Today was my last full day in Montreal. As I seem to do when I’ve been someplace for a few days and have been very busy, I didn’t do quite as much today, though I was still relatively active. I hopped on the metro again and went out to Biosphère, which was part of Expo 67. I found out it was actually the US exhibit space during the Expo. I also found out that there was a fire in 1976, which burned off all of the acrylic panels on the geodesic dome, but did not damage the structure itself. The panels were never replaced so the dome is completely open to the elements, something else I did not realize.
There were several different exhibits, I enjoyed myself there more than I expected. I had thought I would pretty much just go and check out the dome itself, but there were paintings done by students about the concept of forced migration, interesting videos, photos and other art relating to nature. There was a set of four short children’s videos relating to nature, all of which I really enjoyed.
I also went up to the the top floor which had a really cool view. It was a fun morning.
I came back and wandered through a new neighborhood, then through a beautiful park to end up at La Banquise, a poutine restaurant that had been recommended to me. They had many different kinds of poutine, including one called Elvis poutine, lol. Since I had tried traditional poutine at the farm, I decided to get something a little bit different, so the one I got also had beef strips and fried onions, and it was delicious.
My next stop with another cat café! This isn’t something that I normally look for, but when I was checking out different cafés in the neighborhood, this one came up so I decided to stop by. I really liked this place, it was bigger and much nicer than the place I went to in Quebec. It was also more cats and they were very friendly. There was a little kitten who like to try to sample everybody’s food and drink – it hopped up on my table and stuck its mouth in my milk container, then tried to go after my coffee! It was a lovely place to hang out, and I think the first time I’ve been in a café where most of the people were there on their own, and it was almost all women. Now, lest you think it was a bunch of old cat ladies, I was definitely the oldest person there, most of the women were in their 20s or 30s. It has me wondering if there are any cat cafés at home…
Later in the day, I headed out to a laundromat to get laundry done for my the final leg of my trip. The laundry prices were very reasonable, $3 Canadian to wash a load and then about the same to dry. Not bad at all. While my clothes washed I walked around the very family-oriented neighborhood.
It’s interesting in Montréal, I’m just as likely to hear somebody speak English as French, where as in Quebec the only people who speak English are the tourists (and the sales staff if you are not able to speak French), but here it seems like there’s a pretty good mix of locals who speak English – students, as well as families.
After dinner, I headed to the Quartier des Spectacles to see the night art- there was a Soleil exhibit outside a metro station, car art and more. It was a warm evening, perfect for an evening stroll. I ended the evening watching some of the Amazon prime series 3 Pines based on the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. I think Alfred Molina makes a really good Inspector Gamache, and some of the other characters seem true to form, though most seem younger than they were in the books. But it’s been fun to watch scenes of Montreal and think, I’ve been there, I was there yesterday!
