Montreal Adventures - A Look Back At 2013

With the year winding down, it's a good time to reflect on adventures I wanted to have in Montreal in 2013. Most of the year was consumed with finishing and shipping Batman: Arkham Origins, but I still managed to get out and enjoy myself from time-to-time.

Embrace winter (if it ever comes)

Go skating, tobogganing, maybe even snowshoeing - at least once a week.  Find and enjoy more tea or hot chocolate.

We had a short, fairly mild winter again, so I only managed to go skating three times in January/February, but two of them were during winter festivals: Fête des Neiges and Winterlude. I hope we get the same ice skating path in Parc Jean-Drapeau this year! As for new tea places, we enjoyed tea at Maison du Macaron and at Birk's Cafe. Highly recommend both places!

Embrace summer (when it comes)

Find and enjoy new terrasses.  Eat outside on my own. Finally attend a show at the Just For Laughs festival.  Spend time at the Jazz Festival.  Have a picnic in a park.  Watch the fireworks from Jacques Cartier bridge.  Find and enjoy more shop-made ice cream.

D and I finally went to two Just For Laughs shows - one gala and one of the smaller shows at Club Soda. I also happened to be walking around Place des Arts at the time and enjoyed a bit of the street festival. A friend got some tickets to the Fantasia Film festival and invited me to a film from Taiwan made in the style of a 1950's American musical (but sung in Mandarin). In September, I spent four crazy days exploring Montreal with tourists from the USA and Europe during the MEETin Invasion. That was about it for this goal. Fortunately, many of the other goals are summer-related :)

Walk or ride my bike just for the fun of it. 

This was by far my most successful goal of the year. In the Spring, a friend at work got me to join him on his daily walks at lunch. We usually walk 30 to 45 minutes through either the Village or Old Montreal. Those walks have really helped maintain my sanity. In August, a friend and I started doing major cycling, with our longest ride being about 60km, taking us to and around Iles-de-Boucherville. 

More solo street photography (outside of my monthly MEETin photo walks)

I didn't do any solo photo walks outside of a brief wander around Queen's University campus after the ice storm this week. However, my lunchtime walking buddy found the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest, so we spent September seeking out and photographing the monuments around work. It was a lot of fun and we discovered some places we didn't know were monuments.

Go to Jean Talon or Atwater market every week.

It wasn't every week, but I did go to the market regularly. As a result, I cooked and brought my lunch to work more regularly.

Go to the Botanical Gardens (my favorite) or some other park once a month.

With Mosaïcultures at the Botanical Gardens this year, the outdoor gardens did not have free admission for Access Montreal card holders from July through September. However, I did get to see the Mosaïcultures exhibit twice this year and it was spectacular! The bike rides usually went to a park, so there were still plenty of nature moments.

Visit museums.  

I took advantage of a web deal and became a member of the Musée des Beaux-Arts this year. So far, I have seen three of the temporary exhibits, my favourite of which was the glass art by Chihuly. I also thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the new planetarium and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Both are worth visiting.

Explore more restaurants, especially in my own neighbourhood and around work.

Sadly, I didn't do much in this area. Most of the new restaurant experiences came from travelling, rather than around Montreal. However, I did finally get to try Les Filles du Roy during MTL à Table. The food is delicious and the historic setting is worth experiencing.

Wear fashionable clothes.  

My wardrobe continues to evolve. I have been investing in some items from Katrin Leblond, a local designer who has a boutique in my neighbourhood. I love shopping there and always leave feeling fabulous!

Do more travelling.

Almost all of my travel was work related, none of which I would have predicted at the beginning of the year. I went to Frankfurt in May, Los Angeles (with a day trip to San Diego) in June, and New Orleans for the annual PMI Leadership Institute Meeting in October. The only vacation travel was spending a week at the same cottage where we spent our honeymoon and a Thanksgiving weekend roadtrip to Bois-Franc and Arbraska tree-top adventures in Rigaud.

Update this blog once a month.

This will be the 15th post on this blog this year. It wasn't exactly a monthly schedule, but I'm still happy with the amount of content I posted. I also wanted to make this blog more interesting. I didn't do anything special for that, so I don't think I made much progress on that goal. My weekend at Blissdom got me thinking about what I could potentially do with this blog. I'll do some more thinking this week and include any new goals with my 2014 goals.

