Montreal, Disasters & the Montreal Flu So this is another "after the fact" account, so I'm sure I may miss out on a few details, but I'll break you off a piece of our trip to the land of maple syrup and strippers.

AJ and Ian picked me up in the morning, and we were off to the airport. A quick phone call to Serge along the way to confirm plans, and the excitement begins. We checked our bags, and had a coffee, and we dashed for a last smoke before the flight. Apparently the Calgary Airport is even doing away with the smoking rooms past security starting April 1st. I don't see any harm, but I don't make those decisions.

AJ had his seat elsewhere, and Ian and I were crammed into the very last 2 seats at the back of the plane. The gentleman with the ginormus melon for a head decided he should lean his seat all the way back for the entire flight. Being that we were the last seats, and I could not recline mine, and given the fact that I am the complete opposite of being small this made for a very very uncomfortable flight. AJ seemed to find some humor in the situation ... I did not.

So we landed finally, and on our way out the door to smoke, I said to Ian "So I'm thinking that guy holding the Jevco sign is looking for us". So we went over and met Guillaume. AJ will never ever be able to say his name correctly. He is one of the marketing reps for Jevco, and Serge asked him to pick us up, and take us out for the night. Guillaume is totally awesome. Young guy, likes to have fun. He used to work for Imperial Tobacco, and he let us in on some interesting things about the cigarette industry. We found our hotel on "Lincoln" street. Every time we told someone where the hotel was we got the same answer "Where's Lincoln Street?!?!". We're the visitors, and no one seems to know where the hotel is in their own city. It became quite humorous for us. It's a little side street in downtown Montreal, on the corner of Atwater. Just a few blocks off of rue sainte Catherine.

We dropped off the bags, and we were on our way to centre bell. Serge had organized tickets for the hockey game. Montreal Canadians vs Toronto Maple Leafs. It was sure to be a good game. We parked a block away for like $8, and walked to the Bell Center. I must say that is a very impressive facility. Being used to the traffic jams, expensive parking, walking for ever to even get to the front doors, and then the dead halt of the cattle jam in the Saddle Dome, this experience was refreshing. The layout of the bell center is _way_ better. Better seats, better traffic movement. We even had escalators to get up to our level. tres cool. Ian and I sat together in the white section (front row, third level), while AJ and Guillaume sat in the blue level (second) somewhere on the other side.

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Disasters:

It never fails that as soon as I leave something goes down. I got to the bell center, and turned on my cell phone to find numerous voice mails. "Server is down, SMTP is not working at all!". So now in a slight panic, I make a phone call to find out that someone restarted something, and all seems to be good again. Thank goodness, cuz I'm in a hockey arena, and there is no laptop, and no internet.

Disaster fixed

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So now that we are settled, my body starts talking to the brain and informs it that I am in need of sustenance. FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME! (Good on those who caught the little shop of horrors reference). So off to get hot dogs. The bell center has totally awesome hot dogs. Not the typical bun with a wiener in it. At the bell center they have hot dogs in toasted flat buns. You pre order with mustard and relish (or none if you choose). I was super impressed. No pissing around at the condiment center after, and they are smaller, and tastier than big soggy buns. They were so good, I had to go back for more after the first period. The hockey game was awesome, MTL gave a serious thumping. And since I hate the Leafs I was quite happy. I must say, the fans are so hard on Toronto. My favorite chant of the night was "Worst Team In Canada". It's funny cuz it's true.

So hockey game is over. Lets get on with the night. We dropped the car of at our tour guides house, and took a cab to "Solid Gold". Beers and boobs were in order. They even had porn going on the big screen. The French sure know how to do up the debauchery right! Being used to the degrading throw loonies at the girls in Calgary type strip clubs, I much like the Montreal clubs. Dancing, and private dancing, and much more excitement than we are used to. 5 of 5 stars for sure! Thank you Guillaume. You are my favorite person in Quebec now. ;-)

We had to make a food stop again. But being in a new city, we ended up with little choices, and the cab stopped for us at McDonalds. We loaded up. Some more than others. AJ ordered a double big mac meal, a double cheeseburger, and three mini chickens. Oh and on the ride home he ate half my fries, and half Ian's fries as well. So full, and so hurtin the next morning. McDonalds and drunk is not a great idea!

Now we are feed, watered, and entertained night one. Lets remember that we had a business meeting tomorrow. Serge was expecting us to be a little bit late anyways. He knew what we were up to. So we got up in the morning, and I grabbed a quick complimentary breki downstairs. just cereal, and some coffee. Nothing to harsh on the tummy this morning. I brought AJ a muffin, but he never touched it. I ate it later. :S. We caught a cab, and headed down to Jevco.

