Back to Montreal

When I think about those nights in Montreal...

That's the opening line of Montreal native Gino Vannelli's hit song "I Just Wanna Stop", a sort of schmaltzy love song that hit No. 1 on the Canadian Billboard charts and No. 4 in the American Billboard charts in 1978.  (Although this version of the song performed by Vannelli is rather soulful and jazzy.)  I had to go to Montreal for meetings and a trade show recently and the whole time I was there I couldn't get the opening line of Vannelli's song out of my head.  

It's probably because I like Montreal so much.  

I first came to Montreal in 2002 for a job interview and I was hired on site.  I loved working for the company with people who became a second family to me.  That all sort of came to an end when the owner retired and sold the company to a French company that was the owner of our two biggest lines that we distributed.  I hung on with the new company for another 2.5 years before getting unceremoniously terminated in September of 2021.  That started me on a circuitous route of starts and stops and starts with jobs for the next year.  

Now working for a German company as their North American sales manager, it turns out that our warehouse is just outside Montreal - run by former colleagues of my old company!  Our product manager for the North American operation was a colleague with my old company.  Former colleagues have also given me advice in various areas.  It's almost like it was getting the old team back together!

So, I was certainly excited to get back to Montreal - a place I hadn't been to in four years or just months before the pandemic hit in March of 2020 when the world shut down - to see many of my former colleagues who have pretty much all moved on to other endeavors in life.  Plus - with my new job - I was able to get out and around to see accounts, all of whom were beyond excited to meet me.  (Montreal people are all so wholesomely friendly, almost embarrassing me at times with their gratitude with me stopping in to introduce myself to them.)  

To get around Montreal, I had a Tesla Model 3 that I rented from Hertz.  Actually, I had requested a mid-size sedan and was expecting a Volkswagen sedan.  However, when I went to the Hertz counter at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, the lady said that they had a Tesla Model 3 available and wanted to know if I wanted that.  I asked if there was an upcharge and she said, no, but if it was less than 70% on the charge when I brought it back, it would be a $35 fee.  (About $25 bucks USD.)  I thought, "What the hell?"  Sure!  I'll give it a spin around Montreal.  

From the start, I was completely lost as to how Tesla's work.  First of all, it took me about 20 minutes of futzing around to figure out how to even OPEN THE DOORS!  Then once I got inside the car, it took me another 15 minutes to figure out how to even START THE CAR!  With a little help from Google, I was able to get going a half hour later than I would have had I got the Volkswagen sedan.  

I've always heard Tesla's had some torque and once I got on the freeway headed toward downtown Montreal I gave the accelerator pedal a little nudge.  It went from 50 kmh to 120 kmh (30 mph to 75 mph) as quick as a hiccup.  Once I realized that the speed limit was 100 kmh (62 mph), I took my foot off the accelerator.  The car instantly backed down.  I was like, "Wow!  This thing is so responsive!"  

It was a fun car to tool around in, but the biggest problem was that I couldn't lock the doors.  Google answers and YouTube videos were available for an idiot like me, but everything I did to try and lock the doors were fruitless.  I had to take everything out of the car when I had it in the parking garage leaving the doors unlocked and hoping that some vagrant wouldn't be found sleeping in the back seat when I went out to get the car in the morning.  

(When I took it back to Hertz before I flew back home, one of the guys asked me if I had any problems.  "Yeah," I said.  "I couldn't lock the doors."  

One of the receiving guys asked if the key card was in the car.  It was.  He pulled the card out, ran it down the pillar between the driver's side window and the driver's side back window and the car immediately locked.  I told him that I had tried that - and I had, numerous times.  He had that Quebecois shit-eating-grin on his face that I've seen many times before that basically screamed, "Stupid American!")

I picked up my German colleague at the airport the next afternoon and he was sort of stunned to see me driving a Tesla 3.  "Wow, I hope that was a free upgrade," knowing that I would be presenting him the bill sometime in the near future.  I told him that it was supposedly the same price as a Volkswagen sedan.  He said, "This is better than a Volkswagen.  I'm from Germany - I can ride in a Volkswagen sedan anytime I want."

The other thing about the Tesla Model 3 - since most of the controls and information is on the large touch pad on the middle of the dash, I literally had to go back to the trunk to get into my backpack to get my reading glasses because I couldn't read the control panel.  It's the first time I've ever had to use reading glasses while driving a car.

Late March weather in Montreal can be a mixed bag and we certainly had it during my visit.  Cool temps, steady rain, warm sun, heavy snow, freezing rain - it was all over the place in regard to weather conditions.  I could tell that many of the denizens of Montreal were over the winter and waiting for the day they could open up the numerous private swimming pools that blanket the city.  

Once again, I stayed at the Hotel Bonaventure, a hotel on the top two floors for the 12-story Place Bonaventure in downtown Montreal.  The architecture of Place Bonaventure is categorized as "brutalism", a style that began in Great Britain and its then-colony nations in the 1950's and extended into the early 1970's where architects used a lot of rough concrete aesthetics in their design.  The baffles along the walls of Place Bonaventure are starting to show their age by crumbling, but the rooms are still nice and up-to-date.

