Montreal, Canada is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec and it is the second largest city in Canada. Geographically, the city is as close to the European coast as it is to Vancouver and in both look and feel it combines some of the toptraits of the two continents.
Paris is one of the cities that Montreal really equates to. Montreal is also the second largest French-speaking metropolis in the world. Three and a half million people are of French heritage, the other third being a cosmopolitan medley of les autres – including British, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Italians, Greeks, Jews, South Americans and West Indians. The city is certainly Canada’s most vibrant place with bars and clubs, a global variety of eateries all paired with a calendar of festivals.
One thing no one can question about Montreal is that it’s a place tourists love to visit and explore due to all the history and beauty that is all around you when you’re in Montreal. Finding a nice hotel is only going to present one challenge in that there are just so many options. Whether you’re looking for accommodation in a fancy boutique hotel or just would like something more fitting to your budget, you have countless options to select from. If you really want you can even get luxury accommodation in the form of waited housing, penthouses that overlook gorgeous Montreal or short term rentals that are available for visitors. There are a great deal of options in any budget range for you to choose from when searching for hotel rooms. A good plan will be to check for cheap Montreal hotels online when coordinating your travel so you guarantee a good price {ahead of time|beforehand}.
As for fun activities in the city, again there are many, but here are just a few mentioned. The former Olympic cycling track, called the Biodome, has been converted into an artificial habitat that features four different ecosystems: a Tropical Forest, a Laurentian Forest, a St. Lawrence Marine Ecosystem and the Polar Worlds of the Arctic and the Antarctic. For me, my next item on the agenda was the Montreal Botanical Garden. I left the Olympic Stadium and walked under the Sherbrooke Street bridge and found myself right next to the entrance gates of Montreal’s Botanical Garden. The .75 admittance fee gives you access to both the gardens as well as the Insectarium, so I started off with an in depth introduction to the world of insects.
The Montreal Insectarium opened in 1990 and holds hundreds of different species of moths, butterflies, bugs and spider. All and all the scientific collection has about 140,000 different species of insects and the exhibition collection has 4000 species on display and about another 20000 that they sometimes put out for display. One really neat collection that consists of over 100 different species is the arthropods collection. The unique Insectarium focuses on many aspects of insects including the science, artistic, cultural and even gastronomical views of the species.
Across the street from the Montreal Insectarium is the marsh and bog garden that has a very large collection of gorgeous water lily flower specimens. Furthermore there is also one of the largest rose gardens in Canada located close by that contains about 10000 roses made up of many different kinds of roses.
If you’re looking for some more scenic spots to visit, the Japanese Garden is located a north of the bog marsh garden and is definitely worth checking out. The designer is the world famous Ken Nakajima. The design and elements of the garden was carefully chosen and laid out from the stones, water features and plants within to create a peaceful symbolism. Right next door to the Japanese Garden lays the Chinese garden and it represents the link between the Montreal Botanical Garden and the City of Shanghai’s park departments. The Chinese garden consists of more than 120 containers that were shipped from Shanghai and required 50 specialized Chinese craftsmen to create the unique and beautiful garden.
When you visit Montreal, you will not be low on things to do. Enjoy your vacation to Montreal!
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