Josh Play Gay motss.con.xxxi (Montréal, QC)

The following is my motss.con.xxxi con report, or my experiences of the 31st soc.motss.con (held Aug 2–6 in Montréal, QC and its environs). If you don't like such things, feel free to not read it. It won't bother me. Much.

Thursday, August 2

Travel day. I was up in time to leave the house by 4am (ugh) to get to the airport, park in the cheap structure, take the interterminal shuttle to my departure terminal, get through security, and get to the gate. We were the first flight out from the gate, so it was comforting to see a plane there when I got there (even if the jet bridge wasn't connected). Boarding was uneventful; the flight technically departed early and arrived early, and other than a little turbulence as we crossed a storm system and some turbulence as we approached Montréal proper it was smooth.

After a long long hike to border control I got through the kiosk process and to baggage claim where I just missed being able to grab my bag before it rolled back out of sight on the conveyor. Eventually got my bag, cleared the final bit of Customs, and bought a day pass for the Metro. Grabbed the next (9:30am) 747 express bus heading downtown and got to the hotel around 10:30am. They had a room available so I was able to drop my stuff and unpack before heading to a nearby Lebanese place, Shawarma Habibi, for a felafel sandwich and roasted potatoes with a large dollop of toum (the dairy-free garlic spread). I grabbed a power nap at the hotel before everybody started assembling in the hotel lobby.

My group of five went to Europea for the 8pm foodie dinner by way of the Berri-UQAM Metro station. After some confusion in getting tickets (and getting the just-purchased one to let its owner through the turnstiles) we caught the train and got to the restaurant to meet our sixth. We all wound up getting the signature tasting menu. Technically it was the 10-course meal, but when you include all the amuses, intermezzi, and the individual mignardises as their own courses it was closer to 22:

For the four of us who got the Elegance wine courses, the Italian pinot grigio went with the first intermezzo and courses 2 and 3; the French guillac (?) with the foie gras (course 4); the Provençal bandol (?) with the halibut (course 5); the Chateauneuf du Pâpe with the veal and cheese (courses 6–7); and Italian prosecco with the desserts (course 8 et seq.).

We were seated and dining (and conversing) for about 3.5 hours. After we left around 11:30pm we headed back to the Metro stop and thence the hotel, where we all went to our respective beds for much-needed sleep.

Friday, August 3

Everyone blew off the original morning plans to walk around Vieux-Montréal and the Old Port and instead met in the lobby to walk to the pier for the 11a boat ride. decent tour guide, speaking everything in French then English, as we toured the Saint Lawrence river around Old Port. As it turns out all 14 of us here so far — Arthur, Bitty, Chris, Chuk, David, Dennis, Éamonn, Jimmy, John, Leith, Nancy, Randy, Robert, and me — wound up on the boat after all. And Season joined us as we got off the boat so we could get some group photos taken. We then headed off to lunch, where we split into two groups: My group of five wound up at a pub (and I got a smoked meat sandwich and fries), and the other group of ten went to the creperie.

We split up from there to wander around the area and shop, meeting back up at the basilica at 2:30pm. Most adjourned to shop in the indoor (air conditioned!) mall, but my leg was acting up so I went back to the hotel to pop some drugs and lie flat. I also took the opportunity to rehydrate and to type up the beginnings of this con.report.

At 7pm the fifteen of us met up in the lobby to walk the 6 blocks to Mikado St. Denis for sushi. I wound up getting the sushi deluxe, which is a combination of 17 pieces, including nigiri (octopus, salmon, shrimp, snapper, tuna, and yellowtail), hand-rolls (including scallops), a slice of four different maki (including a California roll and what seemed to be a Philadelphia roll), plus a spicy salmon roll and a spicy tuna roll. It was very tasty.

I wasn't in the mood to wander around the neighborhood some more so I headed back to the hotel to crash. Noticed the cross-the-hall neighbor's door was still open with their belongings all over the room, so notified the front desk staff... who came upstairs and simply shut the door. Still: Not my circus, not my monkey.

Saturday, August 4

Despite not getting to bed until around midnight I was awake at 4am for a bio-break (at least I'm beginning to rehydrate) and again at 5am for hip and leg pain. I gave up trying to sleep a bit before 6am. Noodled around online and wrote some more of this con.report before the hotel's continental breakfast arrived a bit before 7am. I had a croissant with butter and strawberry jam, a juice box (and my morning drugs plus the muscle relaxant and pain meds), and some tea. Then I shaved and showered.

The day's events began at 9:30am when we met in the lobby to head out to Jardin Gamelin, the park a few blocks from the hotel. We then got to have our own version of bagel wars; Arthur visited both Fairmount Bagel and St-Viateur Bagel, Leith brought the cream cheese, and we got to decide which were better. They were both very tasty and similar, but the concensus seemed to be that St-Viateur was a bit moister.

After second breakfast we headed out to Olympic Park for the Botanical Garden & Insectarium including lunch at Restaurant Jardin Botanique. My leg was acting up so I found a place to sit and hang out while the rest of the group meandered... and then the thunderstorms hit. I was under cover for it, but most of the rest of the party wasn't so lucky. I wound up getting one 5-top inside table, but the others — including Kathryn who finally got here after a whole bunch of travel woes — ate outside at tables with umbrellas. I bailed on the afternoon muesum trip and went back to the hotel to get off my leg again.

