Day Two: Time for SCIENCE

Despite reading until my neck gave out and I finally had to go to sleep, I woke up around 5:30 feeling pretty rested. It was way too early to head out since nothing was going to be open. I read for a while and then got ready to go out. It was supposed to rain today but the radar showed that it was almost done and would be finished by 9 or so. It’s supposed to be around 70 degrees today, so hopefully a good day for what I have planned. I’m going to see ALL THE SCIENCE. Montreal Olympic park was converted into an enormous science complex consisting of the Biodome, Insectarium, Japanese and Chinese gardens, and a Planetarium.

It’s about 30 minutes by metro so I headed out into the misty drizzle to walk to the closest metro on the green line, with a thought to stop and get some breakfast if I found anywhere good. I got to the metro stop but the one machine that dispenses passes and cards wasn’t working :( I’m not about to start hopping turnstiles in a foreign country, so I looked up the next stop, which was a six minute walk and headed to the McGill University stop.

There was a lot of standing water and my jeans got soaked six inches deep. But it’s feeling like a throwback to high school when all my bellbottoms were too long and dragged the ground constantly. I made it to the McGill University stop with no issues. It’s significantly cleaner and larger than the previous stop. And has a working OPUS card machine. I got myself a metro card and a pass for a few trips and caught the next train. Mercifully the metro isn’t as complicated as NYC and I didn’t have to figure that out in a different language.

I read my book on the metro and got to my stop much sooner than expected - a solid hour before it opened. All well. I picked up a coke and some licorice (this is my birthday weekend - I will hear none of your judgement) for breakfast.

Breakfast of champions. I could have had Tim Horton’s…what was I thinking..

The Biodome and the Montreal Tower

I had gotten pretty cold by the time the doors opened and it felt like getting hit with a wall of warm air aka heaven. As it happened I did the VERY smart thing last night and paid for the Passport to L’espace de la Vie Montreal (Montreal Space for Life) which covers the entry fee for all five of the major nature museums and parks in Montreal. I just had to schedule my entry into each of the museums/parks and get a timed entry ticket for each one. I started off at 9 am with the Biodome.

I hadn’t done much research on L’espace de la Vie Montréal so the Biodome hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s easily the most extraordinary zoo/aquarium I’ve ever been in. Each major world biome is represented in its own climate enclosure. So when you walk into the Arctic the walls are made of ice and it is cold in there. And then I was peeling off my jacket as fast as possible in the Tropical enclosure. I took many videos and photos but none of them will do it justice. I immediately thought of all my nephews that would go crazy in there.

Ice walls!

Puffins and penguins being painfully cute.

Walking into the St. Laurence region habitat. There are FULL GROWN TREES.

The St. Laurence (local) forest region.

The lynx wanted more breakfast. But he was going to be majestic while being cranky.

It’s a bit disconcerting to come upon wild birds who couldn’t care less that you’re walking nearby. And I had to squee over the otters. Bummed they don’t have one of those portholes where you can feed them fish and hold hands :(

What sort of portal from another dimension did sturgeon swim out of?? Seriously.

Tropical biome - Capybara just chilling next to his own waterfall. Because why not.

Yellow anaconda variety of nope rope.

After spending a good amount of time going through the biosphere I decided to get tickets set up for the other museums in the park. The earliest planetarium show in English was at noon so I scheduled the Insectarium next and started the walk over to that area of the park.

The Insectarium was also extremely cool. It had a lot of interactive elements for kids but also little vignettes for the tiniest mantises and an entire room dedicated to a beautiful display of preserved insects.

I swear these are all actual, living mantises. I saw them move. Pro-level camo.

So a bizarre insect fact is that the first sequins were actually beetle shells sew onto clothing. When you see all these colors it’s easy to understand why.

An ENTIRE room of artistically displayed preserved insects. Just beautiful.

It ended with a meandering butterfly room that just seemed magical. I got several close ups of the butterflies and moths and there was an elaborate leaf cutter ant section that I HAD to video. Fascinating!

There is a literal moat around the tree where they are getting their cuttings so they can’t escape and overrun the entire butterfly enclosure. Just a slightly terrifying number of extremely determined insects. That can cut things with their mouths.

After the Insectarium I still had quite a while until the Planetarium so I scheduled my ticket for the Gardens and went right in. Spring is still getting started in Montreal so the cherry blossoms are just starting in the gardens and it was nice to get to see those again since DC had a massive storm take out all of ours the day after peak bloom. I walked through the Japanese building only to discover…pottery! I knew it was going to be here somewhere :)

Alas, the only bonsai I saw, due to the season.

LOVE this concept.

They were having an exhibit of tableware inspired by traditional Japanese plants and natural themes, which was a really interesting way of approaching an exhibit. I may have to try that when I’m home!

Fit check. My new shoes are half a size too big and my new jeans are 4 inches too long. Solid 10 inches of water making its way up my pant legs though. This is why we check our clothes at home before traveling, Erin.

The bonsai were still inside due to the seasonal transition (bummer) but I continued walking through into the Chinese garden and…it was amazing. They had created this entire dream-like scene with traditional buildings, rockscapes, trees, all centered on a small pond with winding paths and walls encircling it. Walking through it was like wandering through another world.

Obsessed with this. It was a secluded space and as you walked through to the rock mountain you could smell the pine trees as if you were really in the mountains.

You’d think you were in a different country if not for the enormous Montreal Tower at the back!

Ah, the majestic Canadian Cobra Chicken. I didn’t get anywhere near it. I know never to mess with this particular Canadian.

It was getting close to my ticketed time for the Planetarium so I started the walk back across the park and still got there with plenty of time to eat lunch in their little cafe. I relaxed and ate an avocado wrap while I read until it was time to go in.

The Planetarium was a planetarium, but the show was interesting. However, today I learned that contemplating the infinite vastness of space makes me nauseated. Not the show, just the existential dread of it all. The second half of the show was on Mars and that was a lot easier to handle. Apparently Mars is far enough for my brain.

After the show I stopped by the gift shop in the Biodome and picked up a few things (including a little glass raccoon ornament for this trip), and then I headed to the metro to go back into town.

Why yes, I did buy a poutine magnet for my office.

I kicked around stopping at Old Montreal for some more Maple and Walnut ice cream but decided against it and just got off at the stop closest to the hotel. On the walk back I discovered the cutest little pub called Nyks, and decided to have an afternoon drink and eat REAL poutine, the national dish of Canada, while I wrote about what all I had gotten into today. The cider was good. The poutine was good. I made good decisions today.

It was sort of perfect that their logo is a greyhound.

Poutine! I got the “classic” which is fries topped with gravy, cheese curds, and green onions. I was only able to make it through about half of this, but it was very good. Peak pub food.

I made it back to the hotel a little after 3 and read until I finished my book. I sadly brought no others, but there is internet and I brought my Freewrite so that I can hopefully get some creative writing in on this trip.

Well. That didn’t last long. I wondered if there was a bookstore nearby that might have an English copy of the next book in my series (cliffhangers are the WORST). There was a bookstore a short walk away so I decided to go on another adventure. I found a full on mall hidden in one of the many office buildings in downtown Montreal.

And…yes, they had the book.

They even sold little book totes which my book clearly needed.

On the way out I saw there was also a grocery store so I got some snacks (and coke) and walked back to the hotel to hopefully be done for the night.