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Hello From Montreal – Part 13 – 360 degree view of the Tower, at the Olympic Stadium, Bugs and nature at the Insectarium and the Botanical Garden, The

July 2 2006

Appropriately rested from my action packed day yesterday I had a leisurely breakfast and left the subway at 9:30. I love the subway Montreal, once it is safe, efficient and all major attractions are accessible via underground transportation. And the interesting thing is the trains with rubber wheels – None clatter I'm so used to places like Toronto, New York City or Chicago …

My first destination this morning was the Olympic complex Montreal, located in the area Hochelaga-Maissoneuve originally a city founded in 1883 by local farmers. Hochelaga-Maissoneuve Montreal was incorporated in 1918 and today is a major districts of Montreal working class, whose residents are 90% francophone.

Montreal's Olympic Stadium is the best access to the station Pie IX subway and exit at the station I walked across vast expanses of concrete surrounding this historic stadium, built for the Summer Olympics 1976. One of his nicknames is the "Big O", and that was supposed to be one of the most advanced facilities of its time, holding just over 56 000 people. He presented a retractable roof, which was held in place by cables suspended from a tower 556 meters high, in fact most leaning tower in the world.

The stadium was extremely expensive and its final cost was more than C $ 1 billion, the debt was not paid for out of town in 2006. Interestingly, Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal at the time, announced that "The Olympics can no longer have a deficit of one man can have a baby, now a popular quote among Montreal residents. Due to various strikes, construction delays and complications, the retractable roof does not open until 1988, but that option was abandoned in 1992 in favor of a new fixed roof, which continued to have several structural problems and a new replacement roof is being considered for the installation again. Despite these problems, Olympics Montreal Park is a sight to behold and an interesting place to explore.

Between 1977 and 2004, the Olympic Stadium was the home of the Montreal Expos Major League Baseball team that was transferred to Washington, DC, in the 2005 season. He used to be the home of Alouttes Montreal, the team from Montreal in Canada Football League. Today, the stadium is used for a variety of purposes including trade fairs, sports, motor sports, concerts, exhibitions, films, dances, activities social and more. Since its opening, the Olympic Stadium in Montreal was one of the busiest covered stadiums in the world.

Olympic Stadium building is a fascinating, unusual yet aesthetic and I decided to explore it further, taking the funicular that in about 5 minutes takes you to a lookout that provides a 360 degree of Montreal. Going up you have a panoramic view to the east, the pyramid-shaped buildings of the former Olympic Village at the top and I enjoyed a view Perfect downtown and the skyscrapers, Montreal Royal and several bridges spanning the St. Lawrence River.

The former Olympic cycling track, called the Biodome, been converted into an artificial habitat that features four different ecosystems: a tropical forest, a Laurentian forest, the St. Lawrence Marine Ecosystem and the Polar Worlds Arctic and Antarctic. For me, my next item on the agenda was the Montreal Botanical Garden. I left the Olympic Stadium and was in the Sherbrooke Street bridge and found myself near the entrance gates of the Botanical Garden of Montreal. The rate of C $ 12.75 entry gives access to both gardens and the Biodome, so I started with an introduction depth to the world of insects.

Open since 1990, the Montreal Insectarium holds hundreds of species of butterflies, moths, insects and spiders. Its scientific collections 140 000 copies and make your collection of exhibition consists of about 20,000, about 4,000 of whom are on public display. There also a live collection of arthropods with about 100 species. Not only does the Insectarium focus on the science of insects, but also explores insects in an artistic, cultural and even gastronomical context. In 2005 still held a tasting event of insects!

Well, this scientific introduction I had warmed up enough to continue my exploration outside in the Botanical Gardens. Right across from the Insectarium is a marsh and bog garden featuring a garden variety of gorgeous water lily specimens.

Going there is a rose garden with considerable about 10 000 varieties of roses. The roses were shortly after her flower, but I imagine that this garden must look magnificent when everything is in full bloom.

A little further north is the Japanese Garden, designed as a contemporary garden by renowned Japanese garden designer Ken Nakajima. All the elements, stones, water features and plants were carefully chosen and are imbued with a unique symbolism. The Chinese Garden next to him is the result of a link between the Montreal Botanical Garden and Parks Department the city of Shanghai. Over 120 containers were shipped to Shanghai in 1990 and 50 Chinese craftsmen were needed to assemble the components to build the garden.

Then I strolled through the garden of First Nations, which reflects a natural and is the first facility of its kind in Montreal. After walking through some serene ponds and woodlands I reached the Shade Garden that houses a large collection of primroses, astilbes, hostas and ferns and proves that even the shadow areas may feature bright colors and a variety of foliage and flowers. Now it was time to take a serious ice cream and sat in one of the tables outside the Fuji Pavilion which is a restaurant 66 posts providing cold drinks, ice cream and frozen yogurt and light meals.

After my little rest there was another part of town I wanted to explore and that was Little Italy. So I decided to take the free shuttle bus that connects the Olympic Stadium, the Biodome, the Insectarium and the Botanical Garden and was comfortably taken to subway station nearby Vieau. From there I took the subway to the Jean Talon station, along a major east-west arteries in Montreal.

Like many cities in North America, Montreal has a large Italian community. In fact, the Italians are the biggest ethnic group in Montreal. Many immigrants came from Italy early in the 19th century and many of them entered the hotel and restaurant business. Most of them arrived after the Second World War, and most immigrants came from the poorest regions of southern Italy. One of the key ingredients of Italian culture of course is its cuisine, made with fresh ingredients. The Marché Jean Talon is an anchorage in the local community where residents can buy fresh produce, cheese, meat, sweets and other products. This market is unlike any other, since its presentation is largely outdoors. More than 100 producers display their products here in the summer, and the market has a distinct environment of the South for it. You almost feel like you're somewhere near the Mediterranean, or even a Moroccan souk.

I wanted to get a seat at a small restaurant next to the local market, but most of them were so crowded that I decided I'd jump on the subway again (easy to do with my visiting card should be 3 days) and check out the St-Denis area a little. Finally time for a late lunch!

For the entire article, including photos, visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/montreal_olympic_botanical_garden.htm

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (
http://www.travelandtransitions.com
), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

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