Canada 05-06

Montreal | 07 Oct 2005

A group of about 15 of us went to Montreal, which is about 7 hours away from us. We had Monday off for Thanksgiving so decided to make the most of this extended weekend and head to Montreal on Friday and come back on Monday. The train going to Montreal got very delayed midway so we didn't arrive until about 11pm on Friday night (instead of 8pm!) and it was absolutely pissing it down so we got soaked through trying to find the hostel. We didn't stay in a group of 15 throughout the weekend, because everyone wanted to do different things. Me and two other girls wanted to do similar things so we just kinda went around together for the weekend.

Montreal is a great place, it has a very European feel about it (probably because it was established by the Brits and French). We went up the Mont
Royal in the middle of the city on the first day to get views across the city and then headed to a museum which briefly covered the history and some
general facts about Montreal. It was very informative and had some really cool kiddy things to do (which we of course just HAD to do :D) like making postcards and creating pumpkins out of pipecleaners. We then headed to the
Olympic park which hosted the Olympics in the 1970s. There's a tower by it, and the intention of this tower was to be able to lift the roof of the
stadium but apparently it was all botched up so it doesn't actually work. Next door there's a huge biodome with all sorts of plant and wildlife
in it. We also paid a visit to the botanical gardens and insectarium which we weren't sure about but turned out to be really cool.

They had a real life antfarm on the go in the insectarium and you could watch hundreds of ants scurrying across a branch they had set up between two huge glass cases. All the ants in one direction were carrying bits of twigs and leaves, the ants going in the other direction weren't carrying anything. It was very impressive. In the botanical gardens they had lots of Halloween displays up in one area and then a bit further on a Japanese and Chinese garden with hundreds of chinses lanterns.

Sunday we paid a visit to Old Montreal, down by the harbour (the city is on an island between two huge rivers). This is the most European part of the
city with lots of alleyways and cafes with seats outside (although now they're covered over for the winter). We took a look round the science
museum which was really interactive, great for both kids and adults. We went for a bit of shopping downtown and then went to the planetarium for a
presentation on the autumn sky in Montreal - again really good. We were all knackered by Monday so enjoyed the sleep we had on the 7 hour journey
back to campus.

Locations Visited: Montreal

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