Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Montreal!

Montreal is one of those cities that have character. When you visit the city, you just know. With its hilly streets and many bridges, it reminded me a bit of San Francisco. It's the second largest city in Canada and over 57% of the people speak French. Like many great cities, Montreal is surrounded by rivers.

night
Montreal in the distance by the river side

One of Montreal's great attractions is their Olympic Stadium, which is situated right next to the Biodome. The Biodome houses plants and animals from around the world.

kissing birds
Couple of parrots inside the Biodome

biodome
The Biodome as seen from the top of Olympic Stadium


The first time I saw the Olympic Stadium, it reminded me of Star Trek Enterprise! Also, some people say it reminds them of a scorpion. Very active imaginations!
stadium
Olympic Stadium

If you see these pictures you might get the feeling that it was very hot in Montreal. It's true - these are pictures from last summer when I also visited Montreal, coincidentally when they were having a heat wave.

Another attraction quite close the Biodome is the Insectarium.

stadium
The twig-like insect is easy to spot!

stadium
These leaf-like insects are a bit harder!


While Montreal's signature attraction is the stadium and the immediate neighbourhood, there are plenty of other areas, particularly Old Port and Rue St. Catherine, and an active nightlife, that gets top marks from tourists.

stadium
The nightlife in Montreal is quite lively.
night
night
You can take the time out to visit Montreal Oratoire St Joseph, which is a church built on top of a mountain.


One favourite place of Montrealers is to climb Mont Royal (a mountain from which the city gets her name) and watch the sunset over the city, which is what we did.

Mont Royal
Mont Royal
Mont Royal


If you are wondering why I am doing a travel post, it's getting quite close to another bit of travelling. Unfortunately I am keeping one eye out on the storm in the USA that is now burying Washington. Hopefully, it clears up enough for our own adventure!

11 comments:

Suroor said...

Lovely post! Thank you for such an interesting introduction to Montreal. I loved the pictures.

I want to travel to US and Canada some day.

nadia said...

Oh, I'd love to visit that Biodome! I wonder why we don't have the world's largest biodome yet.

How was the climb to Mont Royal? Do you drive all the way up like in Jebel Hafeet?

I love travel posts! (more so if they have lots of pictures in them). So I'm definitely looking forward to that Washington post :)

mezba said...

Suroor, you haven't been here? *shock* you must come! We are quite lovely people and no bees! :-)

Nadia, I laughed when you wondered why you don't have the largest biodome yet... lol.

Montreal is compact city (it wasn't long to drive from one end to the other) and there's much more to the city than what I put here. Old Port is a lovely area whose pictures unfortunately I don't have and a huge part of the riverside reminded me of cities in Europe, with little bistros and cafes.

You drive up Mont Royal (like Jebel Hafeet). There's also hiking routes so you can park your car and continue some of the way on foot.

Muslim Girl said...

I was in the Maryland and Virginia area over the weekend and it was crazy! 30 inches of snow!!

mezba said...

Muslim Girl, when did you get back? And how were the driving conditions?

Anonymous said...

*Drool* I've always wanted to visit the province and Montreal in particular... One day... Hopefully. Thanks for sharing the photos and the info.

'liya said...

We went to Montreal in the fall and it was very pretty, come to think of it, I don't think Iever did a travel post about it - but you've covered everything nicely here!

Where did you guys decide to go?! (and when do you leave?)

Muslim Girl said...

We actually came back on Monday, and driving conditions were okay since it had stopped snowing Saturday evening.

Their snow removal equipment is really bad though b/c apparently it's all privatized and they don't have enough budget b/c it usually doesn't snow there, so you have to call a snow plow truck personally to try to get them to clear your road!

mezba said...

Eyes Serene, Montreal's a great place to visit. The great plus is it's French without the snootiness! If the weather in the winter was warmer it would be a great living place.

Liya, ah, but that post in answer to where we are (not) going has now just been published.

Muslim Girl, just cancelled our own plans. Looks like they are definitely not built for snow there.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pics.Loved the aerial view of the olympic stadium.Looks a little like the stingray to me :)
Lat

mezba said...

Lat, that's one way of looking at it!