Manhattan

My time so far in Montreal has been well-spent - I was able to meet some old Legion buddies, some family and other friends. I also took advantage of my jet lag to work on eradicating a nasty malware called "Error Safe" from my mother's pc, which filled up all those empty hours in the middle of the night.

Most of the folks I wanted to see are right here in Montreal, but one friend I couldn't miss is actually in New Jersey (I think). So - we've decided to meet in New York City to catch up on old times (mostly, our early days in Japan). Cheryl has visited me and my mother in Montreal a few times, so now my mother and I are packing for a few days in New York City, where we'll spend three nights in Manhattan.

We're taking the Amtrak Adirondack route, which is supposed to be a lovely, scenic train ride that passes some of the nicest places on the way to Penn station. Once we arrive, it will be a non-stop few days painting the town red!

Bernicky with Ribs on the side

I've been in Montreal for less than 48 hours, but I've already had a chance to catch up with lots of folks, including Denis (a.k.a. Bernicky).

We met for dinner last night at Scores restaurant in Dorval (about 20 minutes west of Montreal proper), and we had a chance to actually talk face-to-face while I remained amazed at how much his kids had grown. I'm actually frightened now to meet my own niece and nephew in a few days...

Bernicky in fine form:


My trip so far has been a gustatory extravaganza, so dinner at Scores restaurant last night was no different - chicken tenders (?) and a small rack of melt-in-your mouth ribs (once again, I am thankful that I never took up that whole trendy vegetarian thing!).

Poutine

I landed safely in Montreal last night, before 5 p.m. local time.

As I was driving my rental car along highway 20 toward Montreal Centre-Ville, and reminding myself, for the sake of all that is holy, to stay on the right-hand side of the road, I was also daydreaming of my first poutine in 3 years.

Poutine is, roughly, french fries with cheese and gravy; it's very famous in Quebec, and no other place can quite manage the same delicious quality of a true poutine, which must be made with only the best old potatoes and fresh cheese. To read the whole poutine story, read this wikipedia article.

Luckily, good poutine is easy to come by in Montreal, and shortly after arriving at my mother's place we ordered out for poutine - and it was great!

My "heart-attack-waiting-to-happen" dinner:

Have Blog, Will Travel

Or is it: Have Travel, Will Blog?

Either way - I'm off to Montreal today, flying out in a few hours. I'll try to blog while on the road, and hopefully Brian will create a few posts from Japan, too!

High-Speed Route at the Route Inn

I am working out of town for the next few days and spending tonight at a business hotel.

Outside, the night air is dark and cold; I hear the wind blowing outside my window, and rain pelting against the glass, sounding bereft.

And yet - I am warm and dry and totally connected with high-speed internet access! Woo hoo!

I am staying at a Route Inn, which is a good chain business hotel in Japan. There weren't any Route Inns when I first came here, and I am so glad that they're thriving now. They offer small but new and clean rooms, each of which has a small fridge, a TV, hot-water kettle, and more recently, high-speed internet access. Most Route Inn hotels have a large public bath (a mens' and a womens'), which is a very rare luxury in an affordable business hotel. Of course, there is also a shower in the room for the more modest users. You can visit their homepage here (Japanese only):

http://www.route-inn.co.jp/

I know having high-speed access is normal - but I remember not so very long ago NOT having such convenience. The world really IS my oyster!

Loreena McKennitt's New CD!

Wow - after several years of silence (about 7 years, I think, and following a personal tragedy), Loreena McKennitt, one of my favourite musical artists, has released a new album - An Ancient Muse.

Her ethereal voice and magical lyrics are enthralling - if you're into all that. More info on her newest release can be found here:

Loreena's Official Site

Xmas Reading

Thank you, diligent readers, for your astute suggestions. In fact, Herriot and Kipling are just the type of cozy stories I'm in the mood for. I've read a few of Kipling's (naturally, Kim being at the top of the list), and have watched about every episode of All Creatures Great And Small on PBS back in Canada. (a little aside here - PBS has some of the best quality programming ever and one of the few things I've ever donated money too).

I'm off to Amazon.co.jp to pick up a few books for the holidays!

Holiday Reading Recommendations??

I know it seems early, but I'm already preparing for the winter holidays - and I am fresh out of books and ideas for books to read on the planes, trains and sofas I'll be riding for a few weeks.

If anyone has any suggestions, or wants to share a list of favourite books, I would be delighted. In the meantime, I'm going to order a new copy of The Fountainhead (my current copy was too-well thumbed to be readable anymore) to get me started.

Chilly Ride

All work and no play - we all know the saying...so I've made sure to build some play into my schedule.

Though I had to put in a few hours at the office today (Saturday), I made sure to get out for a ride this morning. Brian joined me on our non-epic 40-minute journey up to Senpuku Gaoka and back down. It was good to feel the crisp winter-like air frosting our cheeks and to see the shimobashiriri (frost) grazing the fields.

Before long I'll be wearing winter gloves on my pre-dawn rides - but the fact that I actually can ride in relative warmth before 6 a.m is pretty awesome!

Homecoming

December is here already!

In preparation for a winter vacation, I am currently making travel plans to head back to Montreal later this month. This will be a solo trip – Brian has to work, and he also loathes Montreal in the winter. I think he’s happy about being left behind on this trip, and I’m looking forward to some quality time with my mother and some of my good friends (I’ll certainly be catching up with Denis, of www.bernicky.com fame, and even spending a few days in New York City with Cheryl (of um...no fame)).

Maturation is a funny thing. When I fled Montreal and Canada, I wanted little connection to it. And now - I don't know where home is. When I was talking to some friends here about my plans, I said I’d be home shortly after Christmas. The response was, “Oh, you’re not going to spend Christmas in Canada?”. Well, I am going to spend Christmas in Canada, and what I meant by home was, of course, here with Brian. So I suppose that I have now learned that home is not a place anymore -home is people.

This is a good thing - wherever we go, we'll be home!