The Coffee House

[smoke665]

Hopefully, it was just a 24 hour bug, but Gary will walk her through a different park today, one with a lake but no creek for her to run through.

Hope Ms Maggie gets over the bug quickly. Unfortunately they sometimes eat things they shouldn't.

 

[Gary A.]

Her eye isn't 100%, but it is much much better. She is acting more like herself today and she is eating her breakfast of banana, yogurt and egg.

 

[SquarePeg]

Scary! Looks like a lot of destruction in Wilkes Barre downtown area but no fatalities? Some good news at least. I was reading that had it been a few hours earlier there would have been a lot more people in that area and things could have been a lot worse!

Sounds like Maggie is on the mend. My fur baby has been a bit down lately. He's feeling a little neglected that I've been out of the house without him much more than usual. We've had a busy softball season and I can't take him to the games when I'm coaching. Our rec season is still going on as the team has made the championship round! We have one loss and our opponent has none. We'll need to beat them tonight and again on Saturday to win the championship. While I'm enjoying myself, and of course want to see the girls win out, I'm ready for it to be over!!!! My house and yard are even more neglected than the dog and I haven't been out with my camera in weeks. We've been living on take out and snacks for the past 2 months which has completely stalled my weight loss. Looking forward to some down time.

 

[JonA_CT]

I’m sitting at Six Flags grading papers and writing report card comments.

 

[davidharmier60]

Four and a quarter hours and a few minutes today. 19.12 for the week.
Happy there were no fatalities in Wilkes Barre!
Getting hotter and more humid each day.
Nothing else to report.

 

[smoke665]

Not that I really want to go out, because it is hotter than Hades, but it's the thought that we can't for a bit. Had the driveway coated this morning, and will be this evening before we can drive on it!

 

[vintagesnaps]

Hadn't heard about WBS, glad it wasn't worse than it was.

Charlie I didn't often go up toward campus (since the days of my youth!). High St. has changed so much over the years some of it was almost unrecognizable last time I was there. Campus is nice. If you go south on High St. eventually you'll get to Short North w/shops & restaurants, then where you turn to go into the North Market, and Nationwide Arena District. You could look up any of those 3 to find out what's going on this summer.

Nationwide usually has had their pro shop open in the summer (in the front courtyard area) and the practice rink in the back usually has something going on (if you want to get out of the hot and go in someplace nice and cold!). Of course I'm so diehard that I'd watch anybody skating and whacking pucks at anything.

Maybe if you wear something scarlet and gray Uber will be sure to pick you up!

 

[snowbear138 69]

I’ll check it out. I’m probably not going to have a lot of time, but it’s worth checking out.

 

[limr49 2]

C'est BONJOUR! Hi! Much as the francophone nationalists try to pretend that Montreal is a french-only city, the reality is that pretty much everyone here is at least bilingual, and usually tri-lingual or better. We're in an apparently perpetual rebuild of the major arteries of the city, and we celebrate the fact with our Orange Cone festival, which are creatively installed at all street corners where you actually want to get somewhere. As well, our well-known citizen Almonde Barré has a lot of streets named after him, as in Rue Barré. But that's for the car-using folk. For those with good leg muscles, you can walk, jog, run, sprint, or bike pretty much anywhere. Let me know if you want a rundown of the mandatory tourist traps to see/avoid, and the places which will play nice with your camera (assuming you are bringing it). If you reddit, the montreal subreddit has decent information.

I was in Montreal...wow, I guess it was almost exactly 13 years ago. It was our first trip together, Buzz and I. And yes, I remember that it was a non-issue to speak English.

I would gladly take recommendations for things off the beaten path, if you are willing to give up the intel We'll be on foot, though we are not averse to taking public transportation. As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?

 

[SquarePeg]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

 

[terri55 1]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

Aww....that's a heartbreaker! Sounds like they gave them a great fight. I know that doesn't make it easier, but at least they know they didn't just roll over. So- good job, regardless of the outcome.

 

[Gary A.]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

Oooooooohhhh ... that hurts. Sorry.

 

[pgriz]

As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?

I would hope you bring at least one camera, but Newyawkers can be funny at times, so I'm not going to make assumptions.

What to do and see depends on how much time you've got. Plenty of places that will try to lighten your wallets for you, but that seems to be "normal" for any place that can attract visitors.

If you want to use the public transit system, which is very good, you can buy an Opus card and load it with whatever fare package works for you (from single fares, to 3-day passes, to week passes) at very reasonable prices (eg: $18CDN for 3 days unlimited travel on the system). Info on bus routes, schedules, etc. is found on Société de transport de Montréal

If bicycles appeal to you (and Montreal has a large network of more-or-less coherent bike paths, lanes, etc.), then a 72-hour Bixi pass is $14CDN. Pick the bikes up at any station, return it to any other station, and if your ride was under 30 minutes, then there are no additional charges. Go to Google Maps, center on Montreal, and search for "Bixi".

Areas to explore are (in no particular order):

• the Old Port area
• Ile (island) Ste-Helene (get there by Metro)
• Mont Royal (the "mountain" park in the center of the city) (walk, bike, bus)
• rue St-Denis (bike, bus, Metro)
• Park Extension (bus, Metro)
• Botanical gardens and the Olympic stadium complex (bus, Metro)
• the outdoor markets at Atwater or Jean Talon (both close to Metro stops)
• Montreal food staples (Montreal bagels at either St-Viateur Bagel or Fairmount Bagel; smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli; poutine at Restaurant A.A in St-Henri, or Poutinville in the Gay Village). Greek food is found near Park Ave. or St-Laurent. Thai is well represented (Pamika on Sherbrooke St. East, Bangkok at Le Fabourg).
• If you're around on a Sunday, head up to the Monument to Sir George-Etienne Cartier (Park Avenue) for Tam-Tam (pickup drumming, 10am-ish to whenever the energy dies) which can be great, and can be meh.
• If museums are your thing, there's Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke, McCord museum, also on Sherbrooke.
• For people watching there's Place Jacques Cartier (Old Montreal), which is touristy, but can be interesting, the boardwalk along the Old Port, the lookout on Mount Royal (Chalet de Mont Royal), McGill College (nice view towards mountain from the patio at Place Ville Marie)
• If you like beer, there's a ton of small and micro craft breweries, with beer brewed on the premises. Le Saint Bock on St-Denis has a massive beer list. Plenty of others in the downtown area and pretty much everywhere.
• If you need photo supplies, there's Photo Service on Notre Dame in Old Montreal, Lozeau on St-Hubert, and lots of places near downtown and the Old Port area.
• Saturday nights are fireworks from the Internation Firework Competition held at La Ronde (Ile Ste-Helene). Jacques Cartier bridge (overlooking the fireworks area) is shut down to auto traffic from about 8pm to midnight.

And of course, if you're interested in meeting, we could arrange a dinner and tour.

 

[JonA_CT]

I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.

The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.

Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.

 

[SquarePeg]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

Aww....that's a heartbreaker! Sounds like they gave them a great fight. I know that doesn't make it easier, but at least they know they didn't just roll over. So- good job, regardless of the outcome.

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

Oooooooohhhh ... that hurts. Sorry.

Thanks guys! That should have read 2 outs... was a fun season with a great group of girls. Ready to have my free time and the trunk of my car back!