First church in montreal
first church in montreal
Botanical gardens
Botanical gardens
Botanical gardens
Ants
View of old montreal
Olympic arena
botanical gardens - giant corn
botanical gardens
stream in botanical gardensMy last day in Quebec wasn't very eventful in the end. It was far to cold to spend any amount of time outside and as i had exhausted most of the sight seeing i spent some time in the hostel before heading out for a meal. I got a recommendation from a member of hostel staff for somewhere Quebecois (que-bec-qua). He suggested a little cafe near the river. I headed down there and was amazed at how American it felt. They served burgers, steak, french fries etc. The most novel dish was pie with beans (heinz baked beans that is!!). It was kitted out like a retro diner (chrome, leather, chequered tilling, etc). Pretty disappointed really. (I opted for the steak chef special - in the end it wasn't special at all, just with peppercorn sauce!!). I was expecting some local treats.
The next day i jumped on the huge coach and left Quebec city for the arrow shaped island that is Montreal. I found it a bit jarring at first. I had left a small, pristine, old city for a sprawling, dirty, spreadout, high rise city. I eventually found the metro. It runs on plastic tires (like the one in Paris apparently). 20 minutes after leaving the Metro, I realised that i was lost and could find the hostel!!! I was freezing and i couldn't turn the pages of my map as my fingers were so sore (it was minus 30 degrees centigrade). After the intervention of a man that saw i was in distress, I realised that the map was wrong and that the Hostel opens facing a completely different street!! Lonely Planet don't start letting me down - i have three books to get through!.
The hostel is okay but the bedrooms are downstairs and there are no lockers in the really small rooms. The people i am sharing with seem nice though. I spent my first day exploring the underground city. It is a warren of tunnels that connect with the metro system and the bigger buildings of the city. It is nice and cosy, and there are complete multi-level shopping centres, swimming pools, food courts, opera, theatre etc. I had a wander and walked around basically the whole thing!!! The shopping centre was weird as there was practically no clothes shops - not even girls clothes stores!!
The next day i had a whole itinerary planned as most things close on Mondays here, so i have to make the most of my time. I visited the botanical gardens and insectarium first off as it was open from 9am whereas everything else seems to open at 10 or even 11am. It was a pretty amazing experience walking around these huge greenhouses feeling really warm (most of the greenhouses had temperatures maintained at 22 degrees) whilst you could see snow outside!!! Its not as cold today - only minus 16 degrees. They had a complete greenhouse full of orchids and it was filled with the sweetest scent. Very relaxing. Note: I know that one of my rules is not to do anything that i could do at home (i.e. i could go to kew back home, but these are the biggest and best outside of Europe (Kew and Berlin) and its all inside.
I then headed for the Musee McCord. It is basically a story of the city through personal artifacts and stories collected over the years by Mr McCord. It was an interesting way to find out about the City. I then moved onto the Museum of Architecture and History. This was basically a preserved excavation of one of the first buildings erected in Montreal. The musuem is built over the site and so walkunder the basement and suround streets. I walking around the ruined walls etc with displays showing what was found and the various layers dug up. There was a seperate exhibit on the native peoples in the area. That was really interesting as it showed that the local peoples were extremely well adapted top their surroundings. I ended the day by walking down the huge shopping district.
The next day i jumped on the huge coach and left Quebec city for the arrow shaped island that is Montreal. I found it a bit jarring at first. I had left a small, pristine, old city for a sprawling, dirty, spreadout, high rise city. I eventually found the metro. It runs on plastic tires (like the one in Paris apparently). 20 minutes after leaving the Metro, I realised that i was lost and could find the hostel!!! I was freezing and i couldn't turn the pages of my map as my fingers were so sore (it was minus 30 degrees centigrade). After the intervention of a man that saw i was in distress, I realised that the map was wrong and that the Hostel opens facing a completely different street!! Lonely Planet don't start letting me down - i have three books to get through!.
The hostel is okay but the bedrooms are downstairs and there are no lockers in the really small rooms. The people i am sharing with seem nice though. I spent my first day exploring the underground city. It is a warren of tunnels that connect with the metro system and the bigger buildings of the city. It is nice and cosy, and there are complete multi-level shopping centres, swimming pools, food courts, opera, theatre etc. I had a wander and walked around basically the whole thing!!! The shopping centre was weird as there was practically no clothes shops - not even girls clothes stores!!
The next day i had a whole itinerary planned as most things close on Mondays here, so i have to make the most of my time. I visited the botanical gardens and insectarium first off as it was open from 9am whereas everything else seems to open at 10 or even 11am. It was a pretty amazing experience walking around these huge greenhouses feeling really warm (most of the greenhouses had temperatures maintained at 22 degrees) whilst you could see snow outside!!! Its not as cold today - only minus 16 degrees. They had a complete greenhouse full of orchids and it was filled with the sweetest scent. Very relaxing. Note: I know that one of my rules is not to do anything that i could do at home (i.e. i could go to kew back home, but these are the biggest and best outside of Europe (Kew and Berlin) and its all inside.
I then headed for the Musee McCord. It is basically a story of the city through personal artifacts and stories collected over the years by Mr McCord. It was an interesting way to find out about the City. I then moved onto the Museum of Architecture and History. This was basically a preserved excavation of one of the first buildings erected in Montreal. The musuem is built over the site and so walkunder the basement and suround streets. I walking around the ruined walls etc with displays showing what was found and the various layers dug up. There was a seperate exhibit on the native peoples in the area. That was really interesting as it showed that the local peoples were extremely well adapted top their surroundings. I ended the day by walking down the huge shopping district.
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