As for my 2014 goals... I will be publishing them in the first days of January. If you have any suggestions on adventures in Montreal I should try, please let me know in the comments! I would also love to hear about any of your most memorable adventures this past year.

I hope everyone had a great 2013 and hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday season!

Homage to a Great Pair of Hiking Boots

My faithful hiking boots - destroyed!

My faithful hiking boots of nearly 13 years were destroyed by the Cup and Saucer Trail on Manitoulin Island. For our 10th anniversary, D and I spent a week at the same cottage where we spent our honeymoon. We decided to hike the Adventure Trail along the Cup and Saucer Trail, since it was so much fun 10 years ago. Well, 10 years is a long time and we were not 100% sure where the Adventure Trail started, so when we saw the sign for the alternate loop under the cliffs, we thought that might be it.

Alternate "trail" not on the maps... That sounded like a great idea!

It wasn't the Adventure Trail, but it certainly was an adventure.  It was a very rough, loose rock path along the limestone cliffs. I was happy to have my boots since the ground was unstable and covered with poison oak.  We eventually got back to the main trail and called it a day, returning two days later to finally do the Adventure Trail. Unfortunately, time had eroded big sections of that trail, so it wasn't as much fun. Still, the views along the Cup and Saucer trail are as rewarding as ever.

On the way back after the Adventure Trail - June 2013

Adventure Trail - Manitoulin Island - July 2003

It was only after the second hike that I saw how destroyed my boots were. The soles of both were completely ripped. All that was left to do was take a couple of photos, deposit them in the garbage and reflect on their 13 years of amazing service.

When I moved to California in 1999, I started to do a lot of hiking. It was during the dot com boom, so friends from Canada were in the area regularly.  We would find an interesting park and go explore. By the summer of 2000, it was clear I needed to invest in some proper hiking boots, so bought them while attending a friend's wedding in Prince George, BC. Back then, digital cameras were just coming out, but I remained faithful to my Pentax ESPIO 928 35mm.  As a result, I don't have many digitized photos from 1999 to 2002 when I started getting CDs made with my film development.

The most impressive hikes I have done were in Yosemite National Park, attempting Half Dome twice and completing the Glacier Point/Panoramic Trails twice. Yosemite is still my favourite place on earth so it was a natural place to take my first photo vacation with my Nikon D60 DSLR in 2008.

Nevada Falls on the way up to Half Dome - Yosemite National Park - Sept 2001

The friendly stalker bear on the Panoramic Trail - Yosemite - Fall 2002

Photogenic squirrel - Yosemite - Sept 2008

Living in California also gave me many opportunities to hike along spectacular seashores, giant redwoods and to get to know wonderful people along the way.

Garrapata State Park, CA - Fall 2002

D and I at Point Lobos - Spring 2003

Last hike before moving away from California - Tennessee Valley - April 2004

After moving to Vancouver, I did a lot of business travel for the first 18 months. Still, I found time to hike in the area, visiting Buntzen Lake and Lynn Canyon the most.  I finally converted to a Kodak compact digital camera in 2006, but all the photos from my time in Vancouver were backed up on a hard drive that is now failing, so I can't post any right now. At least the best of them have been printed!

After moving to Montreal, my wanderings became more urban, but vacations still take us to more rugged areas. My faithful boots took me through Zakros Gorge in Crete, through some parks in rural Quebec, and even back to California.

Zakros Gorge - Crete - May 2009

Saguenay National Park - July 2010

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve - May 2012

I will invest in another pair of good hiking boots and I can't wait to see where they will take me!

Making The Best Of Business Travel

I didn't blog much in May and June because I was away a fair amount - twice on business.  Like everyone early in their career, I thought business travel would be so sexy.  Then I got a job where I had to travel every month.  That's when I learned that it can take a lot of energy, so I learned a few things about how to make the best of business travel.

Downtown Frankfurt after a day of rain

In May, I spent a week in Frankfurt for work.  Fortunately, D and I spent about 24 hours in Frankfurt about 20 months earlier.  We saw more then than I did in my week in May - I was working that much.  How can you make the best of a situation like that?

