SATURDAY 25 June

There was a lot of Montreal that we did not see yesterday, most of it, in fact.  And with only today left to check it out, there was a lot we were not going to see.  The group consensus for today’s visit was the Montreal Botanical Garden.  Not only did it sound like a fabulous place, but it was far enough away from Old Montreal and the World Triathlon Championship that access, traffic, and parking would be easy.

On the way to the Garden we passed The Olympic Stadium and Biodome.  The Biodome is directly across the street from the Garden main parking lot.  It is a very impressive structure that is visible from miles away in many directions, and towers over the Garden.  Parking was, again, handled at a self-serve pay station, which we have learned to navigate reasonably well.  We bought our tickets, good for the day with in-&-out use, and went in.

 

We did not do a lot of research in advance and so did not know exactly what to expect.  It turned out that there are three main themed garden areas—Chinese, Japanese, and Native—an area of “flower beds”, and a large area of trails.

 

We did the Chinese garden first.  The plants and trees were wonderful, but equally so the stone slab paths and buildings.  The whole area was rich with vibrant colors and designs, and a highlight was a display of Bonsai threes, most of which were 60 or more years old and one of which was 140 years old.  Nurturing something for seven generations says something about a culture

 

The Japanese garden was equally wonderful, but very different.  Carefully placed trees and bushes were pruned to provide framed views of cascading water features and other aspects of the garden.  More serene than the Chinese garden, and almost entirely in shades of green, it had subtlety that required a slower pace to examine and contemplate.

The Native Lands garden was different yet again, devoted to the plant life of the “north” including the tundra.  No formality here like in the Chinese and Japanese gardens; just a lovely walk in the woods and by larger ponds.  Like the Japanese garden, however, there was a large variety of plants that required us to look at what was actually in front of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but not least, were the flower beds.  “Beds” belies the fact that there were different sizeable areas each with a focus; such as medicinal plants, poisonous plants, decorative plants, food plants, etc.  They were all arranged in planting beds, however; mostly straight rows but some decorative.

 

 

It was a warm day without any cloud cover so we rendezvoused at an ice cream stand we saw on the way in.  Lucky for us, they had vegan vanilla frozen cups.  It was surprisingly good.  We discussed what else we might see/do while on “the island” and decided we would just head back to the campground.  That took longer than expected due to multiple navigational mis-ques, but the details are not important.