-Can you imagine getting to make something like this?!  -Now, can you imagine getting PAID to do this??!!

      Some people get all the luck.

      :P ;)

      When I first saw pictures of the Palais des congrès, I thought that the architecture might be a bit . . . well, crass.  :( :P -However, I have to admit---the effect really was quite cool:

      :)

      Time to get out.  (!)

      Here is Saint Joseph's Oratory.  Second only to Saint Peter's in Rome, it is the second highest basilica in the world:

      (I hadn't been here since I was 17---which is more years than I'm going to admit!)

      :) ;)

      And here is the hill that Chris Eldridge and I achieved some . . . "notoriety" for sliding down.  (It was snow-covered.  :) )

      Ah, youth.

      :) ;)

      They're STILL doing this??!!

      Seeing this really made me sad.  :( I mean, here are all these people, genuinely trying to please God---yet totally misguided.  What God wants is FAITH---Christ already paid the price!

      Sigh. -"We"'ve been arguing this since [the time of] Martin Luther.  I don't expect any "breakthroughs," now.  (. . .)

      Saint Joseph's Oratory seems like it's carved out of the living rock of Mount Royal (thus, the name "Montréal," by the way :) )---and that's because it is carved out of the living rock of Mount Royal.  :) :)

      I knew you'd never believe me if I just told you, 'n stuff:

      This, ladies and gentlemen, is his HEART:

      It is on permanent display.  Apparently, when one is a bigwig in the Catholic Church, upon one's death (gratefully not before ( :) ;) ) "We're here for your liver. . . ."  :) ;) ), one is dismembered and has one's . . . parts sent about the world.  This is a GREAT HONOR.

      Hmm. -Doesn't sound like a great retirement plan to me---but then again, I'm not Catholic.

      Ya' couldn't see things very well---so I tried a timed exposure:

      One can see things a bit better.  -But, without my tripod, my hands just weren't steady enough.

      I tried an exposure with the camera setting on the rail. . . .

       . . . But then one caught a glare.

      When we were here when I was 17, one could see the heart clearly---in all its gooiness.  Well, actually it was quite desiccated (and thus not . . . "gooey") by then---however, one could see the red, the white, and the green . . . QUITE clearly. . . .

      :P :P :P :P

      And here is a picture of the front of the . . . ?chapel?  (I'm not sure of the terminology. . . .)

      Quebec is, like, full of french people.  -And french people, like, speak french, 'n stuff.  ( ;) ) I remember watching, [dubbed] IN FRENCH:

            --> [Star Trek] "Enterprise"

            --> (the new) "Battlestar Galactica"

            --> "Final Fantasy"

            --> and even "Rambo: First Blood"

       . . . Which lost remarkably little . . . pathos (This REALLY surprised me---as usually one thinks of french as being . . . just the "right" language for the pink lace edition of "Big Boys in Boots.") from being dubbed in french.  The same can NOT be said, however, for the copy of "The Italian Stallion" a friend got me.  (It's really quite an amusing story---Sylvester Stallone is trying to buy up all the rights to the movie---in an attempt to have it not be seen by American audiences.) Although in region 1 [DVD format], it was in . . . Swedish.  Something about "The Italian Stallion," dubbed in SWEDISH. . . .

      :) ;) :P :)

On to more of the COSPAR 2008 Conference, 'n stuff.  Don't stop now! :) The best pics/stories are arguably still to come, 'n stuff.  (!) :) :)