1. Bring your camera
• I was lucky to get a room with a great view and was able to go for a short walk around the hotel.  By having my travel camera with me, I was able to get a great shot of downtown Frankfurt on a moody night (above) and feel a little like a tourist during my walk.  During my last visit, D and I saw a life-sized Batman statue on a street I knew wasn't far from the hotel.  So, I was on a mission to get a picture.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it again - but the quest was fun!
2. Practice your German
• I got to practice - just a little bit. Still, it was fun to practice the language... and help a colleague buy his dinner.
3. Eat like a local
• In Germany, the main meal is traditionally at lunch with sandwiches and cold cuts in the evening.  The company I was working with always made sure we had a decent lunch, often with food Germans typically eat. For dinner, I raided a grocery store near the hotel, buying bread, cheese, wine, chocolate and an antipasti plate.  Yeah, antipasti is Italian, but cultures are crossing borders in Europe, just like in North America.  

Zombies at E3

In June, I was honoured to be sent to E3 - the biggest trade show in the video game industry.  It was a working trip.  I spent a good part of the three days working in the booth, providing support to press VIPs as they played a demo of our game.  I also spent a good part of my time in the hotel room, answering emails and providing support to the team back at the office.  Still, I managed to walk around the exhibition floor and have some fun outside of the show. Best tips from this trip are:

1. Bring your spouse
• This was the first time D came along with me on a business trip.  I am SO glad he came.  We got him a free affiliate pass (he is affiliated with the video game industry), so he got to take in the show floor and do some networking on his own. Still, checking out the show floor and trying out some games with him was fun.  When a show event didn't work out one evening, we decided to try a delicious urban farm restaurant. I love my colleagues, but I have been seeing them a lot lately, so it was needed change to spend some time with my husband in a work context.
2. Finally meet some people... in person
•  In our uber-connected world, we often do business over email, telephone and web meetings. While it can work well for the day-to-day, it still makes a big difference to meet the people you are working with face-to-face. Since my time was limited, I only met with the people I currently work with and past partners I particularly enjoyed working with.  That is a lot more useful and enjoyable way to spend precious time.
3. Take care of some (long overdue) personal business
• Nothing feels better than being able to take care of some long overdue personal business - no matter where you are! It only took an hour and it's DONE.
4. Bad flight schedule? No problem! Visit a favorite place.
• I was booked on the red-eye flight back to Montreal and I couldn't get D on the same flight. Ugh. Well, LA is only about two hours away from San Diego, so I decided to rent a car and spend the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo.  Last time I visited was 2001, so I was looking forward to taking my DSLR and adding to a collection of photos originally shot in film.  In addition, due to an accident on the highway, it took me twice as long as expected to drive to San Diego, but I was treated to a drive through Cleveland National Forest, west of Temecula.  So, the next time you are booked on a less-than-ideal flight, take the opportunity to visit a favorite place or a new place. 

Turtle photo bomber!

Related articles

• Infographic: Business Travel
• Making the Most Out of Business Travel

Skating And Ice At Winterlude!

Although I live only two hours from Ottawa, I have not been to Winterlude since 2008.  With a little encouragement from an old friend from university, I made some time for a day trip to catch up with her and enjoy two of my favorite parts of Winterlude: skating on the canal and ice sculptures.

Of course, I took a few pictures from the day:

Skating the Rideau Canal - the world's largest outdoor skating rink

A lot more crowded downtown.  Canada's parliament buildings in the background.

Recognize her?  She's the queen from the movie "Alien"

Love the spirit of this sculpture

Hanging out by the fountain... and the power box.

The park benches had to be dug out of the snow from a recent storm

Just a Blog

With the passing into a new month, and having a weekend to myself for the first time in two months, I thought it was a good time to update my blog. Then I started thinking about what has been going on in my life since Thanksgiving. It's been less than a month since my last blog post, but it feels like much longer.

