Montreal

Waking up today at Vincent’s it’s hot hot hot and the start of a bit of a heat wave at 28!

We drive straight from the outskirts of Quebec to the centre of Montreal as our next host’s home is a little too far out to park and then bike and have a couple of fun moments trying to find parking around the city that’s not underground! Success at the old port and that’s the area we want to start on - Alex spots a huge zip line and is determined to have a go later.

It’s the weekend a national holiday and hot so everyone is out and about and it’s a cool area with a boardwalk, peDelos in the water, a large ferris wheel, arty stalls and little food stands.  You can see some evidence of the city’s past with old grain elevators on the outskirts of town and near the old port. We wanted to try the famous Montreal smoked meat and find a little stand for a sandwich which is delicious!

We want to see some of the older part of town so follow a walking route highlighting some of the interesting architecture including the old notre dame church and Wall Street! It feels a bit like London.

Walking back through the fountains and park area to the old port people are reading books under trees and we spot red winged blackbirds flying around that look like they are wearing little red epaulets!

We need to have a go on the peDelos so join the queue and embark on our craft - we seem to have one with very dodgy steering and guy’s feet almost don’t fit! A bit of a family argument ensues trying to steer and we eventually figure it out!

After the pedal is we thought Alex would have decided not to zip line as it’s huge (it’s usually me that likes a bit of thrill seeking!) but I’m he’s desperate to do it so we get him up there.  It’s a long wait but eventually we see him sailing through the air - so proud of him and apparently he’s been chatting to the ladies in the queue and entertaining them all during the wait!

After returning to a very warm Wendy we drive to our next hosts in the Montreal suburbs.  It’s a bit of a tight squeeze to get Wendy on the drive but Marc and Karin are very accommodating letting us use their water.  After a quick taco dinner we cycle to find a laundromat (one of the only real downsides from van life!) and are soon home with clean clothes!

We have a good rest and end up chatting to some lovely local teacher ladies as Alex is scooting about and we pack up.  It seems like a lovely community here, but after a few hot city days were keen to explore a bit more of Montreal and then head to some nature as we’re “citied” out.

It’s baking today 32 as we head back into Montreal this time heading for the old Olympic park which houses the biodome (think Eden project but with animals), the botanical gardens and the insectarium.

The old Olympic velodrome is now the biodome and it’s a really impressive structure and has several zones with plants and animals from areas such as the South American jungle, Labrador coast and maple forests. 

Our highlights are watching the huge sturgeon cruise around, capybaras swimming and puffins and penguins chilling out.

We stop briefly at the planetarium but all the shows are sold out as it’s still a holiday and there’s a Latin music festival happening in the park so it’s pretty busy.

Back to plan A and we walk to the botanical gardens where we seem to have arrived during a garden show with lots of stalls selling plants and gardening paraphernalia and it’s the first time we’ve really seen much gardening here.  Our first garden is to Chinese garden which is the largest real Chinese garden outside of china and was designed by a Chinese designer.  It’s breathtaking with ponds, pagodas, shaded areas and bonsai. 

The Japanese garden is pretty with lovely streams flowing through but doesn’t quite match the splendour of the Chinese garden for us.  The rose garden is not yet in bloom but can imagine how spectacular it will be in summer.

Our last stop is the insectarium which is cleverly designed to feel like you’re in an ant hill and there are sensory experiences to simulate what it’s like to be an insect on the lower floor which Alex loves! We see a room full of insect specimens grouped in really cool ways like “weird horns”, “odd heads”, “well camouflaged” and some of the beetle displays look like collections of little jewels.

The final level is the butterfly house and we all like watching leaf cutter ants carry brightly coloured pieces of leaf around the room. They have a Madagascar rainbow stick insect which Alex gets to hold! Fab.

We get back to the van after a blueberry ice cream in the steaming heat and someone's has parked very close behind us where there should be no parking - we’re not convinced we’ll get out! Fortunately we escape (just) and we notice the car’s been ticketed - sweet karma!

We’ve decided to leave Montreal a day early  and fortunately manage to agree an extra night at our next stop at a lake house just outside Ottawa.

We arrive late and the biting beasties are out in force (it’s the peak for black fly in this location) and Robbie our host looks like a beekeeper in his special outfit that keeps the besties out! We get setup super quick and hide from the beasties we can hear buzzing around the van and hope they can't get through the fly screens!

Emma