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January 2003

Montreal

David Aaronson
2005-09-29 15:56:17

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Our initial plan upon arriving in Montreal on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, was to go somewhere scenic, have a look at the city and get our bearings. That somewhere was likely to be either Mont Royal Park atop the mountain Montreal is built on, or the tower of Olympic Stadium. When we landed in Montreal, the ceiling was about 25 ft (8m) and the visibility was remarkably close to zero. So we modified our plans and went to the Biodome instead (1).

The Biodome is also found in Olympic Park as it was once the velodrome used for the cycling events in the 1976 Summer Olympics. Now it's an indoor zoo of sorts with several partitioned areas. Some of them, like the St. Lawrence Seaway are not particularly impressive, especially considering it can be experienced in person by walking south for about 10 minutes. Others like the Tropical Rainforest are worth the price of admission though.

No this picture isn't a refugee from our Costa Rica pages, it's actually Montreal although several of these trees are fake (2). Somewhere in there are sloths, tamarinds, macaws and so forth.

Something more typical of Montreal would be Notre Dame in the center of the old town (3). The exterior of this rendition of Notre Dame is really not all that interesting. It was finished in 1841 so it isn't even particularly old. The inside is more interesting but alas, we have no pictures of it so you'll have to go and see for yourself.

Here's a typical street in the old town of Montreal (4). On it you'll find a goodly number of tacky tourist shops selling anything Canadian. Generally, 'anything Canadian' is usually distilled down to maple syrup, stuffed moose and mountie hats. Among these stores are a few actually unique and interesting sorts and if you hunt around a bit you're sure to find at least one good creperie.

On prior trips to Old Montreal ...