Insanity at work continues. I once worked with a project manager who compared long, difficult projects with giving birth to a baby. I think it's a perfect description for several of our projects at work. The biggest "baby" is taking most of my time and energy and trying all of our patience. It's confirming my long held belief in the importance of adequate project planning and having simple processes to deal with and communicate change. For anyone who has complained about their project manager, please imagine what life would be like without one at all. Just think about what it would be like to work in chaos. For those of you who work with one, go give your project manager a pat on the back. Mixed in all the project fun was, I kid you not, a 40 minute debate on the word "yet" in one of our soon-to-be-published company values. I know words are important, but c'mon, that was unnecessary.

On a better note, my social life is active and I'm trying to pace myself well.

D and I did a road trip to Cobden, Ontario to see his sister and family. I was looking forward to a drive filled with Fall colours. Instead, it was pouring rain. We had better weather on the drive back, but many of the trees were bare from the storm. On the way up we stopped by La Gantoise in Lefaivre, Ontario to pick up some Belgian Blue Beef. I was told about this place from xtreme foodies friends, who also wanted me to pick up orders for them... which they forgot to place. Oh well, I now have a couple of exceptional roasts in the freezer. It was great to see the in-laws, which I haven't seen in about 3 years. The kids are growing up fast!

Halloween is big in Montreal. Two sets of friends, one from Kingston, one from Kitchener, came up for the event. Halloween night I had two events - a birthday party at a great cocktail and tapas place called L'Assommoir, followed by meeting the out-of-town friends and D at a goth club on St. Laurent. Both were costumed events and I amazingly pieced together a French Maid outfit from clothes already in my wardrobe. (Yes, pieces of it were from another costume.) The festivities didn't end with Halloween night. The next day, L wanted to go to mass at St. Joseph's Oratory (pictured above), which gave me an opportunity to see that Montreal landmark. That night was a French Cassoulet dinner followed by accompanying the out-of-town friends to another goth club on St. Denis. Unfortunately, I was so tired from staying out late the night before and the rich cassoulet dinner that I had to call it a night relatively early. After two nights dressed in black for goth clubs, I didn't wear any black on the Sunday.

I watched the US election at home and was happy to see that my American friends had a real choice this election. I was also happy to see that America was ready to elect Obama. He has a big job ahead of him...

One MEETin friend is heading back to Nairobi this week so a few of us had a send-off dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant near Jean Talon market. We all hope A gets another UN project here in Montreal and we see her here again soon.

Last night I hosted an Alumni event - a university hockey game against a long time rival school. I'm happy to say that the few Alumni and students in attendance were good ambassadors for my Alma Mater. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the host students, particularly those from the Rugby team. I remember what it's like to be a student, cheering for your team and putting down the other team, but these students only put down the other team and rather viciously at that. It just made them look bad.

Whenever I log in to update my blog, I check out the latest Blogs of Note. I'm adding a link to the One Minute Writer blog. I highly recommend my writing friends check it out. Now I just need to follow my own advice...

Fall Vacations!

Mental note for next year: take my vacation in the summer with everyone else. Considering I don't have children, that statement seems like I've lost all sense of reason. Why would I take vacation at the same time as everyone else? Well, insanity set in after everyone else got back from vacation after Labour Day, so my fall vacations felt like great escapes worthy of at least a little respect from the great Houdini.

The first escape was to Quebec City the first weekend after Labour Day. This year is Quebec's 400th Anniversary so I wanted to see Vieux Quebec before the end of the year and before the winter. It was also a weekend getaway for D and I - the first in over a year. We had a great time walking around the old city and the Citadelle. I was even treated to a horse and carriage ride. We're thinking we would like to go back for the Winter Carnival.

The next weekend I flew to San Francisco to spend a week in northern California. It was basically a photo vacation; I had to show California to my new camera. It was also an opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet some of their new babies. It was nice to have an extra week of summer weather and visit almost all of my favourite places. I took about 138 pictures in San Francisco, 160 pictures at Stanford, Los Gatos, 17 Mile Drive and Point Lobos, and a whopping 320 pictures at Yosemite. The 17 Mile Drive and Point Lobos were as spectacular as I remembered them, but the entry fees doubled over the past five years. (It was still worth it!) Because it was mainly a photo vacation, I made a point of exploring almost all of Yosemite Valley and even drove up to Glacier Point. I saw more of Yosemite on this trip than I have with all my other trips their combined. Capturing wildlife with my camera, though, was more challenging on this trip. I had some great potential shots of pelicans at Point Lobos and deer and racoons at Yosemite, but I didn't have my camera ready. The exception was the squirrel at Wayburn Point - it was like he was a professional model. It was tough choosing that as my favourite picture to post on this blog.

