough that the space underneath was still light and airy, and it would actually be beneficial when it was raining.

I saw a couple things that I was familiar with from peoples’ pictures on social media and had that I had hoped to see.

I had expected to find bike share stations along the Greenway but they were actually located on the other side of the highway and generally required a climb up from the river’s edge over a bridge above the highway each time I needed to dock and then take the bike out again.

I had needed an bathroom since Times Square and the first one I came across on the Greenway was locked, but I finally came to one that was open, but had no bike share station so I took the bike right into the bathroom with me asi was not willing to risk having it stolen and having to pay $1200 to replace it.

Unlike in Toronto, they seem to be able to have heated indoor park bathrooms that stay open year round.

The process of undocking and docking a bike was very simple. I opened the app on my phone pressed the scan button, which opened my camera, scanned the QR code on the top of the stem, and the dock would unlock. When returning it one rolls it into that stand quite hard – it helps to pick up the seat of the bike as you roll it and drop it. As soon as it relocked the bike I would get a notification on my phone that it had been returned. Once when I didn’t push it in hard enough I got a notification that it might not be locked properly.

The third time I docked the bike I was getting quite hungry and hot so I took off a layer and ate some of the pistachios I had with me. At that point I determined it was only about 10 minutes further to the Cloisters.

As I was cycling downhill next to the highway I saw a highway exit sign for the Cloisters on the other side of a jersey barrier. I stopped and pulled out Google maps to see how I would get to the Cloisters, which I could see at that point at the top of the hill, to find out it was a very convoluted route, up a very steep hill.

At the same time I noted a restaurant and a bike station just ahead so I docked the bike and walked over to the restaurant, which unfortunately, turned out to be closed.

I grabbed the bike again, rode a few minutes further on, and found an area – Dyckman – with a lot of restaurants and a bike share station, right next to a subway station. I docked the bike and got lunch.

I decided to walk up to the cloisters which entailed climbing about 150 stairs, rather than riding. It was already mid afternoon so I just walked around the building and didn’t pay the $24 admission to go in.

Just before heading back down I spoke to a cyclist that was resting, who was riding a road bike, and asked for advice about riding back south towards Central Park. I wanted to take a different, less isolated route. I followed his advice and it was a good.

I started riding on Dyckman, the first busy street riding for me in New York City, which had had no bike lane for the first few blocks. Just before I got to the bike lane, as I started up from the light, the car behind me honked long and close passed me. It was the only slightly bad experience I had on the road.

I rode along the Bronx River path, and found a docking station where I could restart my ride at the corner where I needed to turn off the path.

After that I was on the road again. There was a bike lane, but there were a lot of cars parked on it. But the traffic wasn’t moving too quickly, and it wasn’t too heavy, and so I felt comfortable riding and passing the cars in the bike lane.

I passed a classic New York brownstone just before I got to Central Park.

Most of the roads in Central Park are closed to cars. There’s a lane for pedestrians, the centre lane for slow cyclist, and the right side for fast cyclists.

After going about halfway through the park I left to get coffee.

From there the quickest way back to the hotel with straight up Park Avenue. I expect a bike lane, but when I got there found there was none. The road is four lanes in each direction with a Centre Boulevard. The curb lane is used for parking. There were often cars double parked in the second lane from the right, usually a black Lincoln navigator. But traffic was heavy, and cars weren’t moving quickly. The streets cross very regularly. I had to ride about 40 blocks, and was generally moving faster than the cars. They’re often back up at the lights, with no cars crossing from the side streets so I would filter to the front of the cars and jump the red light to stay in front of them. It was fun riding like a boss, or a New York City food delivery cyclist. I felt completely confident and safe and had a blast. I rode right by where Michael is working, but he wasn’t quite ready so I continued on to the docking station close to the hotel, and then walked the rest of the way back. I ride 32km in total. With the docking every 30 minutes, picture taking, and heavy three speed bike, as well as more hills than I expected, it took a long time.

Once Michael returned we decided on Vietnamese for dinner and walked to get it and brought it back to the hotel to eat.

