Once more with feeling....

Well, here I am again. Let's see, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, the Biodome.

The Biodome, The Insectarium and The Botanical Gardens

We went to the area of Montreal that was dedicated to the 1979 (I think) Olympics. There was a HUGE stadium, which I had read was plagued with structural problems. So, we skipped that part of the giant complex. Instead, we first went to the Botanical Gardens. It was a very hot and humid day. Franz and I were both losing gallons of water to sweat per day. I don't think we could have drank enough to prevent dehydration. We walked around, hung out in the gift shop to enjoy the A/C for a while, then decided to take the miniature train that circles the gardens. They have a beautiful arboretum, which is not quite as majestic as the forests in Oregon, but nice nonetheless. They have special sections just for lillies and pond plants, medicinal plants, and poisonous plants. We read about the poisonous plants with great interest. It was amazing to both of us that these plants were just right out in the open... you could touch them if you were stupid enough to. Franz remarked, and I think rightly so, that this would never happen in the USA. Because someone would touch one, or even worse, eat one-and then sue the gardens for their own stupidity. The place did put up plexiglass between the poison ivy, poison oak, and the path. But other than that, they just trusted you to mind your own best interests. I thought that was kind of cool.

Incidentally, it was the same with the Metro (subway). They don't have a little announcement that tells you that "The doors are closing." The doors just close and you go like hell to the next station. They trust you to know what the hell is going on and get out of the way accordingly. I liked it. It's nice not to be treated like a child by the "powers that be".

As beautiful and amzing as the botanical gardens were, we were both getting very hot and sweaty. I forgot about humidity. I forgot how much I dislike humidity. So, we changed gears and went to the Insectarium. This is to insects what a planetarium is to planets. They had bugs from all over the world! There are some really HUGE, really beautiful and really industrious bugs on this lovely planet of ours. The venue, however, was VERY crowded. All of the humans jammed into the place reminded me of ants under glass... we were our very own version of an ant farm. Scurrying to and fro, shoving past each other to gain insight about an insect we will no doubt forget in about 5 minutes. It was sort of surreal.

When we finished there, we took a hot, stuffy little tram to the Biodome. This was, far and away, the best part of the trip. This huge building houses 4 distinct biological environments... a rain forest, a Laurentian forest- like a tundra forest, an Arctic polar area, and a river based ecosystem... all under one roof. It was so cool. The rainforest was every bit as hot and humid as outside, but it was amazingly interesting. Franz and I rented the audio headphones that have an automated tour guide program. When you walk into a certain zone in the exhibit, it tells you something new about what you are looking at. Then some of the zones have a little bell sound that plays at the end, indicating you can press a special button on the unit and it will play even further information for you to listen to. The coolest part about the rainforest, besides the strict abundance of life, was the sloth. The taped guide advised places to look for the sloth, which it said would probably be sleeping, but no one could find it. Finally, I found it curled up in the top of a tree. Just as I pointed it out, it moved and everyone else around me got to see it. That may very well have been the only time it moved that day.... and we all got to see it. I was pretty proud of myself. Franz was also VERY good at picking out animals. He found a sleeping lynx that no one else could see... including myself.

We got to see penguins, all kinds of fish, seabirds, all kinds of starfish and anemones... well, you get the idea. In short, it was awesome and I was sad when it was over. I could have easily gone through the whole thing again... it was that cool.

We walked to the Metro and headed back to the hotel for a rest.

A Comedy of Errors- Part Deux

Since this was a Sherry planned day, I found a highly recommended pizza place in our guidebook and figured out how to get to it. We set out that night to try to walk to it. We walked a good distance, though not quite as far as the night before, and came to this place that looked a little run down. It was closed for a holiday/ vacation. For a month. Franz and I just couldn't win.

So, we did what we do best... started wandering around. We walked, well it seemed like for forever. I swear we must have passed through or around at least two or three distinct neighborhoods. I was getting tired. And hungry. And grumpy.

And then it started to rain.

Hard.

Franz was walking in front of me, his glasses getting just as soaked as mine, but seeming to be unbothered by it all. I was getting mad. Why are we walking in the rain? Where the hell are we going? Why are we passing all these restaurants up? When are we going to stop and eat? Just when I was about ready to scream, Franz turned into this building... and, lo and behold, there was the underground mall!! The thing we had heard about, but up until then, been unable to find. It was pretty cool. We wandered around underground for awhile, then hopped on the Metro to go back to the area where I had first updated my blog. We knew there were restaurants there, at least.

