Montreal

I've been really lucky in my graduate career to be able to go to some really cool places for conferences. Last year, it was Switzerland. This year, I got the opportunity to attend one in Montreal. Travis wasn't able to join me this time, but Dani and I went up the weekend before and got a little bit of sightseeing in. It's a good thing we went early - the weather that weekend was gorgeous, and it turned rainy and cold the day the conference started. We were there for an entire week, but most of the pictures I have were from the two days prior to the conference. After that things got a little busy!

We went to this amazing market. We even got to sample this yummy cheese that had been grilled. The demo lady kept talking to us in million-mile-an-hour-very-quiet French. We just acted like we understood everything.

With our rented "Bixis" that we used to go over to the Parc Jean Drapeau on an island in the river. They were fun - heavy, but fun! I think I laughed most of the time we were riding them.

This sphere was built for the World's Fair in the 60's, I believe.

Picnic lunch picked up at the market. Why can't Americans figure out how to make good bread?

This was a Formula One race track that's open to the public for cycling and running. On that day they were having a bike race for handicapped riders - pretty cool!

We found this artists' promenade near our conference hotel in Old Town. Here we're "making" our maple taffy. The lady poured maple syrup onto a bed of ice, we waited a bit for it to harden, and then rolled it onto wooden sticks. 

Sticky, but yummy!

Out for dinner with co-workers Nic and Sean. This restaurant was "bring your own wine". We liked that. After that we hit up this pub Dani and I had discovered - the Pub St. Elisabeth. I love cities where transportation is easy! We traveled by subway a lot.

Basilica Notre Dame. This church was two blocks from our second hotel. It was beautiful inside, but it struck me as odd that the stone walls inside were painted in vivid colors. You don't normally see that in the churches in Europe.

This was my first trip to Canada, and I know that Montreal is very different than non-Quebecois Canada, but I liked it. I got to use my French when I wanted to, and English when I needed. it. It felt strange when we first arrived, because it felt like Europe, but some things were definitely more American. It was a unique blend between the two. People went back and forth between French and English flawlessly. The food was a good blend of the cultures, too. I did try poutine (fries, gravy, and cheese curds). It was good but oh-so-unhealthy. 

The conference was good, too. I made some good contacts and did a decent job on my oral presentation. Those do get easier the more you do them!