It was another wonderful day and I’m looking forward to using the last few hours of the 24 hour pass to get to the High Line in the morning and then walking that, and visiting New York’s newest park, Little Park, and the Vessel at Hudson Yards.

New York City – Day 2

Michael was extremely quiet getting up and getting ready for work this morning and I didn’t week until he closed the door to leave just before eight. I open to be graded with a beautiful, bright and sunny, busy morning, full of buildings, vehicles honking, and pedestrians hurrying. I noticed the East River and decided that I would go to the UN today.

I got ready and then walked to Bryant Park for breakfast. With no one to talk to this morning and being out of my routine I forgot to put my hearing aids in. I didn’t realise it until I got to Bryant Park. I was thinking the city was rather quiet as I walked there.

Breakfast, from Le Pain Quotidian, was so good – cappuccino and an egg, avocado, and cheddar on a brioche bun. The egg was freshly made, the avocado was cut in front of me.

After reading I wanted to just continue setting enjoying the park and people watching, but I was also wanting to fit in as much sightseeing as I could, so I decided to walk back to the hotel taking a different route, and pick up my hearing aids before walking west on 42nd St. to the UN.

There were so many places for outdoor dining here. Some of them would’ve been here before Cove but many were built in response to needing to be outside more.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mobile testing sites in tents on the sidewalks here. It is good that it is so easy to get a COVID-19 test, but perhaps it’s due to the number of people who have chosen to test regularly rather than get vaccinated?

The hotel is 34 stories and we are on the 31st. There a 10 elevators and half of them go from 14 to 34, and the other half of the first 14 floors. So far we haven’t had long to wait for an elevator, they’re pretty fast, and most people are wearing masks, but not all.

One has to be very alert here. There are so many streets to cross, with so much vehicle, pedestrian, and cycling traffic. And so many things to look out, at eye level, into the buildings, up at the skyscrapers, and even down at your feet.

This is the view from a bridge over 42nd Street between First and Second Ave looking back in the direction I had just come. Behind me is the UN.

It was sobering standing in front of the UN, with ribbons for Ukraine on a fence, knowing that they haven’t managed to stop the invasion by Russia.

The grounds were not open to the public but I was able to get a picture of St. George slaying the dragon through the fence, and a picture of the most secure bike parking I’ve ever seen.

There are so many e-bikes here and porgies (insulated hand covers that attach to bike bars). And often the pogies have plastic bags tied around them, I guess to keep them clean when the streets are mucky. Or maybe for a bit of extra wind protection.

I decided to leave my DSLR and interchangeable lenses at home because it is so heavy and bulky. I recently got an iPhone 12 with a regular and wide angle lens, and I’m really happy with the quality of the images. Most of the pictures in the blog are taken with my iPhone. Michael did lend me his super zoom point-and-shoot and it takes wonderful telephoto images. The details on the older buildings here are incredible.

After seeing the UN I walked to the Roosevelt Island Tramway. My friend Cindy gave me an expired fare card from her last trip here, which I was able to transfer onto a new card because of the pandemic. The attendant at the Tramway helped me do that. It’s part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is North America’s largest transportation network. It serves a population of 15.3 million people across 5000 mi.².

Roosevelt Island is the narrow island in the east river between Manhattan and Queens. it lies below the Queensboro Bridge but cannot be accessed from the bridge. The secular traffic has to access it from Queens. Pedestrians can use the Tramway. It is the oldest urban commuter tramway in the US. There is also a ferry on the east side of the island.

The views from the tram were spectacular.

I found a bench overlooking the east stripper and Manhattan to eat my lunch which turned out to be enough food for lunch and dinner.

In 2011, the City of New York issued a global challenge to academic institutions, inviting them to enter a competition to develop a world class Applied Sciences campus on city-owned land, with a $100-million investment of city funds. The winning pro proposal was submitted by a partnership between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and is located on Roosevelt Island.

I enjoy taking pictures of architecture, particularly when the reflections can be played with.

South of the campus is parkland and the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park. There is also the ruins of a smallpox hospital which is odd to visit when we are in the midst of a pandemic.

It is sobering to read these words from a president when Americans cared more about the world than they do today, and when we are so far from achieving these freedoms despite the passage of 79 years.