And that's about the same time it all went to hell. We got off at the right stop, but exited the building on the wrong side. And spent about the next 45 minutes lost. Did I mention it was raining? Hard? We wandered around for, again it seemed like forever. We stopped and got out our map. We still couldn't figure out where we had gone wrong. How the hell did we end up back in the Village? We were going for the McGill area.

I was losing patience. I was starving. I was soaked. I was standing at an intersection when a truck sped through it and threw a TON of filthy water onto my leg and into my shoe. I was ready to kill someone... and unfortuneately for Franz, he was the closest person to me. God love him, he took my bad attitude in stride, even though he wasn't feeling all that great himself.

Finally, I just told him to pick some place... that I didn't care what it was, I would find something on the menu that I could eat. So, when we finally found the street we were looking for, and it started raining even harder... Franz ducked into the first nice looking place we came to.

An Expensive Oasis

We ended up at this nice Italian place. We were sitting at a table near the front of the place, but it was very smoky there. So, I went and chatted up the owner (A very flirty, older Italian man) and got us moved to a private back room area. Franz and I both had a few cocktails, and calmed down after almost coming to blows over the evening. We had some good food, and commented on the weirdness that is Canadian music. They take little bits and pieces of cultures from everywhere, but mostly America from about 10 years ago. There was lots of Michael Bolton being played on the radio. It was weird.

Then the embarrassing thing happened. There were two violinists playing for various tables in the restaurant. I made the mistake of looking at them. They descended on us like vultures. They swooped in with comments about how beautiful I was, blah blah blah... all kinds of flattery, which while at first seemed charming, was eventually pretty embarrassing. They started playing some romantic violin music, REALLY close to the table... I mean practically on top of us. At the end of it, one of them flashed a five dollar bill at Franz, basically implying "Pay us and we will go away." I felt awful. Why in the world do people put up with this in restaurants? If two big guys came and stood over you in a restaurant until you gave them money to go away, you would call the cops. Why is it any different when they happen to be holding instruments?

Anyway, we ate and got out of there. And I resolved not to look at any live performers anywhere we went ever again.

The Hydrofoil People Bite The Big One

The next day dawned even hotter and more humid than the last. If that is even possible. And, oh yeah, it rained more. A LOT more.

Today we were all set to check out of our hotel, lug our extremely heavy bags (which is mostly my fault, mine weighs more than Franz's) to the Metro, and ride as close as we could get to the docks. We got to the docks, but got hemmed in by some very heavy rain, which we figured we were going to try to wait out. We waited as long as we could, then when we couldn't wait any more, it actually let up. Which was amazing. But then the water on the ground turned to steam as we hiked our way over to the other dock, and by the time we descended the ridiculously long gangplank to get to the hydrofoil, we were both sweating. I was shaking with how tired I was. I had not slept well the night before, and I was feeling VERY sick. I left Franz at the ticket booth, where we had made our reservations a few days before, and lugged our things closer to the boat, under a tent in the hopes that when the next rain storm blew in, our things would stay reasonably dry. Franz seemed gone longer than it would take to pick up 2 tickets, and when I turned around he was motioning to me to come back. I picked up all of our things again, and trudged back to the ticket booth. This was where Franz told me that the boat had been cancelled, that they were giving us bus vouchers and we were supposed to go to the main bus station back in the city!! The woman in the booth was extremely lucky that Franz was between me and her. I wanted to kill someone. We were going to have to lug all of our things back up that gangplank!! In the heat and the steam. And we had both worn long pants and long sleeved shirts because we thought we would get cold on the very fast boat. The one that wasn't coming.

This was where I said, "I hate Montreal." Franz looked sad. I said, "Okay, I don't hate Montreal, but I hate the Hydrofoil people."

In my head I was thinking, "They bite the big one."

Well, my hour at the computer is almost up. I am going to sign off for now, so I can start the story on a lighter note when I pick it back up. Hopefully, I will be able to do that soon. Tonight is our last night in Quebec City, though. I don't know when I will get a chance to write again.

Don't worry, though. I'll find a way.

Love to all,

Sherry