Canadian Bakin

Greenhouse Plants

Today was the hottest day so far  (99 degrees) and we walked 9 miles on what was supposed to be an easy schedule.   We drove out of the old city today which was interesting given Siri's usual lack of cooperation, french street signs and Dave, but we got there.

We spent the morning in Montreal's Botanical Gardens.

Waterfall in Greenhouse

I need a sign like this for the yard

Ponds

Ida was a brave soul and went into the insectarium.   The question of the day is whether that is her arm with the stick bug on it.  Who thinks she was brave enough to do this?

We ate at the cafeteria near the Insectarium and Ida was good enough to notice that one of the ingredients of the cookies they sell was crickets so I did not get any.

After lunch we headed over to Olympic Park to ride up to the top of the Olympic Tower.  Although it's right across the street, near is a relative term especially when there is no shade.  After wandering through the parking lot of the Olympic stadium in a restricted area, Ida finally asked for directions and we made it into the tower.   The tower is the largest inclined building in the world leaning 45% as opposed to the 5% lean of the Tower of Pisa.  You can ride to the top in a funicular which we did to get great views of the area.  Check out this video

Tower as Seen fron the Gardents

1976 Olympic Stadium

The Montreal Tower

View Up the Incline

View of Downtown Montreal

View of the Isle de Montreal

View of the Biodrome which served
as the velodrome during the Olympics

Pyramid shaped buildings served as the Olympic Village

My Olympic Moment

We should get a medal for walking today

We headed to the Planetarium which really was next door to the Montreal Tower and Dave downed three bottles of soda as we waited for the show.   The seating in the planetarium was very cool, Adirondack chairs for the adults and bean bags for the kids.  We saw a show called Continuum and a show called Aurorae.  Continuum was about the connection of humankind to the universe set to classical music while Aurorae was about the Aurora Borealis.

Waiting for the show in our chairs

Nice and cool inside

At Place Jacques Cartier

On the way back home we hit a huge traffic jam due to the Jazz Festival here, but we made it back to our hotel and had some dinner at Place Jacques Cartier.   We are looking forward to the cooler weather that's supposed to be headed our way tomorrow.  More