 |
| Gold Medalist in ?????????? |
It was a sunny Sunday in Montreal. With the temperature hovering in the 70's all day it was prefect conditions for checking out a bit more of this amazing city. We had done much of what had been recommended by the hotel concierge, with the exception of the Montreal Botanical Garden and the Olympic Park.
One of the most direct routes to this area happened to be through some neighborhoods we hadn't walked through the previous day, as well as La Fontaine Park. With our map, sunscreen and a couple of bottles of water we put our semi-rested legs in motion. We walked along the waterfront for a bit before turning left towards LaFontaine Park. It was still fairly early in the morning when we made it to the park but it was already full of joggers, walkers, sitters and families. Like Mount Royal Park, La Fontaine has a small lake in the middle that is also used for ice skating in the winter. It made for a nice stop to sit for a while and do a little people watching.
 |
| La Fountain in La Fontaine Park! |
 |
| La Fontaine Park |
When we left the park we had two options of routes to take as we continued on to the Montreal Botanical Garden. The route we selected wasn't bad, but the neighborhoods weren't nearly as interesting as some of the others we had passed through the last couple of days.
We didn't know it at the time, but size wise, the Montreal Botanical Gardens is the second largest of it's kind in the world. There is a nice restaurant with outdoor seating where we enjoyed a good and surprisingly inexpensive lunch. After eating we headed towards the ticket office, which had a long line. We lost our motivation to stand in line for tickets and were quite pleased with the gardens in front as well as those around the restaurant, so we decided to pass on going inside. Learning about the size of the gardens and still feeling a bit worn out from the two previous days, I think that was a good decision.
 |
| Entrance to the Montreal Botanical Gardens |
 |
| Gardens in front of the entrance to the gardens! |
 |
| Botanical Gardens Restaurant |
Directly across the street from the botanical gardens is the Montreal Olympic Park. This is where the 1976 Summer Olympics were held. The venues are still being used. What was the Olympic Village is now a large apartment complex. The velodrome is now a popular Montreal tourist destination known as the Biodome. There is quite a bit of renovation going on in and around some of the venues, including the Biodome, which is currently closed until December.
I did a little checking on who were the stars of the 76 Olympics. The gymnastics world was turned upside down by a 14 year old Romanian who was the first to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics. She went on to win three gold medals at the games and added two more at the 1980 Olympics. Her name...…….Nadia Comaneci. If you're around my age, you probably remember her well. Some other household names from those Olympics were boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Leon and Michel Spinks. But, the most famous athlete from those games was the decathlon gold medalist, Bruce Jenner, who is now Caitlin Jenner.
 |
| Straining to hold up the Montreal Tower. It's over 500 feet tall and angled at 45 degrees. Not surprisingly it's the tallest incline tower in the world! It is part of the Biodome |
 |
| They love their hockey in Montreal and they loved Maurice "Rocket" Richard. He played 18 seasons for the Canadiens and was the first player in NHL history to score fifty goals in one season. |
By the time we finished the botanical gardens and Olympic park area it was mid-afternoon and we were pretty well whipped. We took a bus back to the hotel, checked out a few art galleries, did a little more people watching and called it a day. Not just any day, but a real good day!