My feet were starting to get tired. I’m used to riding a bike all day, but not walking. I decided to get a coffee and cookie on campus, and use their Wi-Fi to download the Citi Bike app so I could borrow a bike to use to finish exploring the island.

As I walked towards campus I spotted a small pink building up on top of the skyscrapers. I took a picture across the river to Manhattan, then zoomed in three times to discover a two-story pink house. I’ll have to see if I can discover the story, but I don’t have time right now.

I downloaded the app, entered all my information, finished my coffee and walked back to the bike stand. I opened the app, which my camera to scan a QR code on the bike, which caused the rack to release the bike, and I was off.

There is a subway station in Roosevelt Island. This is me reflected in it as I rode by.

In addition to the park land, and university, there is a lot of rental housing on the island.

There is a lighthouse and another park and some sculptures and reflective spheres at the north end

My bike had this message on it

2 half-hour periods on the bike cost me $6.50. I returned the bike and took a Tramway back to Manhattan.

I discovered that Google maps here has an additional feature called Google Live View for when you’re walking. When you give it access to your camera, it gives you directions like a heads up display. It only worked when you were standing still, or walking very slowly, though. The closer you get to your destination, the bigger the arrows get.

I found a fruit stand with reasonably priced fruits and bought some raspberries.

There are lots of markets with beautiful displays of flowers.

This is in a park near the UN

Where I got back to the hotel I put up my feet and waited for Michael to return from work. Then we decided where to go to pick up dinner, picked it up and returned to the room to eat it. Afterwards we went down to the hotel market to spend today’s $15 credit which went a lot further without $10 worth of tea. It was a wonderful day exploring and I look forward to repeating it in another area of the city tomorrow.

New York City – Day 1

Last year IBM spun out their Managed Services operations and employees to a new company called Kyndryl. Michael works In Network Servies and was sent to the new company. This week he is visiting the two New York City locations – 280 Park Avenue tomorrow, and 1 Vanderbilt Avenue next Monday. He did the math and the cost was almost the same to go down twice or to stay for the week. So he decided to stay for the week and I am tagging along. I have wanted to come to New York City for years. I was here on two high school trips in Grades 12 and 13, and a business trip in 1991, but haven’t been back since.

It’s my first time on a plane since the pandemic started. Oreo was clearly not happy about all the commotion this morning and knew something, of which he disapproved, was up. I usually take Michael to and from the airport for his trips, but today we got a taxi. Michael is a fretful traveller, and the taxi not showing up is one of his fears, however, the taxi was 10 minutes early.

We had to have a covid test no more than one day prior to flying. A Rapid Antigen Test test is now acceptable, but needs to be administered by a professional or witnessed by a service. We chose to go to our pharmacy. It was quick and painless, and 15 minutes later, and $80 poorer, we knew we were negative.

We were able to scan our own boarding passes, which we received by email, scan our own passports, and check our own baggage – all self service. Yesterday we had to upload to the airline website proof of vaccination, and proof of a negative test. We were told to arrive “at least 3 hours before flight time”. Having done all the work ourselves of getting checked in, we had two hours and 45 minutes to spare. We were directed to a waiting area and told to listen for our flight to be called to proceed to security. We took a walk around the terminal – it wasn’t crowded despite being the beginning of March Break, a walk outside, and then we sat. When our flight was called the security line was long, but we were directed to join more than half way up the line. US Immigration didn’t take very long either. By the time we reached the gate I barely had time to wolf down my salad and we were boarding. That took a while because people had too much cabin baggage. We were 20 minutes or so late leaving, but the flight is only 90 minutes.

Part of the delay was due to a very thorough de-icing spray.

I recognized the intersection of Dixie and Derry, but we were soon above the clouds and there was nothing more to see until we got to the Catskills, Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes, and the outskirts of New York City.

It seemed like very little time and we were on the ground and in the terminal. Everyone was masking unless they were eating. By the time we got to the baggage carousel our suitcases were dropping. The line for the taxis was inside and took only a few minutes.

The tunnel to Manhattan seemed very long.

