Laowai

We took advantage of a four-day weekend that the girls had and headed to Montreal. It was a great trip with beautiful Fall weather and so much stuff to see.

We started out our first day walking along the waterfront old port area.

Then we went to their Museum of Archeology and History which was very interesting. Lots of underground bits of buildings layered on each other that told the history of the city. This old dishes display was a favorite part for me.

We saw their Notre Dame Basilica and then walked around the old town some more.

After that we hopped on their Metro to go to the site of the 1976 Olympics. They had interesting pivoting doors at all the Metro stops. 

When in Rome… we had some poutine.

Here's a shot of the Olympic area. This olympics had Nadia Comaneci and her perfect 10 and also Bruce (Kaitlyn) Jenner won the decathlon.

Now part of the Olympic complex houses a biodome with lots of fish and birds and other creatures.

The antarctic area had cool (ha) ice walls.

That evening, after dinner, we walked around and saw some of these projected video displays that were scattered around the Old Town area.

The next day we made our way to Mount Royal – a big park in the middle of the city. On our way there we popped into another big impressive church.

Here we are at an entrance to Mount Royal – it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed Central Park). These neat 3-D maps were scattered around the park.

There are a few old buildings within the park including The Mount Royal Chalet. Oh, it was so pretty! Look at the squirrels that are perched up high.

Here's the view of the city from outside the chalet.

There were so many people enjoying the park – what a treasure for the city.

Next we walked to a revitalized industrial area along a canal. We stopped at a big outdoor market along the way.

We walked along some locks above and below is an old industrial building along the canal that looked like it was converted to apartments. 

On our last day, before we headed to the airport, we explored St. Helen's Island and the Biosphere. It's very confusing that Montreal has a Biodome and a Biosphere… hmmmmm. 

The biosphere was built as the United States pavilion for a world's fair type exhibition in 1967. The geodesic dome was designed by architect Buckminster Fuller. Fire destroyed it's acrylic window panels in the 1970s and now it holds environmental exhibits. Unfortunately it was closed for remodeling, but I really didn't mind because you can see how interesting it is just by walking around the outside.

Before we left we had a delicious lunch and a great beer for Brian. 

Merci Montreal!