Meeting details for August 8-12, 2005 in Ottawa, Canada

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com>]

Hello all!

Apologies for this late notice but I had accidentally thought I had already 
sent this out.

Here is the location of the meeting space for the UBL face-to-face August 
8-12, 2005, generously donated by Adobe (again with many thanks!):

   785 Carling Avenue,
   Ottawa, Ontario
   Canada K1S-5H4

Here is a street map:

  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=785+Carling+Avenue,+Ottawa,+Ontario,+K1S+5H4&spn=0.022473,0.020303&hl=en

It happens to be next door to a very scenic man-made lake on a man-made 
canal constructed in defense of our country in the 1812 war with the United 
States:

  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=785+Carling+Avenue,+Ottawa,+Ontario,+K1S+5H4&spn=0.032004,0.020303&t=k&hl=en

The location is not far outside "downtown Ottawa", though really the 
downtown is not very large and you can briskly walk the long dimension in 
15 minutes.

You can use Kathryn J. Holman and Crane's phone number +1(613)489-0999 as 
the meeting point of contact details.

Regarding hotels, Kathryn has just now edited her earlier note to Mike that 
I thought I had sent separately to the list earlier, but I don't see it in 
the archives.

Remember our long-time convention of bringing international wines from our 
respective countries to a Thursday-night end-of-week celebration wine and 
cheese.  Kathryn and I are planning on having all meeting members and their 
families to our home for that Thursday evening for the wine and cheese, 
with veggie and meat burgers or something more substantial for a dinner as 
well.  Let's decide the details on the Monday so we can get everything 
ready for the Thursday at our home.  We'll be arranging transportation to 
our place for those without cars.

Weather in Canada is always iffy, especially Ottawa, though this week we 
are between +31C (88F) and +34C (93F) each very sunny afternoon.  But in 
our history we have had snow every month of the year, so check the 
long-range forecasts before you pack.

We look forward to seeing as many people as possible here for the 
meeting!  It looks like it is going to be a working meeting with results.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

. . . . . . . . . . . Ken


Re: Hotels:

Ottawa downtown is unbelievably small, 10 - 15 minutes brisk walk will take 
you from the far west to the far east of the downtown core. And the meeting 
site is about 2.5 to 4 km from most downtown hotels.

Ottawa transit leaves something to be desired but the #85 bus does link the 
downtown core to the meeting site and runs every 15 minutes or so during 
peak hours and would take about 10 minutes to get to the meeting site.

This is a link to the bus map for the area between downtown and the meeting 
site.

http://www.octranspo.com/mapscheds/SystemMap/sys_map_2004/map.asp?lang=eng&x=3&y=10&z=40

The website also has all the fares and other info you'll need.

Our miniscule downtown is divided up into several neighbourhoods.

The Market area, served mainly by the Marriot Courtyard, the Chateau 
Laurier, the Westin and the Novotel, is the 'happening' area.  There is a 
lot of construction that may make auto maneuvering difficult, but within a 
couple of blocks are many great restaurants, lots of night life, natural 
beauty and amazing atmosphere.

Along with being happening, the Market, at night, can also be rowdy and 
sleezy. Just a bit of a warning if you are bringing your family. The 
Courtyard is right in the middle of the Market, the other three hotels are 
on the edges and therefore would be suitable for families.

There are two other, semi-happening areas in Ottawa, along Bank Street and 
along Elgin. I know this only because my 25 year old nephew lives downtown 
and has a hard time deciding between which street to head out to when he 
wants to go out. These areas are west of the Rideau Canal and are closer to 
the meeting site.

The Residence Inn is about a 4 minute brisk walk from the Market area, 
therefore quieter but still near enough to feel downtown and an easy walk 
to open things. Bus is within a block. We've stayed there often and are 
very comfortable and they offer amazing croissants with the free breakfast. 
It is the closest to the Elgin Street 'scene'. They have a kitchen in the 
room and there is a convenience store and Tim Horton's (Canadian Icon 
doughnut shop now owned by Wendy's).

The Marriott (along with the Minto Suites and the Crowne Plaza) are on the 
western edge of downtown. All these hotels are also close to the bus but 
are a 10 minute walk away from the edge of the Market area. Sidewalks will 
almost literally roll up after 6 near these hotels but Bank Street and 
Elgin Street both have good night life and are also 10 minutes or less walk 
away. We've stayed at all three and I like the Minto Suites the best but 
then again we always have kids in tow so a full kitchen is nice and the 
extra room is good too. The Crowne Plaza is more like a nice Holiday Inn 
than the Crowne Plaza's I've stayed at in other countries. Great, friendly, 
staff though.

All of these hotels are much nicer than the hotels on Carling, close to 
Adobe (Best Western Macies, Embassy West, and Travelodge) and if you are 
interested in night life, you need to be downtown as the hotels closest to 
Adobe are in a suburban neighbourhood.

In general, Ottawa is a very driveable city once you figure out the one-way 
streets and the transit-way streets and you'd be doing an opposite commute 
(from downtown out to an area about 10 minutes away.) The only place I 
would not recommend having a car is in the Market area and even then, it 
wouldn't be too bad compared to most cities.

The three hotels of note in Ottawa are:

The Chateau Laurier: Classy, architecturally impressive, great history 
(delayed opening due to the sinking of the Titanic) with The Market on one 
side and great views of Parliament on the other. Also across the street 
from the Rideau Centre, our major downtown indoor mall.

The Westin: best views in town, attached to the Rideau Centre and right 
next to the market. Ken's sister stayed there on the upper floor and her 
bathroom was bigger than our bedroom at home!

(Both these hotels will be a little tricky due to construction in that 
neighbourhood but I drove through there three times last week without any 
delays.)

Arc The Hotel: A trendy boutique hotel nearer the Residence Inn. Smaller 
rooms but upscale furnishings and details. If you like trendy, this might 
be the place for you. Ken's cousin stayed there last December and liked it. 
She got a great Internet rate but it was right before Christmas so the 
great deals may not be there in the summer.

Here is a link to a listing of local hotels within 4km of the meeting site. 
All the ones I've mentioned are on this list:

    http://tinyurl.com/7wjqo

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

... Kathryn (your cruise director for this meeting!)

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G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com
Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/o/
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