Even on a freezing March afternoon there were a lot of people on bikes. By a wide margin most bikes were e-bikes, then Citibikes bike share, and then a few regular bikes. There are red bus lanes everywhere. The cyclists seem to use then when there is no bike lane. On one street the two rightmost lanes were bus lanes.

We are staying at the Hyatt Grand Central.

Once we unpacked we walked to Michael’s business location for tomorrow morning. It’s very easy to navigate around Manhattan. Avenues run north-south and streets are east-west. Fifth Avenue separates the East and West sides, with street numbers increasing as you head away from Fifth. Broadway cuts through the city on a diagonal.

Right way we started seeing things on our list of places to visit starting with the Chrysler building right out our hotel window, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Anyone who watched 30 Rock would recognize the next two pictures.

Back at Grand Central we had a look at the main concourse, the food hall – crazy expensive, and the food court, busy with many places closed, I guess because it’s Sunday.

Michael felt like noodles so we found a place about 15 minutes walk and picked up dinner to bring back to the hotel. While waiting for the food to be ready we saw this scene more reminiscent of my memories of New York City and the gritty areas you see on TV, than the more touristy areas and business areas we had passed through to this point.

I knew New York City was known for its street food, but was surprised to see this!

Bryant Park is another spot on my list. We walked through it on the way back to the hotel. I think I’ll go back to Le Pain Quotidian for breakfast in the park tomorrow.

Back at Grand Central we spotted this restaurant under the bridge. It’s very close to our hotel. Oatmeal is $15 US!

Dinner was good, and by eating in our room we weren’t sharing air with others. We have a daily $ 15 credit at the market in the hotel. Tea was $5, an ice cream bar $3.50 so we went over the credit by a couple bucks. I went to the front desk and asked if they have kettles. She told me they could bring up a coffee machine that we could use without the cartridge for hot water. No charge. Half an hour later they appeared at the door with that and a kettle and a big bag of tea and coffee. No more five dollar teas in the market. We will use our credit for something else.

It was a good start and I looking forward to thoroughly exploring New York City over the next eight days.

Lac Morency – Day 5 – Montreal

Sadly, our time in Lac Morency came to a close this morning, but at least we had a day of riding in Montreal to anticipate. The drive to Montreal was about an hour. Then the drive home was six hours plus stopping time. We still had groceries remaining, that we brought with us, that allowed us to make a packed dinner, so that we only had to stop for bathroom breaks, and to switch drivers. Here I am ready to go with the big pink suitcase, my wheelie cooler with cold stuff, and another cooler on top with food that didn’t need to be kept cold, my backpack that I use on my road bike which doesn’t have a rack, and my bike. Unfortunately, I realized once I got home, that I had forgotten my foam roller. Too bad it didn’t occur to me when I was taking this picture.

It is a very different kind of trip when staying in one place, with a kitchen, and a car, compared to our self supported tours. It is more economical, allows one to pack more liberally, and the car can provide more range for trips to restaurants, or to start riding. I like both kinds of trips. We have had a mix this year.

Here we are ready to drive.

We decided to keep our riding distance to 30km given the driving time to home, and that we were meeting friends for lunch. We headed for Parc Agrignon, a large, popular park in the west end, where there was free parking and access to the trail along the St. Lawrence for our ride into the city, and from the Lachine Canal for our ride back.

Right away after leaving the park we saw Montreal’s distinctive “plex” architecture with outdoor staircases. Most of the 30km we cycled was on cycling infrastructure. Some of it painted, like below, much of it curb separated downtown, or on wide multi-use paths along the water.

This was out first sight of the St. Lawrence.

The path had separation between cycling directions and pedestrians marked by the small reflective flexible markers. You could ride over them. We also saw them on the highway coming into the city. I would be interested to know how many get ripped up by snowplows.

We had to leave the waterfront for a few kilometres to avoid highways, rail lines, and rail yards.Initially we made the mistake of riding to the east side of this intersection before realizing that there was a bi-directional cycle track on the west side. This one was just buffered with paint. Even in Montreal, where they are much more accustomed to seeing cyclists, one has to be very alert – a driver on her phone came straight across the cycle track without looking and would have hit me had I not taken evasive action. I did realize the irony of the fact that I was holding my phone having just taken a picture, and that I didn’t know whether or not that is illegal in Quebec. In Ontario, the Highway Traffic Act specifically refers to motor vehicles with respect to cell phone usage.

