To Quebec City

Friday was clear and sunny without a single cloud, neither too hot nor too cold. A day made for travel. And travel we did, my running gear and Maggie's camera packed and ready. It's a mere four days trip to Quebec City where I'll exhaust myself in a marathon race. The only problem - if that can be called a problem at all - were the construction-clogged traffic arteries of Montreal. If you think Toronto traffic is bad, try Montreal, you may change your mind.

Our hotel is in Levis - nothing to do with the jeans - across the river from the Old Town. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but near the race's start. To get to the town it took us:
15 min walk to the bus stop
20 min wait for the bus
5 min bus ride
25 min wait for ferry
15 min ferry ride
15 min climbing the stairs and steep streets of old Quebec
(all times approximate)

All that because we didn't want to bother driving and paying for parking. It turns out that much smaller town of Quebec has much steeper bus tickets than our inept Toronto transit: their ride is $3.60, while in Toronto it's "only" $2.75. Amazing how such a short trip can change one's perspective on his daily life. In only a few hours we learned that Toronto's traffic is not the worst and its public transit is not the most expensive. It is true that you can see the whole picture only when you move away from it.