The weekend after I got back from California, I joined the xtreme foodies gang on another trip to Vermont. The mission this time was microbrewery tasting and viewing the fall colours. Most of the day was spent on a very scenic drive through Vermont. The fall colours were gorgeous and we were treated to rural postcard scenes with cows, sheep and even a camel (!). The beer samplers in the group enjoyed the offerings at Otter Creek microbrewery and other microbrews over lunch and dinner. We made it to Magic Hat brewery... just in time for closing. At least we got some interesting photos there. It was the same case for the wildflower farm. Another mental note to self... pass on Vermont red wine. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't worth ordering.

In addition to the vacations, both MEETin and my alumni association have been active. For Alumni, we held a successful wine tasting at a lovely home in Outremont. As we walked to the metro, we spotted a wild fox hanging out in the very civilized neighbourhood. The MEETin "in search of" dinners are starting up again with a Portugese bistro. A group of us went the the Chinese lantern festival at the Botanical Gardens where we viewed and photographed the largest display of silk lanterns outside of China. We also started up a German conversation group which will be meeting monthly, which I fear will continually affirm that my German is better than my French. I really, really, really need to start going to the weekly French conversation group. Yesterday was the inaugural event for a series of teashop visits. For $4 per person, we sampled three different teas for which our hostess made two large tea pots for 7 people. Needless to say we were all well caffeinated after that event. Good thing I could balance my tea buzz with red wine and lots of cheese at a party afterwards.

I missed the homestyle Japanese dinner with my Mom's visit over Thanksgiving. I more than made up for it by cooking a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time my Mom has been in Montreal since landing in Montreal when she emigrated from Germany 48 years ago almost to the day. While she was in Montreal, I showed her Old Montreal, Atwater Market, Jean Talon Market and a bit of the shopping in the Underground City. We had gorgeous sunny weather - a perfect time to visit here. I love Fall in this corner of the country.

Summer?

It feels like we're living in the tropics. Almost every day starts out sunny and then winds up raining in the afternoon or evening. Despite the wet weather, I still managed to have some summer fun in Montreal. I can't believe September is around the corner already.

I was too busy with moving to get tickets to one of the Just for Laughs shows. I did manage to walk through the street festival in the Latin Quarter one evening. It was pretty cool. There were people on stilts, giant insects (picture above), bands, living statues, someone creating a sand sculpture, giant balloons, acrobatic street performers... the list goes on.

Fireworks are a big part of Montreal in the summer with the international fireworks competition. In total, I saw three shows - one from Terrasses Bonsecours in Old Montreal, one from the fire escape of my building and one, which was by far the best, from La Ronde, where the fireworks are set off. The picture above is from the last show. China put on a spectacular display! It is definitely worth the ticket price to see the show from La Ronde. Speaking of La Ronde, I am completely convinced that it is guaranteed to rain whenever I go there. Fortunately, it stopped raining in the evening so we got in a few more rides and could enjoy the fireworks.

Even after selling my car, I still went on a couple of road trips. A group of us from MEETin spent a relaxing Sunday at the Cascades Rawdon. We never go hungry at MEETin events. There was enough food for the BBQ to feed a group almost twice as big. "Swimming" in the rapids was like being in a giant, cold jacuzzi. Fortunately, the threat of rain kept the crowds away, but the rain held off until the drive home. A few weeks later, the xtreme foodies group did a day trip to Vermont where we sampled chocolate, cheeses, tea, and did a pilgrimage to the home of Ben and Jerry's. Since we couldn't bring anything back across the border, we wrapped up the trip with a picnic in a park in the mountains. We're now planning to go back in the fall when the mountains change from green to yellow, red and orange.

