October 1-3, 1976: A Visit to My Sister's House in Elon, NC
	September 13-16, 1976: A Sales Trip to Seattle
	Return to Index for 1976

I was in Montreal for one class in January, and now here I am back in the old city for another- but the two were connected, in a way.

You may remember that I was here in Montreal in late January to do an IDMS CULPRIT installation for the Canadian National Railway, and you may also remember that during that week one of our hosts helped set up a meeting with another company, Caisse Populaires. Tony and I did that face-to-face, and we must have been persuasive because a few months later Caisse Populaires (a credit union to you and I) actually did license EDP-AUDITOR (and are in talks to license IDMS as well). So this week I have returned to Montreal to do the first class for our new client.

When I flew here in January, I flew on Air Canada with a stop in Toronto. Air Canada flies to Montreal's Dorval airport which is the smaller, closer in of the two airports that serve Montreal.

Steve Goldberg has a different travel option this time. Air France is beginning daily service from Chicago to Paris via Montreal, and Steve has found that the flight is still fairly empty on the Chicago to Montreal leg, and so got me a deal to fly first class for a change for hardly more than the coach fare, so I'll get to see the first class section of a 747 for only the second time.

It was quite an experience, as this flight is going to be one of the airline's "premier" flights, and so the service was excellent. When I arrived at my seat (a very comfortable one, of course), there were a number of complimentary items already in it. There were sleeping masks, a toiletry kit, socks to wear around the cabin, and so on- quite a bit of stuff. The most interesting thing, though, was a box of matchbooks, and each matchbook had the initials "RD" embossed on it in gold lettering! I suppose they make them up in advance, although they might maintain stocks of all possible combinations at their offices. Another difference is if you ask for a deck of cards (I collect them, so I asked for one), I was presented with a boxed set of two decks with the Air France logo of course (not just a single deck as on every other airline.

It was simply a wonderful flight. They did serve a very nice meal, but nothing like the first class dinner that they serve on the leg from Montreal to Paris. The only bad thing is that, being an international flight, it goes to Montreal's larger Mirabel Airport, which is further outside the city; travelers whose final destination is Montreal like to fly to Dorval, which is closer in. Still and all, it was quite an experience.

Based on my trip here in January, I knew to stay in a hotel connected to the underground pedestrian system, so I tried a newer hotel a few blocks from the Queen Elizabeth where I had stayed before. It was a bit less expensive, but modern and with a basement connection to "underground Montreal". Montreal is a very interesting place- the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most interesting thing is that Quebecois maintain their French identity, and French is actually the official language of the province. This gives me the opportunity to dredge up my high-school French and try it out.

Our client was located in Complex Desjardins, a few blocks from my hotel through the underground system. The complex is a combination shopping mall and office structure- very new and very elegant. There are branches of all the best shops, and the office areas are quite nice. Caisse Populaires occupied four or five floors in one of the office towers; we had a small classroom on one floor and the computer was on the floor above. On the page for my January trip here, you saw some outside views of the complex, and also an aerial view, but this time I took a couple of pictures inside:

Inside Complex Desjardins

Inside Complex Desjardins

This was an interesting week in another respect, too. At the Canadian National Railway in January, almost everyone in the class spoke English as a matter of course, and I understood that this was true throughout the business world in Quebec. But no one thought to tell me that this was not true at Caisse Populaires (why, I don't know). So I ended up having to teach most of the class in broken French. Three things helped. First, my class is on a technical topic (not something like philosophy) and so the vocabulary has lots of technical terms that are the same in English and French. Second, once I asked the French phrase for some technical term that didn't have equivalence, I could use the French going forward. And, finally and perhaps best of all, there were indeed two attendees who, for one reason or another, were very much bilingual. If I got a question I couldn't understand, they could translate for me, and they could do the reverse if I weren't making myself understood. (And, I'll admit, we would stop every so often to allow one of these bilingual people to summarize. As a matter of fact, by the end of the class, I was telling Polish jokes in French, and they were chuckling at the appropriate places.

I was apprehensive about how the class was going, but since I have been there, the people at the credit union have recommended us a number of times, and we have realized a couple of sales as a result. I like Montreal. There is a lot to see and do, although I have yet to get there in the Spring when it is prettiest.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	October 1-3, 1976: A Visit to My Sister's House in Elon, NC
	September 13-16, 1976: A Sales Trip to Seattle
	Return to Index for 1976