Some of the roads through this industrial area had bike lanes, some did not, however there wasn’t much traffic on a Sunday morning and we are quite comfortable on the roads, regardless.

Here we crossed the Lachine canal to the Old port.

The Old Port is beautiful and one can ride on a bi-directional bike lane on the road or ride more closely to the water on shared pathways.

There is much to see in the Old Port including the cruise ship docks, the science centre, zip lines and aerial park, and the market, Bonsecours. There are also accommodations and lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.

We left the Old Port and headed north into the city with the vast majority of streets on which we cycled having curb separated cycling lanes.

Heading west to the restaurant where we were meeting friends for lunch there were many colourful sights.

We had lunch here, the most crowded place I have been, unmasked, since the pandemic started. One placed an order by going to the counter and then the food was delivered to the table. I ordered for everyone in our group and was the only one asked to produce a vaccine certificate. Six days later, feeling healthy, I assume all is well.

Heading back to the Lachine canal we continued to enjoy Montreal’s cycling infrastructure. I spent four days riding here ten years ago, and a few days walking around five years ago. I remembered the general layout and how much I enjoy this city.

The Lachine canal pathways were very busy. It was a beautifully sunny, still and warm day.

In many places there are bike paths separated from the walking path, on both sides of the canal.

It is busy enough that there were four way stop intersections at places and signs to cyclists to yield to crossing footpaths. I think there were more places to cross that were active transportation only, than there were that also accommodated motorists.

We even encountered a roundabout! There was no excuse to being confused about which way to travel around it.

Coming into the north end of Parc Agrignon we were treated to beautiful fall colours and experienced how extensive the park is.

Here we are with the cycling coming to an end. A six hour drive with a few stops for bathrooms and to change drivers took us back home from another memorable cycling trip. I would highly recommend the P’tit Train du Nord and Montreal. I hope to go back and explore the last 15km of the trail at the south end, and the 110km north of Mont-Tremblant.

Lac Morency – Day 4 – Prévost to Blaineville

It was minus one when we got up so we decided to relax a bit before heading out in the hope that the sun would come out and warm up the day. We headed south from Prévost.

Only the first 3 or 4km were on grit today, with the rest paved. It was cold, but the winds were calm, and it was dry. I wore an extra long sleeved layer and second pair of socks, and gave Cindy, who only had shoes, not boots, my shoe covers.

The trail went through quite a mix of landscapes today – urban, forest, village, farm, alongside roads, and under highways. There was a great collection of street art under the first highway.

The sections of the P’Tit Train du Nord which we explored roughly follow the Riviére du Nord. There was a beautiful set of rapids on our way to Saint-Jérôme. I stood and tried to imagine my line if I were kayaking them, as I used to kayak on the Ottawa River. It is certainly beyond my skill level at this point, and probably always was, at least at this water level.

The pictures below show some of the varied landscapes through which we cycled.

At the north end of Saint-Jérôme we started to see the type of house architecture , with outdoor staircases, for which Montreal is famous.

There is a beautiful church in Saint-Jérôme with a lovely tree-canopied park in front of it.

They have recently created a lovely riverfront park and are working on a second phase.

The old train station has tourist information, but was closed. There was a bike counter for the P’Tit Train du Nord beside the trail here.

We stopped to warm up in the Vert Vert Café. It was lovely and bright and the sun streamed in, warming our cold extremities. However, we didn’t get nearly as cold as yesterday. We enjoyed the apple pastry we purchased to share so much that Cindy bought us a second one.

Saint-Jérôme had some lovely murals including one for the P’Tit Train du Nord.

Saint-Jérôme has a new train station with trains to Montreal. The P’Tit Train du Nord runs alongside it, and zigzags from one of side the tracks to the other several times, but the crossings are well designed and when it runs along the road it is either raised or curb protected. In many places along the P’Tit Train du Nord there are tables and benches and bike racks. It is clear that the designers have thought about how people will use the trail. In villages there are playgrounds and fitness equipment. There seems to be more of an active, outdoor culture here, than in Ontario.

