…so here I am, ensconced in my hotel room high above Montreal on the 26th floor of the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel, with a beautiful view of the sun setting beyond the downtown. The hotel is top-notch and the people - at least so far - seem friendly enough. Some things I’ve noticed:

* Montreal certainly seems to be a clean city - at least what I’ve seen of it so far;

* I like listening to pretty girls speak in French accents;

* …make that, I love listening to pretty girls speak in French accents;

* It doen’t surprise me that everyone around here speaks French, but it’s strange to see and hear Asians speaking in French - not that there’s anything wrong with it, it just seems odd;

* Isn’t the Internet wonderful? Here I am, blogging away north of the border, yet still able to watch the Red Sox pummel the Yankees on mlb.tv.

* While enjoying my dinner in the hotel’s pub (it’s called “Chez Plume”), I was watching what I think was the Canadian version of CNN. While I couldn’t understand the closed captioning (in French), it was obvious they were profiling some well-known Quebec human-rights activist. Lots of coverage about her trips to Uganda, Rwanda, and Darfur, but I immediately lost interest when, all of a sudden, in the space of 10 minutes I was watching pictures of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

…Now, excuse me if this sounds cold-hearted, but to compare the death and suffering of thousands upon thousands of homeless refugees caught in the middle of a civil war in the most destitute part of the world with a handful of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo is absurd. Actually, more than absurd - sickening. Talk about your moral relativism! But then again, I shouldn’t have been surprised, because shortly thereafter there was this same champion of human rights shaking hands with that disgraceful ex-President and noted anti-Semite Jimmy Carter. It didn’t make me lose my appetite, but it sure made me want to order another glass of cabernet…

More tomorrow!