Skiing Nr. Three - The Best

Yesterday I finally went to ski to Mt.Tremblant. It is located in the Laurentides, mountains, less than two hours drive from Montreal towards north. Everything what happened yesterday was just perfect. First came the welcome delegation.

I always caught one at the time, but there were three who came to welcome me. Does?

The resort itself is huge. I only ski from twelve till four and I was not able to try all slopes in this location. Compare to the other two I went to, Mt.Tremblant is made to spent at least long weekend there.

It is good to be local and have the opportunity to save some money with buying long period ticket. The price for half day skiing (including ski rental) was 98 CAD. Bit too much for 4 hours.

Here the ticket price list at the cashier - without tax.

I like the way people are transported from the village centre to the lifts.  I am not sure whether I would use the Cabriolet during cold, cloudy and rainy day, but I had gorgeous weather.  Only because of my friend MartyMontana I must mention that Volkswagen supports Cabriolet. Do I connect cabriolet with Volkswagen? Not really. The idea is excellent. Same as in Europe, you see BMW promoting their cars in mountains. Here Volkswagen took over.

Cabriolet for good weather days only, same like the car.

As in other resorts, Mt.Tremblant is, except of one cabin lift, equipped with chair lifts only. Whatever transport, this is the top. Full of people who always disappeared somewhere. It was not so crowded on the slopes.

 My recommendation is - if you are around Montreal in the winter do not miss the chance to go skiing to Mt.Tremblant. Skip the other resorts and start at Mt.Tremblant. I believe you will come back, as the service, location and slopes are the best. Even the catering is better. At least you can select what restaurant you want to go to.  

The Great Beauty

Todays French word:

great beauty - une grande beauté

Do you want to ride a bike by -20°C? Come to Montreal!

This post is dedicated to my friend J., who loves cycling. I made a collection of Montreal bikes. I was very surprised when I, on one of my first days in Montreal (temperature -17°C) have seen a guy riding his bike. He is not alone. There are many like him on the streets.  

It is -17°C. I feel frozen driving my car. How is he feeling?

Since then I have seen hundreds of bikes on streets of Montreal. Here are best bike pictures taken from January till March 2014:

 Todays French word:

cyclist - le cycliste

Roger, Roger do you hear MEEEEE!!!!

Right after my arrival to Montreal I wrote ‘very funny’ story about getting Canadian mobile phone in Montreal. My experience in Vancouver was excellent. That’s why I was very surprised it does not work in Quebec. OK it does not work with Rogers.

To refresh my story - I spend one hour in Rogers shop to fill in all forms to get Canadian SIM card for international phone calls. When everything done the shop girl told me I would only be able to make international call after three months. OK. We cancelled the contract.
End of act one.

The story goes further. Few days later I received an invoice per email. Yes, mistakes happen. I wrote back I am not Rogers customer and ask them to delete me immediately from all their databases.

End of act two.

Not the end. Last night I received email with another invoice. First thing in the morning I went to Rogers shop (the one from act one).

Angry!

After seven minutes (I did measure it as I assumed it will not go smoothly) I had the result.

Great!

Not really. Yes, Rogers returned all money,  EXCEPT of 1,43 CAD for TWO SMS and ONE international phone call (non of those was successful as the card was blocked for international calls/messaging). Actually only after those unsuccessful SMS/call the shop girl told me about the fact I would be able to make international phone calls only in April - two months after my departure from Canada. I am going to write a letter to CEO Mr. Alan D. Horn.

I am not angry any more. It is fun. New learning - wherever you are from do not believe ‘Western - developed - rich - educated’ countries have something special or better. It is everywhere the same.

The End?

... I am not alone ... thank you Internet for this picture ...

Dear O2, I apologize for all bad words I ever said about you. You are not perfect, nobody is. I am happy I am with you. And until I move to Vancouver I will dream about being WIND customer.

Todays French word:

Upset customer - please share this article with everybody.

Le client contrarié - S'il vous plaît partager cet article avec tous.

Skiing Nr. Two

This post is dedicated to R. my father. He spent almost all his life in mountains. He would love Canada.

Mountain Guard Canada - equipment same, only our Czech cabins are bit more cosy

This time I went to Orford, suggested to me by one of my classmates. Orford is three hills skiing resort very close to US border (http://www.orford.com/en/). It is a beautiful place, with many slopes. The weather was excellent. We experienced all - sun, snow showers, wind, as well as the temperature -15°C. 

... enjoying the view while riding ...

Imagine the wonderful creaky sound of snow when the temperature goes under -11°C. I have heard a lot about American snow, in particular the snow in America is very different from our European. I cannot confirm that. It was such amazing a day. It seemed to me the same. It is truth that powder snow is beautifully fluffy lasts all day  long. I guess despite the sunny weather stays the temperature deep down zero. This is not happening so often in Europe. 

... nothing more to say ...

Compared to my first experience in Chantecler the resort is much bigger and has big variety of slopes for all levels - from beginners to snowboard and free-ride lovers. 

On The Top

It was an amazing day. I enjoyed it a lot. Not to spoil Orford review, I will not talk about food. If you want to know more about this topic take a look on my previous post.

Driving Home

Todays French word:

Snow and winter - Neige et l’hiver.

Going to Hawaii

Fist short apology for having break in posting new blogs. I did not know my French lessons would be so demanding. But I made it. We had lots of fun and at the end an important exam. I am more than happy about my result.

70 out of 100 YES!!!

I did not expect that. I am very happy. Now I need to talk a lot to get used to it. I mean talk French, not talking a lot.

As you could see from my very brief post on Friday I will change location soon.

Hawaii

On the last minute I decided to visit my friend A. in Hawaii. She lives on the Maui Island. The plan is to discover a little the island that is, I was told since my childhood, the island of doing nothing.  As doing nothing is part of many current spiritual teaching I want to find out whether this is truth or not. I am very curious. And who would resist to going on Hawaii.

I am leaving next Monday from Montreal (currently -17^oC) to Hawaii (currently +21^oC).

Todays French word:

Doing nothing - Faire rien.