accotement mou

Canada has adapted a horrible, horrible U.S. tradition and taken it to a whole new level: the Strip Mall. Oh. My. God. They're HUGE. There are whole oceans of strip malls that have multiple highway exits, and they contain about half the same crap stores you find in the U.S. Though, for fun, we've been driving slowly past each store until we find open wifi, then sitting in the parked car while we look up hostels and make dinner.

Last night we stayed at the Backpacker's Inn Hostel in Ottawa, Ontario. For $25, it was about as cheap as we could find, and kind of awesome. It was a 3-floor house downtown that must have slept 30 or so - there were eight in our room. I'm getting used to sleeping on any available couch/bed/tree root, and that thin bunkbed mattress was amazing! We made french toast in the morning with some of our bigger bread pieces that crumbled in the car crap tornado.

Ottawa seems pretty cool but we really couldn't stay long, especially when they charge for parking in five minute increments. We went running around town and took a shortcut running up a ton of stairs along a set of locks. It was laundry day, so I put on my last clean clothing remnants, including shorts over leggings and no bra and we killed two hours playing sudoku in a tiny laundromat. Next up, the National Gallery of Canada, which was way bigger than we expected and we got super lost in all the rooms and left with bugged-out eyes from art overload.

Then on the road again! We decided on Montreal, and halfway there, after checking out yet another misleading campground sign, did our strip mall internet thing and found another hostel. This is where we discover important differences between provinces: primarily, language! What the hell? We don't speak French, and Quebec is FRENCH. We practiced (butchered) all the signs we saw on the way here, and figured out enough to get around. Our hostel is a 2-flat squashed between two others on a narrow street that reminds me of Philly or Boston. Beer is way cheaper (what a relief!) and gas seems to be getting cheaper - 1.07/liter. This city is freakin huge; we'll have to see what's actually here and report back.