Blainville has a library that has won an architectural award. We loved this piece in front of it.

There was a detour here that was well signed, and easy to follow, in both directions.

Many of the villages have connecting Active Transportation paths with the P’Tit Train du Nord. This park had an homage to the train tracks, shade covered seating, bike racks, and a playground.

Believe it or not there is an asphalt trail under all these leaves.

Back in Saint-Jérôme we see the new intermodal train station, and the entrance to a permanent, covered outdoor market. There was a smaller one of similar design in the south end of Prévost. We also saw one on one of our rides to the north.

We ate lunch at the same café and there was now live music.

And we are done. It has been wonderful exploring the P’Tit Train du Nord. We would definitely come back to do it again and explore north of Mont-Tremblant. Tomorrow we will have a short ride in Montreal, lunch with friends, and then drive home.

We ate very well this trip, both in restaurants, and what we prepared for ourselves at the auberge. It makes it healthier, more economical, and saves time, eating out only one meal and coffee break each day.

Lac Morency – Day 3 – Saint-Agathe-des-Monts to Mont-Tremblant

We decided to get an earlier start today since we had a 35 minute drive to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, the turnaround point on our ride two days ago. We actually drove away a few minutes before the aspirational leaving time.

It wasnt raining when we left, and the forecast was only 30% chance of rain, however, as we drove north we started to see water on the windshield. Everything was still wet from yesterday’s rain so we were hoping it was just road spray.

Unfortunately, it was spitting as we unloaded the bikes, and neither of us packed rain gear today. We had been too optimistic, but, there was nothing for it, but to continue. We weren’t going to miss another day of riding in this beautiful area.

We had about 3km of paved trail and then it turned to a fine grit again. It is harder to ride on, but still reasonably smooth.

There were lots of beautiful vistas, more than are often found on rail trails.

Much of the trail from Saint-Agathe-des-Monts to Saint-Jovite was within hearing of the highway and sometimes within sight of it. It wasn’t as pretty as the ride from Prévost to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, but still enjoyable.

We passed some logging and extracting businesses and had to be careful of driveways through this area.

The Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré station had bathrooms, but nothing else was open in the station house. There was a nice park with some outdoor art, and a café by the trail. We were getting cold and damp, but were not ready for a stop yet given the day’s distance. The trail became asphalt here.

We entered Mont-Tremblant National Park long before getting to Mont-Tremblant, the town, and the ski village.

When we arrived at Saint-Jovite we both had painfully cold hands and feet. We found a cafe, 83 Nord, named for the distance on the P’Tit Train du Nord from Saint-Jerome. We ordered hot chocolate and pain du chocolat. It was delicious. We spend quite awhile getting warm before carrying on. At that point we decided if we didn’t manage to stay warm we would turn around at the end of the paved section 8 km further on.

Most of the road crossings were level with the path but there were a few tunnels along the way.

We ran into a closed section with a marked and somewhat protected detour.

We were very excited to spot Mont-Tremblant. This was the village, not the ski hill and village. We had decided we would stop at that point as we were cold and hungry and the next section seemed to be on the road.

There was an art gallery in the station and the employee was very friendly. He advised us of a forest route to the ski village that is paved, and also told us there is a free bus that can take two bikes on the front that runs from the ski village to Saint-Jovert. With that in mind we decided to continue on.

The path through the woods was hilly and indirect, but beautiful, and intersected with many mountain biking trails.

I think we are getting close!

The man in the information booth was quite useless in helping us decide where to eat. We had to walk our bikes in the village. We found a microbrewery called La Diable where we warmed up again and ate fish and chips. The waitress helped us determine the schedule for the bus and directed us to the bus stop.

One of Cindy’s cycling goals this year was to take a bike/bus trip, so she was able to do that, and we were able to cut out the ride back to Saint-Jovite.

It was only about 20 minutes back to 83 Nord. The sun finally appeared while we were on the bus.

We saw more beautiful scenery. Sometimes one sees different things on the same route, but in the opposite direction.

