Friday April 8

Had a wakeup call for 6am, far too early after a late night of dinner and free wine.

We did our duty at the convention until 11 am, then we were free. We had signed up for a 3 hour bus tour of the city. It wasn’t bad but not as much fun as the carriage tour. We did see a lot more of the city and learned a few things. Saw the Olympic stadium and things left over from Expo 67 like Habitat for Humanity also St. Josephs Catherdral. Drove to the top of Mount Royal for a great view of the city.

We got back to the hotel about 5pm , had  a couple of drinks with Stan and Sharron from Nanaimo, then went for dinner with them.

Tomorrow morning I pick up the rental car and we try to find our way out of the city and make our way to Quebec City.

Thursday April 7, 2011

Today was day 1 of the convention. we were served a nice breakfast then spent the day in the meeting room, quite boring.
At 7 pm we have the dinner and gala.
Tomorrow is only a half day of convention then we are going on a bus tour of the city, on to Quebec City on Saturday.
The weather is sunny, temp about 6 C.

Tuesday April 5, 2011

We arrived at Montreal Airport at about 6:30 pm. Happy to see our luggage come down the chute after being sent on from Nanaimo.

Took a taxi to the Hyatt for a flat rate of $38 then got checked in. Not impressed with the hotel, generally shabby but it is undergoing a remodel. The room is fine though.

Wireless internet costs $12 a day in the room but there is free wi-fi in the food court of the attached shopping center so I will try it out.

Stayed up until midnight last night, late for us but Montreal is 3 hours ahead of Nanaimo so it was only 9 for us.

Wednesday April 6, 2011

After coffee and croissant in the food court we took a cab to Old Montreal. The day was clear but cool.

We started at the Basilica of Notre-Dame, built in 1839. We took a short tour and were very impressed with beauty of the church. It has very a high gothic arched ceiling and lots of stained glass windows.

After the tour we walked along Rue St. James and had a nice lunch at a little crepe café. We then continued up the street to the Place de Jacques Cartier where we took an hour long horse drawn carriage tour of the Old City. We were glad for the blankets provided because the wind was cold, we saw a few snow flakes but the sky was mostly clear. The driver was good, providing interesting descriptions of the old buildings. Lots of history here.

Karen fed some carrots to Mimi, the horse.

We took another taxi back to the hotel to rest our feet and get ready for the rest of our group arriving.

Tomorrow is the Telus Ambassadors convention , the reason we are here. It will be a boring day sitting in a meeting room but there is a dinner and awards Gala in the evening.