The Walking Monk

Thursday, August 16, 2007 Montreal, Quebec
Today's journey started at exit Ste. Anne Bellevue off of highway 20. It is on the Isle of Montreal, surrounded by a series of rivers meeting with the mighty St. Lawrence River. I passed by one of the campuses of McGill University, then a series of posh residential neighbourhoods. While Doug was parked at a street corner waiting for me a resident became suspiscious of the Manitoba plates on the vehicle and alerted the neighbourhood security patrol who responded very quickly. They approached us just after I caught up to Doug, at which point we explained what we were doing.After being in rural Ontario since May, we encountered friendliness. Now we are in a mega-city where people are uptight.
Saraswati and husband Gilles came to join me on the waterfront trail. As well, other friends from the Montreal area connected with us along the Lachine Canal. We sang the Maha-mantra for a distance on this green trail. Certainly I did not join a society of monks and lay people who take vows of silence. We finished at Saint Patrick Street and Charlevoix.
In the evening, Doug and I visited one of my godsisters and her husband just over the Ontario border for a wonderful meal followed by an after dinner kirtan (chanting). A nice evening before I flew off to join the devotees in Georgetown, Guyana, who invited me to their Ratha Yatra festival.
See you after the weekend.
33 kms