Accommodations

The Edmonton Event - before and after
don
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:11 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
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Re: Accommodations

Post by don »

I think many of us are coming to the point where we need to finalize decisions. Is there one place on the web site that gives us all the accommodations available so we can compare and contrast? I've looked on the current "Accommodations" site, and there are some options not listed -- Pawel had suggested the Macdonald, for example, which is a very charming hotel overlooking the river valley, but I need to know whether we have a special rate there.

The Lister Hall option remains fuzzy especially wrt internet. I used to live at Lister Hall as an undergrad. As LC says of Montreal, I may go there "to renew my neurotic affiliations." But I would need to know whether I can pad down the hall in my pjs at 5 AM to log on to the Net, or whether I'll need to put on my pants and shoes and head over to another building. What precisely are the computer facilities at Lister Hall?

And does anyone have a sense of where most of the registrants are staying? I get a sense that the very active Edmonton LC community will be a strong majority at this event. Most of them will return to their homes at the end of a long day -- and maybe even longer after-hours gathering. The rest of us, who are paying for accommodations for anywhere from two to five nights, would likely want to stay near one another. The downtown hotels are an option, but if you plan to stay for five nights, that's prohibitively expensive for most of us. Especially after we've already spent a thousand dollars or so to get to the event.

Many of us are looking for a reasonable alternative to downtown hotels, and for many, this question will determine whether or not we come. I hope the organizers can assure those who are hesitating that there is an option that will be cost effective, effective in letting us keep in touch with our business and other communications matters we will need to attend to, and close enough to the action that we can participate.

Any guidance and advice would be most welcome.
d.
Don Cummer
Ottawa, Canada/Dublin, Ireland
KimSolez
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Jul 02, 2002 8:47 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Re: Accommodations

Post by KimSolez »

Hi Don,

The MacDonald Hotel is Edmonton's only 5 star accommodation. http://www.fairmont.com/macdonald/ We do not have a special rate there but it has the charm of being the place where Leonard began writing the Sisters of Mercy in 1966 (before he was evicted and continued at the Alberta Hotel down the street where Canada Place now is). The main action took place in "the box", now torn down, a wood frame 300-room adjunct to the main MacDonald Hotel that sat where the statue of Robbie Burns now sits on the front lawn. Some of our VIPs are staying at the MacDonald. Most bookings have been at the Westin Hotel so far and that is where most of our performers are staying. There are only 10 rooms left at Holiday Inn Express. The practical options for most people are listed at http://cohenites.blogspot.com/search/la ... omodations with further comments at http://leonardcohenevent.info/2007/12/09/66 and on this forum.

The computer rooms with Internet access at Lister hall are within the same building you would be staying, often on the same floor and near, pajama travel to them is certainly possible. There is often good socializing in the computer rooms too, fun chance meetings with kindred souls.

Hope this helps!

Best regards. - Kim
don
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:11 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Contact:

Re: Accommodations

Post by don »

Thanks, Kim. The "cohenites" site is more useful than the "leonardcohenevent" one that I was using. I'm wonder if you should hyperlink it?
d.
Don Cummer
Ottawa, Canada/Dublin, Ireland
KimSolez
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Jul 02, 2002 8:47 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Re: Accommodations

Post by KimSolez »

Hi Don,

There is friendly competition between Lila's site http://cohenites.blogspot.com/ and Pawel's site http://cohenites.blogspot.com/ . Lila's site is listed on the sidebar on Pawel's site. I think we should support them both. Pawel's site is more frequently updated, Lila's site has more personal reflections from the point of view of someone living here (Lila actually lives in Banff now but is in Edmonton once a month or so).

The 2008 event page on Leonard Cohen Nights http://www.leonardcohennights.org/2008.html is a page Lila created and it links directly to her blog and elsewhere, pretty useful. It is a direct link from http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/edmonton-index.html as is Pawel's site. Many of our press releases and media coverage mention only Lila's site. I think it's all good.

Yeah, yeah, I know a normal event would have one website and we have four. But at least you cannot fault us for "not enough web coverage" or "can't find anything about it on the web". Lol!

Best regards. - Kim
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