Bienvenue

We crossed into Canada by road. The official at the border crossing asked for our passports. Asked us where we were from. Asked us where we were going. Asked us where we are planning to stay. The first few were easy enough to answer. The last one was not so clearly defined. "We're just driving," was a truthful answer but apparently a less than satisfactory one to the official. 

We're free wheeling Americans, I wanted to tell him. Ever read Kerouac? His people hale from here. Instead I told him we were going to spend the night in Montreal and then likely push on across Maine to St John, New Brunswick. He asked if we had any weapons. We are Americans after all. 

Quebec is where our maternal ancestors reportedly landed after leaving France in the early 1600's. New Brunswick is where my paternal Grandfather - English in ancestry - grew up. My son is keen on visiting every country whose soil contains a root of his family tree. This is just the beginning for him. 

We arrived in Canada on Canada Day. There were a lot of people in the streets last night, bands playing, fireworks, but the general scene was calm, quiet and peaceful. Complimentary breakfast in the hotel this morning was very nice. The guests who gathered there along with there children were also calm, quiet and peaceful. 

There was a prepubescent boy who kept innocently coughing into the toaster though. I found that moderately disturbing and felt a parental nudge inside to correct his behavior. But then I realized that he's grow up with universal health care and has nothing to fear from disease. 

Today, we're going to do some tourist activities.