The Gite du Marigot

We stayed at a B&B in Laval called the Gite du Marigot. Laval is the island just north of Montréal. Since our last stay, Laval has had three Métro stations open, which made transportation much easier. This time we walked a few minutes to the Station Cartier, rather than cross the river to Station Henri-Bourassa.



The Gite is a comfortable lodging graciously run by Chantal, who used us to improve her English and helped us with our French. One morning, there was a Parisian couple at breakfast. They and Chantal told us how challenging it can be for Québecois and the French to understand each other, rather like Americans and Englishmen.

There is a riverside park across the street, and every other evening there was a patanque league playing. Patanque is similar to the Italian bocce, though the main difference seems to be that patanque uses steel balls, and bocce uses clay. One evening, Karin and I nibbled on sandwiches and tried to figure out the subtleties of the game. I think a visit to Wikipedia is needed to complete our understanding.

About 10 minutes' walk away is a nice French restaurant. We went to dinner during Kate's visit, for an early celebration of Karin's birthday. The food was delicious, and the staff very accommodating despite the fact that their English was only slightly better than our French.