The "search of the best" restaurants continued. I enjoyed shark curry at an African-Reunionaise restaurant. We're planning to go back when the weather gets colder, but the event will have an "over-18" advisory because the chocolate cake was very... satisfying. Even the guys got the look that usually only women get with good chocolate. We also sought out the best Thai, Pho, southern BBQ, Old Montreal bistro, and one really good dessert place. We also enjoyed another pastry tasting, courtesy of our group's pastry chef.

Other summer fun included The Tempest at probably the only dry performance of Shakespeare in the Park, a New France ghost hunt in Old Montreal, and a walking tour of my new neighbourhood - Plateau Mont Royal.

In between all the summer activity, I'm slowing getting settled in my new place. An anniversary also came and went, which was marked with a conversation for the first time in six months. It's the start of many conversations. It's a good thing. I'll leave it at that for now.

On the move

It has been another adventure in moving this past month. The previous owners moved out of my condo in mid-June, so I have been spending the past few weeks making it home. I've painted the bedrooms, moved in most of my stuff and I am in the process of getting settled - finally! The move itself went remarkably well, but my new appliances are late, so I'm living without a fridge and stove until next week. Good thing I always plan an overlap when I do local moves, so my refrigerated and frozen food is still living at my old place. I still have some odds and ends to take care of at my old place, so at least my food isn't getting lonely ;) Meanwhile, I'm learning all the good or not-so-good take-out places in my new neighbourhood.


I have also been on the move with various road trips. On my birthday, I drove to Ottawa to order a digital SLR camera as a gift to myself. It was a beautiful summer day and a roadtrip was a great way to spend it. The next weekend, the Extreme Foodie group from MeetIn did a roadtrip to Marieville in the Eastern Townships for the Slow Food Festival, followed by wine tasting... somewhere around there. The Slow Food Festival featured a variety of locally produced food, mostly organic. The week after was the St. Jean-Baptiste long weekend, so I drove to Ottawa to pick up my new toy, then to Stouffville to visit friends, then to Whitby for a pig roast and hot tub party. Men in a mid-life crisis really should avoid the alcohol and hot tub combination. I was merely an observer, but it was like watching a train wreck. The next morning I drove with a friend to Kitchener to hang out there for the weekend. We decided to try out my new camera in Stratford - the most photogenic town in the area and one of my personal favourites. I drove back to Montreal the next day. At least I'm putting the kilometres on my car before I sell it this weekend. A blog exclusive picture from Stratford is above.

I'm still maintaining my local social life, though at a slower pace. To add to the list of MeetIn dinners, we experienced the best of Malaysian, Northern Indian, Persian, and Italian. We also went to see U2 3D at the Imax, followed by a late dinner in Chinatown. For an event of a different pace, we also had a strawberry picking event in the West Island. One of the best things about summer are strawberries that are red all the way through the fruit. For a 40th birthday party from the Alumni crowd, I experienced a very trendy Greek restaurant. It seemed like the place to be that night. Speaking of the Alumni crowd, we held our first Alumni award dinner in five years -- a cocktail dinatoire at the McCord Museum. Everyone had a great time and I got to wear "the perfect dress". At work, the movie night in June was to see Kung Fu Panda. Ever since I started working in the game industry, I can't watch 3D animated films the same way. Every once in awhile I caught myself looking at the art and wondering what techniques were used to create it. I do have an increased appreciation, though, of what goes into those movies. OK, so maybe it would have been better to say my social life was at a slowing pace. The rest of July and August will be slower.


Summer is festival season in Montreal. I enjoyed bits and pieces of the Jazz festival on my way home from work every night, since the festival was literally next door. I tried to attend the big Bran Van 3000 street party after a quick MeetIn dinner at a cafe in the Gay Village (yes, that's what it's called). According to the Gazette the next morning, there were 100,000 people crammed in the street between Place des Arts and Complexe Desjardins. After spending the whole day painting, my tolerance for crowds was at an all-time low so I felt like toothpaste in a tightly squeezed tube. I tried to find a better spot with no luck, so I went home... where I promptly fell asleep. Just For Laughs is on right now. I plan on going to see the street performances in the Latin Quarter tomorrow night. I have been too swamped with moving to get tickets to one of the shows. Next year...