Haven't updated the blog for some time. I went for a few small trips in between, but I was too busy with my house renovation for the past few months that I didn't really has the time and energy to sit down and write blog posts.
I was in Montreal for NIPS 2015 conference from 7 - 12 Dec. The trip was only confirmed about 2 weeks before departure, and I was busy worrying about moving house during that time. I moved into my new house on 4 Dec, and I flew on 5 Dec night. Before the trip, I only had time to worry about buying enough winter clothing and making sure that accommodations and flights are in order. It was my first time traveling to a cold country for winter, so all my winter clothings were new!!
As it was a work trip, there was very limited time for exploring the city. The conference schedule was quite crazy, it usually starts around 9 am and the schedule runs till 11.59 pm including the poster sessions. The lunch breaks were long though, usually 2 hours and sometimes more. Sometimes we use the lunch break for a much needed nap to overcome the 13-hour jet lag, sometimes we explore the region a bit. Below is a summary of the places we explored during the breaks.
Mont Royal, McGill University
We took a lunch time hike up Mont Royal. That was when we found out Montreal downtown is very small. It took us just slightly over an hour to walk from our conference place at Palais de Congrès, past McGill University, up the observatory chalet at Mont Royal (190 m high) and back down. We were walking very fast though, at a slightly uncomfortable pace for me.
It was an easy hike up to the observatory deck, because it's just climbing stairs all the way. At the observatory chalet (190 m), you get a nice city view of Montreal. The summit is just another 30 m higher but the horizontal distance was far, and I think there's no view at the summit, so we didn't summit. People say that if you are just going to visit one place in Montreal you should come here. That's not a bad advice, considering that you can see most of Montreal downtown from here. You can even see the Jacques-Cartier bridge at the far left too.
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| Panorama view from Chalet du Mont Royal |
Following the work trip in Montreal, I extended the trip for 4 days for personal travel. I would love to stay longer, but I have already planned for a house warming party for my new house before I knew about the trip.
