More of the Montreal Festivities

We made our way into Ottawa on Sunday, the day after Canada Day. Couldn't come all this way and not check out the capitol of Canada. The government buildings have a lot of character. the rest of the buildings in the surrounding area tend to be newer, in age as well as architectural style. It kind of work. It is an impressive area. One block away has been converted into a pedestrian mall with kiosks and vending stands in the middle of what was the street at one time. All kinds of people walking about. Left over from the Canada Day celebration the previous day? Or just coming in after, like us, to see the clean up afterwards. We stopped at Tim Hortons (kind of like a cross between a Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts with bagels and sandwichs. We got a window seat and watched the people walking by. Quite a show.

It only took a couple of hours to get to Chateau des Caribiou (H & B's house in Beaconsfield, outside Montreal). We were greeted by H, Mark A and the dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, part Australian sheepdog and "who done it?" We spent the afternoon catching up, enjoying the treats and drinks on the patio next to their pool. J, Mark B & S, Alex and the twins, M & J drifted in over the rest of the afternoon. Bo even called to say he wished they were here too and add some of his energy to the gathering. H had brats simmering all afternoon. It didn't take long on the grill for an excellent dinner.

We went to the Montreal Jazz Festival that evening. They closed off five or six blocks in downtown Montreal with a main stage at one end and smaller stages at the side streets. We scoped out the scene, took in some jazz by the Phantom Power Combo Deluxe. A horn player backed up by a bass, drums and keyboards. Nice. We caught the act on the main stage too: Spectacle Suprise, and Australian group with a heavy latin influence. A good live show that ended some time after midnight.

Monday we checked out an antique shop and some of the waterfront area on one of the islands that make up this area. Old buildings, very close together, narrow streets lots of foot traffic on the sidewalks. a nice feel, kind of artsy. But I couldn't help thinking what it would look like under several snow storms in the middle of January.

The twins demonstrated thier guitar licks, they both play electric guitar. Harvey play his piano for a while. Jason arrived in early afternoon. He's been with Mesa Airline for a little over a year now, based in Orlando. He loves what hes doing.

The whole crew went to dinner at a small resteraunt called Yoyos. Excellent food. I had some deer, P had one of the specials of the day, halibut with a mint sauce. H had sweetmeats. But then thats just the kind of guy he is. Afterwards we went to a Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead concert. Some of had heard of Christopher O'Riley as a classical pianist. I'd heard of Radiohead, but none of us were familiar with their music. The concert was in a small chapel in "Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur". An excellent concert. We got seats in the third, fourth and fifth rows and were able to see his hands as he played. Impressive.

Tuesday, when we finally got around to motivating ourselves, we aren't as young as we used to be, we met the rest of the gang at the Chateau des Caribiou and proceeded to downtown Montreal for some lunch and browsing through the shops. H took P and I through The Basicila of Notre Dame - Montreal. Absolutely amazing. Very impressive.






A Fine Meal











Rock N Roll!