Mont Tremblant in a sunny Sunday

Today, the weather was exceptionally beautiful and a perfect weather for skiing. One of the things that is very noticable is the friendliness of service that one gets here in Mont Tremblant. People smile even if every place is overly crowded. Today, I had to fight to get my parking spot.... That has to be fixed here in Mont Tremblant.

Our hotel Wyndham Cap Tremblant - very nice choice

We reserved our hotel cia an agent without really knowing where we were going to end with. The whole hill is operated with huge Wyndham condominiums (http://www.wyndhamcaptremblant.com) and our one room with a large livingroom and kitchen was a very pleasant surprise.

I do have to admit that I have made a decision to not use Wyndham anymore as I was very badly treated in Wyndham downtown Chicago during December 2007. Not only did they let me know that I should not have made my reservation through Expedia.com, but they also caused me headache in multiple different ways. I decided that they do not need my business. Hilton, Marriott or Holiday Inn brands are my choices during 2008. I do not have to take any crap from my hotel specifically as I spend half of my life on the road.

Mont Tremblant, Quebec

We spent the first evening visiting the skiing center Mont Tremblant, which is architecturally very nice with lots of shops and restaurants. All of the hotels are by the lifts and I highly recommend the use of these hotels as the parking of your own car is horrifying, if not catastropic. If you get too late to the slopes, you are not going to have a parking space..... I can not understand why they have not figured out a better way.

Our car trip to Tremblant mountain

We rented a car for a few days so we could get to Tremblant for some skiing. This mountain is around 2 hours from Montreal (direction northwest). We took highway 15 and after 45 minutes a pretty scenic road 117 that eventually came back to highway 15 and then we were almost at Tremblant. The weather has been around 0 Centigrades almost every day with some snow and rain as well.

Chinatown in Montreal: you have to explore it

we wanted to chech out an authentic Chinese restaurant in Montreal and the hotel suggested to eat at La Maison Kam Fung (http://www.laimaisonkamfung.com). The cab drive from the hotel to Montreal Chinatown took only a few minutes and we stepped into the restaurant. The sight was good.... Mostly Chinese people which is typically a good sign. We ate, we ate lots and it was one of the best dinners ever in a Chinese restaurant (not counting our Finnish best ever Nanking outside Kalevankatu 27 in Helsinki Finland)

After the dinner, we decided to explore the Chinatown itself and it is very intresting and authentic! The weather was intresting as well as it started snowing pretty heavily.

Shopping at St Catherine during Boxing day

Only 5 minutes from our hotel is St Catherines street that is the main shopping street in Montreal. I found what I needed, which is a local bookstore.and this one even had Starbucks inside.

Montreal is very intresting as a city as it has 36 kilometers of shopping area under the ground and it is almost another city under the real city that you can see.....I am very impressed how they have done it. Also, you can shop until you drop even in bad weather.

Montreal: initial feel for the town

We arrived to Montreal in the late evening, took a cab from the airport to our hotel (45 Canadian dollars) Marriott Chateau. The hotel is located very close to the main shopping street St Catherine so I very much recommend this hotel. Also, very important to me is the gym facilities that a hotel provides and this one has a very good one with lots of different equipment.

Our first aim in the morning was to explore the old town in Montreal. It was easy to find it, but the size of the old town kind of dissapointed us.... We expected it to be larger, but I am sure it is very lively during the summer months.

Morning in Montreal

The city was very quiet in the evening of 25th of December. The American Airlines flight left Dallas around 01.00 PM and with the almost 4 hours flight time and change in time zone made us to land in the dark Montreal. The lights of Montreal was very nice. We are staying in the Marriot Montreal Chateau Champlain. A nice hotel with good service.

Montreal, Canada here we come

This is the first time I get to visit Montreal and Quebec City. My travel this year has been extensive, but this time I am going to enjoy the trip to full extent!

Finally back to Dallas for Christmas

Two very productive weeks behind me, but I am ready for some Christmas time with family. The Chicago O'Hare airport is packed with people getting ready for their holiday.

Back to Chicago icestorm

It was not a long stay in Dallas... I am on my way to Chicago again. Based on the weather news, Chicago has had considerable delays because of icestorms that have been hitting Illinois and other surrounding states.

Chicago was hit with a snowstorm

I am on my way to Dallas again. Chicago was hit with a hard snowstorm last night. This automatically turned into a mess.... Massive delays on the airport, and other related stuff. But, I am on my way tob Dallas now

Winter in Chicago

I am again on the airport. This time I am flying to Chicago for two days (one night). The temperature in Chicago is 23 Farhrenheit (-5 Centigrades).