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Mmmm...B&B's are great---especially for the kick ass breakie you get when you wake up first thing in the morning. After camping it's like...being well...spoiled!!! Ahhh...fresh coffee and French toast....
That was our fuel for the busy day ahead. Because we were not able to see much of Montreal yesterday afternoon we figured we had better start early today--so off we went.
We trekked back to the area where we were last night (St. Catherine Street) and wandered into the Eaton Centre. It is there that we entered what is known as the Underground City and it is quite something. Montreal's Underground City is literally a mall...underground and it is massive!
I so very much wanted to do some shopping, but I am trekking around to site see, and, well Alexander isn't the biggest fan of shopping, and most importantly, I can buy the exact same clothes in Calgary and pay half the tax...and I also won't have to stuff it into the already overloaded car.
But man, were there some incredible looking shoes and some...gah...shirts...and gah....! I WILL DEFINITELY HAVE TO COME BACK TO MONTREAL TO SHOP--WHEN I BECOME RICH!!!!
We popped back up from underground after we had got the general jist of the "underground city" and we wandered around to see some Churches and take photos. We saw the Cathedral-Basilica: Mary Queen of the World and St. James the Greater and we saw the Notre Dame Basilica where Celine Dion and Rene Angelil got married. (It was a $5 entrance fee to get in, and we only had a few minutes inside because someone else was getting married there that day, but it was definitely neat to see).
From there we found our way into the heart of Old Montreal. We wandered the streets and saw the BMO Building, took in the culture, gawked at all the places to shop and continued on.
We stopped for lunch in Old Montreal and enjoyed some hot, cheezy French Onion Soup and Coc au van. After lunch we finished our tour of the Old City and then wandered towards the Subway. This took us through the edge of China Town, (which, after being to real China isn't quite as impressive, but interesting nonetheless), and then we jumped on the Subway to Olympic Park.
There we took photos of the Olympic Park (the rings and the fire and the podium) and all of that fun stuff, and then we walked a block further to the Botanical Gardens. We really wanted to go to the BioDome, but it was closed recently due to a strike, and now it is closed for renovations or something, so that will be put on our list of places and things we will have to come back to see and/or do.
We arrived at the Botanical Gardens and within a few seconds of entering the first part of the gardens we were taken aback. It was a a macro photographers dream come true, with all of the plants and insects and it was seriously interesting. We walked through the indoor greenhouse then through some of the outdoor gardens, which are developed into different Gardens (Japan, China, Aboriginal, etc.)
As we walked we found that we were close to the insectarium, so we went in there. We found all sorts of insects (bees, ants, cockroaches, spiders, tree plants, butterflies) dead and alive...but it definitely was an educational experience. We wandered through the exhibits, read the information, laughed at some of the insects, shrieked at others (some of disgustingly massive) and then we continued on.
We continued back outside..and as the sun was starting to head towards dusk (not quite there) we were able to get a quick idea of what the Chinese Lantern show was all about. Throughout the Chinese Gardens lanterns were set up, and they would offer visitors an impressive show once it got dark. (It reminded us very much of the Zoo Lights that are erected through Christmas at the Calgary Zoo).
As it was getting later and we were gettting....tired (and our feet sore) we figured we had better start heading back to the B&B. We walked back to the Subway and got off at the Eaton Centre, where we were hoping to stop to pick up a few gifts for people. When we had arrived it was 6:04PM-- all of the shops closed at 6pm...so we had missed our shopping chance by 4 minutes. Damn...
Oh-well, we still have many stops ahead and a ton of shopping to do!!! :)
Once we had realized the stores were closed we found our way back outside. We wandered down some back streets to try and find a quick bite to eat (as we were sort of hungry but not really)... We spotted a Cora's and figured, you can't go wrong with breakfast anytime of the day, but when we arrived it was closed....Grr!
At that point we also realized there must have been a Montreal Canadiens game on tonight as we noticed groups of rowdy (most likely intoxicated) fans in their jersey's heading to the arena.
With our chances of any food dwindling we listed to how hard our tummies were grumbling and decided it would take too much effort to find food and we were just too tired for that. Plus, we had snacks and stuff back at the B&B that would work just fine to fill our bellies.
And so we did. We munched on our snack as we wrote our journals and then we zonked out, fell asleep and dreamed......oh, sweet, sweet dreams....!
Merci! Montreal!
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