As Montreal is a city that encourages the cyclist we decided to try out the cycle routes that have been set out around the city. We are staying at the Hyatt in downtown Montreal and the cycle route starts about ¾ mile away, so we decided to push the bicycles that far as the traffic is quite busy. We set our sites on reaching the Olympic Park some 5 miles or so away. The hotel itself is in a nice area but as we turn the corner and walked down the street it soon becomes clear that the neighbourhood was changing around us. There are a number of shops displaying lingerie and fantasy clothing, and clubs offering exotic dancing of one sort of another. Rather than avert the eyes of Jack and Emily we decided this is all a part of the rich tapestry of life and we were sure this experience could be woven into their curriculum for the year. The journey for the most part was uneventful and we arrived at the Olympic Park in one piece.
Our first activity was to go into the Olympic complex (built for the 1976 Olympic games) and take the ride to the top of the tower, which is 175m high and at a 45o angle – making it the world’s tallest inclined building. The trip to the observation tower at the top is by a funicular railway (our second of our journey so far) and this goes up the outside of the building, giving excellent views through the glass walls of the car. For Karen this was almost an unbearable experience and for some reason she and Emily felt better at the back of the car. At the top the views are amazing and you can look directly down at the ground below – which is all the more scary when you realize that you are in a building listing like some inebriated Scotsman after a night out on the razzle. I think all bar Jack (who has no fear of heights whatsoever) were glad to be on the journey down.
After the torture of the tower we went to the more serene environment of the Biodome, which is next door to the Olympic stadium and is the site of the Olympic velodrome. This building has been cleverly converted into an indoor exhibition of 4 ecosystems – a jungle, the Laurentian forest, the sea shore and the artic. These environments house plants, animals and bird life, which in the main roam around freely (except in the case of the artic where the birds – mainly puffins, auks and penguins are behind glass assumedly to protect the visitors from the cold). This was an excellent exhibition and the children loved it (attached picture of Karen stroking a beaver)With these visits done the only job left was to cycle back to the hotel – this time we chose a different route (mainly to avoid a second visit to the red light district!!!)
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