For a number of years, Hotel Bonaventure was a Hilton property - which would have suited me fine and dandy since I'm a Lifetime Hilton Honors member.  But it's now just an independent property and I haven't been able to cash in on Hilton Honors points during my five or six stays I've had at the hotel.  As I learned long ago, it's all about the points (or miles) when you travel for a living.  

Still, the hotel is pretty cool.  It features a roof-top indoor/outdoor swimming pool that allows swimmers to swim through a small tunnel under the lobby of the hotel.  The steam rising from the water, especially when there's a snowstorm going on, looks inviting.  A hot tub is also next to the pool and there was a sauna, but I don't know if it was working on this visit.

Hotel Bonaventure also has a handful of outdoor areas that feature babbling brooks, trees, bushes and little ponds.  Each time I have stayed at Hotel Bonaventure, my room usually looked out into these little courtyards.  However, this time I got a room with a view of the city looking out toward the St. Lawrence River and the new Champlain Bridge which is lit up at night. 

Every time I come to Montreal, I'm reminded of how much of a booming, yet somewhat gritty city it is.  There is always some sort of construction going on wherever you go - road construction, building construction, additions, demolitions - it's a progressive city that has a European charm to it, but isn't as charming as Paris or London.  Still the people are so nice and are accommodating to a non-Quebecois dolt such as I.  

My German colleague was keen on visiting the Montreal Underground City - basically a labyrinth of connected passageways under the central part of the city.  We spent an hour walking through the hallways that are filled with shops and restaurants.  We had a map, but it was tough to decipher because it also showed the ground-level streets on the map and it was sometimes difficult to tell what was a street and what was a passageway.  Even some of the signage in the Montreal Underground was confusing - and not because it was in French.  We doubled back after running into a dead end probably three or four times.  After awhile, we decided to head back up to street level, and when we walked outside I discovered that we were basically a block and a half from the hotel.  We thought we were going to have to take an Uber back to the hotel.  

One of the reasons we were in Montreal was to attend the Salon Audio de Montreal - the Montreal Audiofest.  A friend of mine - and a former colleague at my old company - and his wife are directors of the annual audio show that has been going on for 34 years.  COVID protocols either shut down or limited participation in the show over the past 3 years.  This was my first visit to the show and people actually seemed to feel like they were past worrying about getting hit with the coronavirus.  (Although my German colleague came down with COVID a couple days after he got home.  Me?  I was fine.) 

A number of companies were on hand to show equipment and I was told the crowds were some of the best they've ever had.  I ran into a number of friends and former colleagues who were at the show.  It really felt good to be able to get out and hang with people in my industry once again.

One of the more popular places was the studio exhibition where attendees were treated to live music that was mixed and recorded, then played back to the crowd.  My colleague, Stephan - our current product manager for North America - was in charge of the room as he is both a musician and a studio engineer.  Below left is Stef's band playing with a harpist.  And his wife is the keyboard player/singer in the group.  This session was recorded by a friend and former colleague who still works for my old company.  

My colleague also put on a Dolby Atmos immersive-sound demonstration with the 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's classic album "Dark Side of the Moon" that was remastered in 9 channel surround, 1 bass channel, and 4 over-head channels.  Three or four times a day, he'd put on the remastered version and allow attendees to immerse themselves in the panoramic sounds of the music and effects.  I sat through the album at least two times and part of the time two other times.  It was a fun experience.  

One of the treats for the show was the gala banquet that was held on Saturday night.  The theme was a traditional Quebecois "Sugar Shack", a springtime ritual that is usually conducted in the maple tree forests of Quebec when the maple sap water begins to flow and it's boiled down - 90% by volume - into real maple syrup.  I'm going to have a separate entry on that because it was pretty interesting - and so much food!

And one other reason we went to Montreal was to visit our warehouse - which, as I said, just happens to be owned and run by a couple of my former colleagues from my old company.  And the warehouse is literally two blocks from the headquarters and warehouse of my old company.  It was rather surreal to drive out to Repentigny, north and east of Montreal, to go visit the warehouse.  It had been a number of years - I think it was probably over six years - since I was last out there.  A lot of good memories came back when we drove out.  

And the highlight of the trip was to see my old friend Moby.  Moby is the dog of my former colleague who runs the warehouse for us.  Moby was a rescue dog and was a fixture around my old company's office  That is, until my old boss sold the firm to a French company and they brought in a lot of fun-haters to run the operation and Moby was eventually banished from the premises.  A lot of my former colleagues who no longer work for my old company point to the day Moby was banished from the office as the day the world changed.  There wasn't the family feel or cameraderie amongst the staff after that.  Moby has grown old - he's 14 now - and I'm sure he didn't remember who I was.  But he would always be happy to see me when I would be in the office all those years ago as I would talk to him in doggie French - "Le woof!  Le bow wow!  Le ruff!"  Moby and I shared a moment of rekindling an old friendship before I had to get into meetings and touring the warehouse.  

It was great to get back to Montreal.  Even as coarse and unpolished the city may be for various reasons, there's a certain charm to the city that always makes me feel good.  It was a wonderful visit sharing some good meals with old friends and catching up with many who I haven't seen in years.  Look for some more entires on my return trip to Montreal in the coming weeks.