The group met up again in the lobby at 6pm to go to dinner. We all wound up going to Arapera du Plateau for Venezuelan food (most people walked it; I cabbed it with the Burlinghams). I wound up getting the chorizo plate with rice, black beans, plantains, and what was called feta cheese but tasted more like queso blanco. After that we walked about halfway back to the hotel and stopped at Juliette & Chocolat for dessert, where I had the sundae: A scoop of vanilla ice cream, strawberries, bananas, brownie bites, with hot chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and chocolate crunchies. Yum... and more than half the cost of dinner.

After we got the (very busy) staff to get us our bills we finished the walk back to the hotel, hung out a bit in the lobby, then went to our respective beds to crash.

Sunday, August 5

I gave up trying to sleep around 6am. Did my PT stretches, caught up (fsvo) on social media, and wrote more trip report before the hotel's continental breakfast arrived a little before 7am. (I also managed to pay a credit card bill and balance my checkbook.) A quick shower and I was as ready to face the day as I was going to get.

At 10am the group met in the hotel lobby to walk off to dim sum at Kim Fung. I didn't keep track of what exactly we got, but we got a lot. At our table we had barbecue pork buns, crab balls, gai lan (chinese broccoli), garlic pork dumplings, potstickers (gyoza), rice noodle with beef, rice noodle with pork, 2 kinds of shrimp dumplings, spare ribs, sticky rice balls, sticky rice in lotus leaf, tarot dumplings, and turnip cake. We escaped (with an overtip for convenience) at $25 a person, which was more than reasonable for the amount of food we got.

After lunch we effectively split into 4 groups: Dennis went to do his own thing, one group (incuding me) returned to the Gay Village for shopping, another went to the art museum, and a fourth went to Mont Royal by bus instead of on foot because it was way too hot and humid. Managed not to buy anything (though I concede there was some stuff I wouldn't've minded renting, as it were).

We met at 5pm in the lobby for an early dinner at Poutineville. I wound up getting a build-your-own based on the traditional — their hand-crushed potatoes, regular poutine gravy, and cheese curds — with the addition of smoked meat and sautéed onions. Delicious. I should probably have done without the hike there, back, or both, since both hips and legs were very much unhappy with me. I popped my evening drugs with added muscle relaxant and naproxen as soon as I got back to the hotel, and after saying goodbye to Season who had to drive back to Vermont I went upstairs to lie down for a bit.

After letting my back recover a bit, I did the traditional pre-packing of the suitcase: Leaving out what I need for the morning (clothing, CPAP, electrics and electronics, morning meds, and toiletries) I can still get 90% of the work done tonight to not have to stress about it later.

Monday, August 6

Slept okay-ish. Went to bed early (but left the light on because my roomie went out for karaoke), had bio breaks at 3:20am and 5:45am before giving up and getting up around 6am. Breakfast arrived a bit before 7am — and today it was on a cart outside the room, as if the attendant took another tray around the corner. Had my croissant, juice, and tea; showered; and finished packing in time to meet the stragglers in the lobby at 8:45am to head off to Cora for breakfast.

They were able to put us together in a row, effectively in two adjoining 6-tops. I wound up getting 2 eggs (scrambled) with potatoes and toast plus a side of bacon; it came with substantial slices of watermelon and canteloupe. That was enough food to be comfortably full; adding Éamonn's leftover bacon finished me off.

After goodbye hugs outside the restaurant I headed back to the hotel to grab my stuff and check out. I managed to catch a 747 express bus to the airport a few blocks away (and it took about an hour, as expected). Wandered around trying to find the Delta counter to check in, drop my bag, clear through whatever Customs is called now, get through Security, and wander through the C concourse. I wound up having a late lunch of a Caesar salad (theirs comes with bacon!) before heading to my gate to recharge the electronics and, eventually, board.

The flight itself was mostly uneventful with a little mild turbulence but nothing major. The flight attendants were very very chipper (it was their first flight of the day, apparently), and the one working my cabin managed to talk me into a third kalimotxo. Our aircraft was late inbound to Montréal, so we left about 17 minutes late. Thanks to weather — thunderstorms around Detroit and Toronto — we got routed further north and still had a substantial holding pattern outside Detroit, then once we landed and taxiied to the gate we had to wait until the ramp reopened. We arrived just over an hour late. I still managed to get to Baggage Claim before my bag did, but I got the bag, stuffed the CPAP in it (so now I'm dragging just 2, not 3, bags around), got upstairs to go downstairs to catch the shuttle to the other terminal's cheaper parking deck, went up (to the bridge on 4) to cross over to the structure then back down (to 3) to get to my car, and managed to get home — with a take-out stop at Wendy's for a chicken sandwich — by 9:30pm. I unpacked the must-haves (CPAP, drugs, and toiletries), reset the thermostat from 80F to 72F, took a cold shower, and went to bed.

Last update Mar29/23 by Josh Simon (<jss@clock.org>).