We arrived, and got shuffled around a little bit, and ended up in a board room. I met Serge, and several other people we were meeting with. Apparently Serge had already been appraised of our activities, and was warned that I was "Big like a football player". It's funnier when you hear it in a French accent. We also met with Briggette (sp), Martin (briefly), Michael (?), and a few others. I'm just the tech guy I can't remember all the names. the meeting went very very well. We were all quite happy. I think they were quite impressed with us. Ian said AJ and I did very well in the presentation. I am happy.

Serge took us all out to the Italian restaurant next door "Villa Rossi". Apparently Jevco ended up buying the building to do renos on the outside of their building (some property line thing). So we actually ate at "his" restaurant. Great lunch. So the day was done, and now we were free for the rest of the afternoon, and meeting Serge for drinks at 5:30 downtown. We got back to the hotel, and took a well needed nap. Watched some really really bad curling, and passed out at intervals.

We traveled down to Crescent Street to find the meeting place "Thursdays" pub. As it turned out the pub had no power. So as we were waiting for the guys from Jevco and having a smoke we saw the extensive advertising for the strip clubs. I've never seen a truck with a rotating sign in the back with jiggly girls on it. Impressive! Serge and Martin showed up, and we headed next door to Winston Churchills pub. Nice little pub. We started in on the drinks, and they were going down smooth. Serge wanted to take us to this Brazilian restaurant, where they serve the food on "swords". Alright! This should be fun.

I think the place was called Le Milsa. It was totally awesome! Everything was grilled (chicken, bacon wrapped turkey, sirlon, sausages, pork ...) and it all comes around on these big sword like grilling spikes. They just bring it around, and cut you off some chunks. All you can eat. You also get chili mushrooms, rice, and breads. For desert you have your choice of ice cream, and grilled pineapple. The grilled pineapple was FANTASTIC. Glazed in cinnamon. So tasty. They even had live entertainment. There was a man and woman. She was dressed up in bikini, and these puffy feather head wear, and tail. He had a tambourine. She danced, and performed. Got the patrons dancing (Serge, Martin and AJ). It went on for a good half hour. I myself was really impressed with the tambourine work. Really neat musicianship. It was totally fun. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Montreal.

After dinner we took a little trip to Wandas. We hung out, and watched the ladies for a while. Since Serge and Martin were not really on vacation, they left shortly after there. Ian, AJ and myself headed elsewhere to "The Downtown". Rye and cokes come unmixed, and I enjoyed that. Drinks were tasty. girls were nice. The establishment was a little suspect. Around 1:30 AM we decided to call it quits, and headed back to pass out.

The next day, another business meeting fell through, and we basically spent the day being vegetables. Way slept in, and lounged around. A hectic no sleep weekend, followed by 2 days of partying had taken it's toll. We were kinda worn out. Later in the afternoon, we took a walk down St Catherines. I stopped in a shop and bought some souvenirs. We headed back down to Crescent st. We choose to go back to Winston's for a bite. I got to try my authentic poutine. I never did make it to La Belle Province (recommended), but there has to be something left for next time. We kept it pretty low key, as we were fairly tuckered out. We started to walk back. I guess a big fat guy like me walks to slow for AJ and Ian, so they pulled over a cab after a few blocks. They did try and spare my feelings, blaming the coldness ... liars! ;) AJ went and grabbed some beer for the motel. We chilled, and watched the Flames game on TV. AJ passed out and spilled his beer. We went to bed with aspirations of getting up early. AJ had a 7:00 flight, meaning arrive at the airport 6:00, and leave the hotel 5:30. Somehow, both my alarm, and Ian's alarm did not go off. So getting out of bed at 5:50 seemed scary. We mad dashed to pack, and get into a cab. Somehow we arrived at 6:25. AJ still had time to make his flight. Although his luggage would not. Ian and I got to relax, and smoke. Have a coffee, and hit the gate with time to spare.

After a nice flight home, Ian and I realized in the mayhem, AJ did not provide keys to the Izuzu, so cabbing it home was in order. I though I had a sore neck from sleeping upright on the flight. No bother. Turns out I was getting sick. Next came the sore throat, and the headaches, stuffy nose, and cough. So I am calling it the Montreal flu! Hopefully will be feeling better by tomorrow. Although I could use some time off to relax (not party relax ... relax relax). I know there is so much to be done. Lets get to it.  ¶ 11:38:00 PM 0 comments