Our October Trip Through Quebec: Day 4

October 4, 2011 ~ Day 4:   ... And the wet weather continues, but we're hearing some encouraging reports about it stopping soon.  But in the meanwhile, we're still planning indoor activities for now.  Today we plan to do the Biodome and the Insectarium. (and yes, they are actually in the same area!)  

We have our car in a parking garage and we're not moving it while we are based here in Montreal.  So it's more metro travel for us - it's so easy here, a real pleasure!  

Biodome:  the Montreal Biodome contains four distinct ecosystems found in the Americas, 4800 animals and 750 plant species. The ecosystems include a Tropical Rainforest, the North & South Poles (featuring penguins and auks), and a Laurentian Forest complete with animals native to this part of Canada.  We had a great time here!

The Biodome is located right next to Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Tower.  All the buildings in this complex were built for the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Rainforest Ecosystem:

Ceramic version of a poison dart frog, 

native to Central & South America

Ouch! 

(nah, just a fake aligator)

Real alligator

Cute little anole

Goldfish

Spoonbill

Blue Hyacinth Parrots

Eel

North & South Pole Ecosystems:

Newly Hatched!

Lunchtime for the Penguins!

Bob & Suz, posing in the Arctic

Temperate Ecosystem (Laurentian area):

Wading Bird

Porcupine sleeping in a tree:

Lynx Couple

After an expensive and awful lunch in a little cafe in the Biodome, we hiked up the hill to the Insectarium, which is located inside the Botanic Gardens.  Bug Heaven!!

Pincher Beetles

Large Beetle

Collection of brightly colored beetles

Monarchs

Lots of Monarchs

Tarantulas

Swallowtail Butterfly

Colorful Blue Butterfly

Moth

Love Bugs

Mantis

After a very wildlife kind of day, we wondered around Montreal's Botanic Gardens for a short time - okay, I admit it, we got lost and couldn't find our way out!  When we finally did, we decided to go back to Old Montreal to find a place to eat dinner:

Group of Tourists in Place Jacques-Cartier

Dinner (Le Fripon?)

  

Despite the gray weather, it was not cold, so we decided to eat in a little place with a covered outside area, right on Jacques-Cartier Square.  While we sipped our drinks and waited for our food,  little house sparrows flitted around us,  looking for handouts!

After dinner, we walked around Old Montreal, slowly making our way up to Notre Dame Cathedral for their awesome Sound & Light Show.

Notre Dame in the background

Notre Dame Cathedral at night 

(after the Sound & Light show)

We did some window shopping while making our way to the Metro Station.  While inside one souvenir shop, an alarm went off....and just kept on ringing.  NO, we didn't do it!!! I was impressed that the Fire Department showed up in record time!

Fountain at Night: Montreal City Hall

Back to the hotel, after a long but fun-filled day!  End of Day #4! And the best news is...

it's stopped raining!!!

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Our October Trip Through Quebec: Day 3

October 3, 2011 ~ Day 3:  Awoke the next morning to more rain, and not a promising forecast for the day.  But we're not going to let it stop us - we'll go find some cool indoors things to do!

We set out to conquer the metro lines, with plans to travel to the Planetarium and the Insectarium! After a bit of fumbling with Canadian money and French language, we finally figured out the correct line to take, made it through the turnstile  and onto a train!


The Montreal Metro is great!  As we found out over the four days we were there, it is clean, bright and relatively quiet.  And every station features different styles of Public Art to beautify the space.  This station has a colorful stained glass panel at the entrance to the train tunnel.

We made it to the Planetarium, only to find out they are closed on Mondays! :(   ...after going around in circles for a bit, we also figured out that we'd completely misjudged the location of the Insectarium - it was nowhere in our current vicinity.  The one good thing we're discovering, though, is that most Montrealeans speak better English than we speak French, so that's been helpful!

Bob in circles :)

So ... we back-tracked a few blocks and went to visit the Basilica Marie Reine du Mondo (Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World), a huge and very beautiful church in the middle of downtown Montreal. It was not actually raining at this point,  but note the heavy fog and cloud cover!

One of the Basilica doors

Interior looking at altar

Vaulted Ceiling

Altar

Basilica Dome

Looking up at the Choir as we exited the Basilica

After our visit to the Basilica, we went underground at a nearby entrance looking for a rest room and a mid-morning coffee, and found ourselves in the Underground City.  Shops, restaurants, food courts, transportation hubs...it was vast and amazing. One could get lost down there!

When we finally came up for air, we decided to go to a nearby Tourist Center to get some maps, directions and city information.  From there, we took a bus to Old Montreal to visit Notre Dame Cathedral.  

Cathedral exterior

 closeup of Notre Dame (Our Lady)

Notre Dame Interior

Altar

Stained Glass Window

Rose Window

View of Choir

After our visit to Notre Dame, we found a fabulous little place - Les Glaceurs - on the street bordering the cathedral.  This Ice Cream and Cupcake place was to become one of our favorite places in Montreal, and we made the trip back here 3 out of 4 days!

Seasonal cupcakes and a variety of yummy flavors!

Cupcake Tower from inside the window

and outside the window!

A little photo fun on our walk through Old Montreal 

Bob at the fountain at Champs du Mar

At the end of a great sightseeing day, despite the rain, we returned back to the area of our hotel and walked on Rue St Catherine for a while, looking for a possible eatery.  At one point we passed this mall, and the umbrellas caught my attention - very appropriate for this weather we're having!!!

Not finding a place where we wanted to eat, we decided to go back to the little restaurant next door to our hotel (Pacini), where we had a great dinner the night before:

End of a great Day #3!

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