Montreal, Day 3: What a difference a mocha makes

[muckefuck]

Finally managed to get back to sleep a bit after that last entry. Only two hours, but it may have made the difference between being totally out of it and only half-zombified. Our plan for today was the Jardin botanique across from the Olympic Stadium. We didn't want to waste a lot of time on a big breakfast, so we popped into La Mie matinale in the heart of the Village for a quick bite--which ended up taking as much time as an ordinary sit-down place. Ah, well--an ordinary straight place wouldn't have an entire wall consecrated to la divine Dalida, so it's all good.

I went to the garden with modest expectations and left deeply impressed. Le Lutin's friends had recommended the Chinese and Japanese gardens. The latter was nothing special for a kid who grew up practically next door to Shaw's Gardens in St Louis, but the Jardin de Chine may be the best I've ever seen. (It certainly outclassed the ones we saw in Beijing, but sadly that's not saying much; more sigificantly, it at very least rivals the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver.) It also had a bigger and more varied alpine garden than the Belvedere Palace in Vienna.

But what most struck M³ and me was the state of the grounds. Everything was extremely well maintained, despite the fact that in nearly two hours we never saw a single gardener at work. Not so much as a wheelbarrow or working sprinkler, come to think of it. And the place is so large we barely covered a quarter of its sites--we never even set foot inside the greenhouses. Truly a must-see on any return trip.

We came back so worn out that despite the flawless iced mocha from the Café Viennois that has me burbling, Le Lutin crashed the moment we got back to the apartment. (Thus my opportunity to blog a bit.) Of course, it didn't help that we spent almost a half-hour chatting with a button-cute Brazilian bear cub on the way back (not five minutes after I told him, "We've been walking on Ste.-Catherine for two blocks and we haven't run into anyone you know; how is that possible?") His friend Anny was supposed to take us to Mont-Royal before happy hour, but it looks like we may dispense with that and go straight to the bar. After that? Drag shows, fireworks, raccoons--who can say for sure?

Confidential to t..d...: You see, I thought we'd bottomed out at Place Jacques Cartier. Just shows to go you something!

Comments

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. Did you get to visit the insectarium?

I really enjoyed visiting that exhibit when I was in Montreal.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

It was closed! Presumably for renovations. They gave us a discount on our tickets, which is fine since I don't think we would've had time.