There were many beautiful homes along the way, as well.

There were some sections completely covered in wet leaves from yesterday’s rain. Most of the colour from the leaves is gone, but there is still plenty of subtle colour.

And, we are back. Cindy declared herself tired, but happy, but then changed it to tired and relieved. It was a wonderful experience, but sometimes it is just as good to be done when the conditions are somewhat adverse.

We had simple dinner of leftover bean salsa, avocado, omelette and hot tea, followed by Bailey’s. The ride was 89km with almost 500m of climbing.

Lac Morency – Day 2 -Rain

We knew rain was forecast to begin in the morning with the bulk of it early then tapering to an amount that isn’t terrible to ride in – at least that what’s the forecast said.

It turned out that we should have been riding from 7am to 10 because when we arrived in Prévost as 10 it had just started raining, and the forecast showed a lot of rain between 10 and 11, tapering off after that to about 1mm an hour, which I find rideable. So we went for a hike.

We couldn’t tell from the sign how long the hike was, but the local woman we spoke to yesterday said the stairs led up the mountain to a lake and that it is a nice hike. After hiking for 10 minutes and facing a grade of 50% on wet leaves with the rain increasing, I used Strava to see how far we had come. It seemed we were less than a third of the way to the lake so we turned around and headed for the local boulangerie.

At this point our thought was that the rain would taper off while we drank coffee and ate an apple fritter, then we would ride. We had hoped to ride to Saint-Jerome, 14km to the south, and the end of the non-urban section of the trail. South of there it continues in a more urban form for another 35km, but not on the rail line as that part of the railroad is still in use for trains.

After sitting for about an hour and re-checking the forecast we decided to drive to Saint-Sauveur, à ski town with a lot of shops and outlets. There were few people walking in the town as we drove through, but many driving. We decided to park behind the church and go for a walk. There was an astonishing amount of free parking right in town. There are many shops, restaurants, and bars. We had a look around Atmosphere, and then headed back to the car.

We decided to avoid the highway on the way back. It was very picturesque. The P’Tit Train du Nord seems to be about the only relatively level way to travel around here. The roads roll up and down and curve around the mountains.

We had lunch back at the auberge and then went swimming, followed by a whirlpool and sauna. It was very relaxing.

Then we walked around the resort. It really is quite pretty, even in the fog and rain.

There are quite a few vineyards around the property.

We decided to go to Shawbridge, a microbrewery in Prévost, for dinner . We made a reservation for indoors as it was still raining. How busy could it be on a Thursday night in a small town, we thought? Very busy, it turned out. But, only one other group was sitting on the enclosed patio, which was warmed by overhead heaters, so we sat out there, potentially safer from Covid, and also a bit quieter.

Everything looked red because of the heaters. The food was good, and we stayed comfortably warm. Walking to Couche-tard to buy teabags after was quite chilling.

It was a very foggy drive back to the auberge along a dark, narrow, twisty road, but Cindy handled it with aplomb.

Lac Morency – Day 1 – Prévost to Saint-Agathe

The day started cool, but beautifully sunny, with light streaming into our accommodation. We made and ate breakfast, and then drove the narrow hilly road 8km to the P’Tit Train du Nord in Prévost.

Here we are ready to leave Auberge du lac Morency, bikes loaded.

There is plentiful free parking at many places along the trail. Old train stations have been converted in amenities for trail users. In Prévost there is a shop with trail souvenirs, bike rental, and tourist information. There are nearby restaurants, as well.

There were also porta potties that were wrapped in insulated blankets, with heaters and lighting inside! The trail closes for cycling on November 1 and is used for skiing when it snows. It is groomed and there is a charge for some sections of the trail for skiing.

The surface of the first 22km going north was limestone screenings in good repair. The rest was very good asphalt. At higher volume roads there was green paint. The trail always had stop signs at roads. Sometimes the roads would have a stop sign, as well.

The autumn colours are past their peak here, but the landscape is still beautiful.

The signage is excellent with frequent maps and markers every kilometre. The gates at the roads are very unobtrusive compared to what we are accustomed to in Ontario on rail trails.

