green_amber

So finally I get to pick a restaurant and take my music hall joke party (1 American, 1 Ozzie, 1 Finn, 1 German et moi, mais la Canadienne est perdu) out for dinner. And everywhere I ring is full, so randomly settle for a medium price cheap, but not cheap-cheap bistro. in the boho St Denis (le Plateau) area. And OH MY GOD.

Starter: foie gras done like creme brulee with a glass of sauterne. (French waiter very impressed i know to ask for this - thanks anef - and then is nice to us all night :) MMMMMM. yes I know, I am unlikely ever to have foie gras again; it was my swan song and it was SPLENDIDE.

Filet mignon with an unknown but wonderful sauce, wild mushrooms and pommes dauphinoise. PARFAIT.

Tarte tatin. Nothing fancy, just right. MMMM.

I want Quebecois cheese, but everyone else is fading so I don't :(

Like being in France. you forget how good really good simple food CAN BE.(60 can $ - c £30.)

And oddly unlike all those (also very good meals)in Madison, I feel neither distended nor nauseous with over-food, despite the fact I managed three courses plus wine and dessert wine and coffee, and could have contemplated four. What is the secret??

So we didn't manage Sex and the City, OR ice wine: i will have to try to find the latter tomorrow. Lunch with my old friend Doris from Vancouver (stumbled into on an interesting panel about conceptions of race in international humanitarian law), her partner, and (interestingly) an east german women doing a PhD on how East Germany wanted justice on reunification and intead`got "the rule of law". Did not go to panel session on law and film in Jesus of Montreal , damnit. There may have been a short nap:) More panels on privacy in the horribly early am, which are causing much more thought. Is gossip a bad thing or a good thing, and is it a gendered concept? fascinating guy I invited to GikIII (again) called Frank Pasquale. Several invitations to Ottawa, plus a Sekrit Plan to make the Australians have a conference we can All go to in May on the Gold Coast :)

And the waiter complemented me on my French!!!! :) C'est incroyable :)

Unbelievably fabulous hotel, with not only free hi speed wi fi and ethernet, and glass lifts, and a revolving resturaunt at the top, but also free canapes between 5 and 7 plus happy hour, and Posh Lounge for Speshil Peepul like er me (yes, Wiscon folks, I finally made it into the Governors Club effectively, tho no free chocolate martinis :(

But cleverest of all, a docking station for IPods so I can play my own music in room!! How clever is that - of course 99% of travellers have an iPod these days not CDs with them.. Montreal TV surprisingly French - of major English speaking US TV channels could only find NBC last night. (No I didn't go out - luggage only turned up this am so I had no clothes to change into after 10 hrs travelling!) Taxi driver however reassured me that my French was not only comprehensible but "as good as his". yeh right :-) So far actually impossible though to make anyone else speak French to me!! as everyone instantly switches to English when you open your mouth. And I have already heard some of the worst French accents EVER!!

OK off to find Judith, and Conference no 2!