Anyway, about my trip. I went to Montreal for the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists. I stayed with my friends and lab neighbors Heather and Valentina, and met up most of the week with my friend Aaron from U of I...along with a handful of other random people that were there for the meeting. Heather took care of booking the flights and hotel, and we got an awesome 5 star hotel that was right next to the convention center - sweet! Here it is, the InterContinental.
They had really nice flowers in the lobby all of the time. I was particularly thrilled by these Amaryllis - I have NEVER seen them as a cut flower. Crazy!
Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from Old Montreal, which dates back to some time....like late 1700's or maybe 1800's? Anyway, old. Montreal is on the St. Lawrence River so it has always been an important trading place since it connects the Atlantic with the Great Lakes. Old Montreal is pretty cool....I've never been to Europe but they say that Montreal is as European as it gets being on this continent. I knew they spoke French there, but I was surprised at how much French there was. We certainly went to lots of restaurants with only French on the menu. Ironically, my only problem with communicating with someone was at McDonald's. But anyway, the old part of the city was really cool - all cobblestones and old stone buildings.....all the restaurants with lots of outdoor seating. Really, really neat. Here's just a random picture of street signs with some old stone walls.
This is looking down the street in Old Montreal. Maybe not the best picture but it's always hard to tell seeing the small version when I pick which one to upload. Deal with it.
So Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976. They built this crazy stadium, and of course I don't remember the details, but I think it was by far the most expensive stadium ever built, and it took them more than 20 years to pay it off. It has a retractable roof but it has never really worked right. The Expos played there before they moved to DC, but I think nothing really happens there now.
We got to go to the Jardin Botanique (Botanical Gardens) for free with our conference badge. Heather and I took a quick trip up there. I thought the water lily gardens were really weird - very modern and 60's ish. I noticed a lot of 'newer' things in Montreal seemed like this, I guess because they were built either for the World Expo in 67 or the Olympics in 76?
Japanese Garden
Chinese Garden
Overall the Botanical Gardens there were very nice. But I'm waaaaay spoiled by the one here - it truly is one of the best in the world.Here is a view of the convention center where I spent most of my time. It was built in the early 2000's, and was pretty cool as far as a convention center goes. Love the colorful glass!
Montreal is named such because of Mount Royal - a 'mountain' that is right by the city (or rather that the city has now sprawled around). I 'climbed' (a bunch of stairs....) to this overlook. A beautiful view of the city with the River in the background.
The chalet at the overlook on Mount Royal.
As I mentioned, there was a World Expo in Montreal in 1967 (I guess this is like a world's fair?). They built 2 small islands in the river and had random junk out there, including this thing - called the Biosphere - a geodesic dome which was built by famed crazy man Buckminster Fuller. I didn't make it to the island to see it for real, I could just see it from the port. Still pretty cool.
Another weird Expo 67 thing - called Habitat 67
POUTINE, finally! Apparently Montreal is famous for inventing this dish - french fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds. I waited almost the entire week to finally try this, at a restaurant called Montreal Poutine, no less. Pretty good stuff, but I particularly enjoyed the burger and my Blanche de Chambly (the beer, yum!). I think the tap room now has poutine if I decide I need to clog up my arteries any further....
My roomies for the trip - Valentina and Heather
It was a nice trip. I particularly enjoyed the weather (maybe 80 each day!!! and cool at night!). However, I got back to St. Louis to find that I need a new job - my boss is leaving St. Louis soon for a job in Louisville KY. I have NO IDEA what I am going to do, but I'm sure something will work out. And I've got about 6 months to figure it out, I think (I avoided my boss last week to find out for sure. I promise I'll talk to him tomorrow).
While I was gone, Gus got much better at walking. Here's a couple movies - youtube links again cause Blogspot sucks. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfuOxkt6XCc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-6i4u1-G2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78oX8YR6gQ