In Piedmont they had fitness stations beside the trail, bathrooms, a rec centre and a bike repair stand.

In Saint-Adele there was a terrific cafe with indoor and outdoor seating, bathrooms, a bike shop, bike rentals, ebike and child trailer rentals. Everywhere we stopped had bike racks, even scenic lookouts.

I took so many pictures of Cindy on beautiful sections of the trail with the autumn colours, but this is one of my favourites.

At Val-Morin there was a restaurant (closed) and picnic area. There were signs indicating a 1km ride to the town centre, but we decided to stick to the trail.

Val-David was a bustling little town with a large park on one side of the trail and a main street perpendicular to the trail. We briefly searched for lunch, but decided to continue on to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts to the restaurant we chose last night when planning the ride.

Only when we got to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts did we realize the the restaurant we chose was actually in Val-David. So we picked a little local restaurant from google maps that looked cute, but fast. Two kilometres later, down a steep hill we discovered it has gone out of business. Next we tried a sushi restaurant on the way back to the trail to find it is closed on Wednesdays. Finally, we ended up at a great little Vietnamese restaurant on the main street back near the trail. We had spring rolls, a pork sandwich on crusty baguette and iced tea. It was delicious. It was only the second restaurant meal I have eaten inside since the beginning of the pandemic, but other than the proprietor, we were alone in the restaurant.

We headed back south. On the way we encountered a large group of young children, with a couple parents, or teachers, with a P’Tit Train du Nord volunteer corking intersections (making sure drivers allowed the entire group to cross) and sweeping (ensuring no one was left behind).

We stopped at Val-David for coffee. There were an astonishing number of people walking, playing, cycling, shopping.

There were some cute signs along the trail.

The sun began to get lower in the sky, and enhanced the last few kilometres. The day had almost 500m of climbing, but it was all on the way north. The ride back was almost effortless at times.

Back at the car we had a lovely conversation with a local woman who told us some history of the area. We were happy not to be riding the 8km back to our accommodation. We rode 82km today.

We bought cheese bread in Val-David to go with squash and lentil soup Cindy made and brought, leftover bean salsa from last night, and a salad I made. Pears, blue cheese and chocolate were had for dessert. It was delicious.

Lac Morency – Travel Day

Cindy has a time share that she needed to use, and given the pandemic she did not want to travel to the US, so she looked for a cycling friendly place in Canada, and invited me to join her at the Auberge du Lac Morency north of Montreal in the Laurentians. It is only 8km from the P’Tit Train du Nord, a 235km bike route that runs from Montreal to Mont-Laurier.

My cat Oreo was very interested in my suitcase. Because we were driving and doing day trips, I didn’t have to be careful about how much I took with me. So I brought the giant pink suitcase for which I have been endlessly mocked for taking on my first cycling trip to Ottawa in 2017. However, its handy because everything fits in the one bag and it has wheels. Additionally, I had two coolers, as did Cindy, since we will make most of our meals.

There was a bit of traffic at 409/401 this morning and then some skirting Montreal. We had a bathroom stop at Odessa ONRoute, our packed lunch in the parking lot at Mallorytown ONRoute, and coffee just after crossing into Quebec at a Couche-Tard service station. I drove from the bathroom break to the coffee break. It was 8 hours from my house to registration at the auberge.

We saw an elevated section of the Montreal REM under construction. It is a regional transit network of 67km that will be opening in stages from 2021 to 2023. They have a giant elevated guideway building machine that seems to be similar to a video of a bridge building machine in China that I saw a few years ago. I got quite excited when I saw it.

This one lane bridge just before Saint-Sauveur was controlled by a stop sign at each end and a directive that cars take turns.

There was an interesting looking plaza across the road from where we got gas in Saint-Sauveur.

We also passed the P’Tit Train du Nord in Saint-Sauveur. I believe most, if not all, of the path is paved.

We will be doing daily trips from the auberge, a cute two story row house with living room and kitchen on the main floor and bedroom and bathroom on the second floor.

The view from our front door is lovely.

The restaurant at the auberge is closed Tuesday and Wednesday so we made a bean salsa and omelettes for dinner.