Day 8: Montreal Exploring

After another visit to Eggspectations for breakfast, we decided to rent bikes and explore a little farther away from our hotel. The city has a great program where you rent bikes for about $7 a day (there are over 100 bike drop off/pick up sites around the city)! 

First stop, The Biosphere, on St. Helene Island. It's a learning center that's all about the ecology of the planet. We learned about pollution, climate change, alternative energy, etc. the structure itself is open-air and looks like Epcot in Disney World.

Inside looking at one of the displays

Inside looking out at the city

Trying out the "walk on water" display

Next it was off to the old Olympic Park and the Botanical Gardens. The stadium was very futuristic and made for a good photo-op. We didn't go in any of the Olympic buildings because we wanted to see the Gardens so bad and had just a few hours. The Botanical Gardens didn't disappoint. They were amazing! They have topiaries everywhere, and they're gorgeous. They also have gardens and plants from various countries. It was breathtaking and a great learning experience too. It was well worth the bike out there. Thanks for the recommendation Cara!

The large tin cans are large telescopes from the planetarium

Botanical gardens has beautiful creations all over the park

Pretty bonsai tree right? Look at how old it is! (below)

445 years old!!!!

This one is only 30 years old

This one is 63 years old

The oldest tree at the botanical gardens was over 600 years old, but just passed away.

Wood blocks carved into structures

Mini piano carved from wood

Mother Earth

Hairy orangutans

This looks like just some flowers until....

You see the side and realize it's a tipped over pot!

I'm a big fan!

Sunflowers as big as my head!

After the Botanical Gardens, it was back to Old Montreal for dinner. We finally had crepes for dessert. We were so stuffed we could barely walk back to the hotel. All in all, a great last day in Quebec!

Now we pack up and get ready to go home, but as always, we had to stop for some foreign candies!

We would also like to give a shoutout to our cabin attendant on the cruise, Guti, for making us a new towel animal every day.