More Montreal

Day 2 - still together as a family...Pat's conference was a one day event on Friday, so we had all day Thursday to continue our explorations. This day we went to the old Olympic park to see the Montreal Biodome, bug museum, and beautiful Jardin du Botinique (Botonical gardens).

The entire north side of town is dominated by the old Olympic stadium with it's unique roof supported by cables to the 'Tower of Montreal' . Everywhere we went around the park we had terrific views of this unusual architectural wonder. After parking at insect museum we walked around the stadium to the Biodome (only finding out later there was a free shuttle!!)

The Biodome was COOL

The Biodome was COOL! Right next the the Olympic stadium (as well as next to the practice field where the Toronto Argonauts Canadian football team happened to be practicing) is a large indoor greenhouse/zoo/musuem/aquarium with 4 unique enviroments - tropical rainforest (including monkeys, parrots, pirannha, etc), Laurentian forest (the landscape around Quebec), St Lawrence Waterway (Great aquarium exhibits of all kinds of native sea and freshwater fish), and polar regions (including a great penquin house). Way cool!

Next was the Insect zoo, which was OK, but nowhere near as cool as the Biodome (although for the creepy crawly crowd, there are tons of cool bugs here). Luckily our combined tickets also got us into the Botonical Gardens, which also turned out to be very cool. We didn't get to see all the exhibits in these HUGE public gardens, only having time to take the free tram around the park, then go into the Chinese garden section. What a great choice that was!! IN true Chinese fashion (with assistance from Montreals large Chinese population) the garden included a great water feature, a small mountain, traditiional buildings, and great views! THere was live Chinese music, and a building full of some of the best Bonsai trees I've ever seen (most between 50 and 100 years old, and most donated by the same person.)

There was also a live demonstration of the ancient art of 'dough sculpting" by a very friendly Chinese artist, who showed the kids his techniques and told us much about the history of his art. Kelsey, Colin and I all walked away with purchased souvineers, and we all walked out with a cool memory.

On Day 3, it's Dad and the kids, while Mom goes to her conference. FIrst we needed to find a new SD card for the camera, as we have filled the old 256K card with pix and have no card reader! Just off of the hotel is a Metro subway stop, and connected is a very large underground mall. Unfortunately, it's a MAZE down there almost as bad as the Labrynthe, so the kids and I wandered for over an hour (going up to the street at 2 or 3 different buildings, then back down!) before finding the electronics shop we were shooting for! Then we went back to the subway platform to take a ride out to the Isle du St Helen and the only fort in Montreal.

The fort also turned out to be VERY cool, with all the workers dressed as 1700 and 1800s French settlers (mostly solidiers!), a French army parade inspection and live musket firing demo, and period games and activities. We learned the fort was built to defend Montreal against US -they were worried the US might try and take Montreal after defeating the British in the (I beleive) the war of 1812. There was also a very cool museum documenting the early days of Montreal.....and one of the 'actors' (dressed as a young French nobleman sent to Montreal by his family due to excessive gambling debts and problems with 'the ladies' back in France - quite a detailed history!!) spent almost an hour with the kids and I talking about the exhibits - almost a private tour!

As we walked back to the Metro stop to go home that afternoon (after almost 3 hours at the fort!) we ran into a 10 meter diving competition going on at the Montreal aquatic park. We sat outside fence and watched for a few minutes before hitting the subway home - another good day.

ON our final day in Montreal, we all went down the street from the hotel to the fine arts museum before hitting the car for the drive back to Vermont. Eric was wonderful company, taking in the various artworks, finding what he enjoyed, and asking great questions! Kelsey and Colin on the other hand.......oh well, their art appreciation will come.

Off to Vermont - Montreal was a great visit, and would have been even better if the exchange rate was more favorable (man was it pricey- but we hear the dollar is weak all over the world this summer!!). Well worth the visit - someday we will have to go back and make it up to Quebec City!