Guys, I've worked it out what birds do when they're in the bathroom. It's eyebrow plucking or at least I hope those were eyebrows that I found in the sink this morning.
I think we pretty much exhausted Montreal yesterday. Mainly coz we're both really knackered and pretty tired at looking at similar buildings and hear the same stories. Also it's pissing it down.
So we went for a French Breakfast consisting of croissants et Jambon and then headed for the Metro. It was another game of hunt the metro entrance. I spent ages examining the map saying it should be right here only to turn round and realise it was right there. It's a nightmare I tell you. Right so on the Montreal Metro there's a choice of 4 tickets. You can make one trip for C$2.50, 6 for C$10, buy a one day pass for C$7.00 or a 3 day pass for C$14.00. They had run out of One Passes and with a typical gaelic shrug (cantona esc) he didn't seem to care much either.
We headed out to the Olympic Stadium to have a wee peek. For C$30.50 you get a guided tour, entry to the Botanical Gardens, Insectarium, Obsrervatory and Biodome. The Stadium was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympics and now has the Worlds tallest Inclined Tower in the World.
We started with a tour of the stadium with our grumpy French Tour Guide who was obviously delighted to be showing off this spectacle to a couple of Brits. Get over it!! The first thing we're were shown was the Pool. I was surprised that the swimming was held in the same building as the Track and Field.
We exited a side door to the pool and were confronted with the site of the actual stadium. Our guide didn't exactly build up the tension for us. Not like the bloke in Madison Square Garden had done. The stadium was probably about the most impressive that I've ever seen (I've seen a few). Originally it held 76,000 for the Olympics, but now it holds 54,000 for Baseball, 68,000 for Football and 102,000 for concerts. The field measured 110m x 180m on which you can park 7 747's. Sorry for the stat attack, but I was impressed.
Now the stadium has a fixed roof made of fibre glass as the original structure wasn't designed to take any weight. The weight is hel off by Steel cables attached to the tower.
The Towers construction was completed after the Olympics as they discovered it would be too heavy if it was all made of concrete. If you look carefully at it you can see where the material changes from Concrete to Steel. To get to the top you have to take a glass fronted cable car which travels up the outside of the structure. It stands at 175 metres tall and is on a 30 degree incline although the guide told us it was 45 degrees.
Next stop the Biodome which is situated next to the Stadium and was originally buiit as a velodrome to host the cycling. It's shaped like a 1970's cyclists helemet. Inside it now has 4 different sub climates, including the rainforest and antartic. It contains plants and animals that wouls normally inhabiate these regions like, Beavers, gators and penguins. Again it worth a look, but I have seen bigger and better in the UK.
In the Evening we took in a Hockey Game at the Bell centre to watch the Montreal Canadiens host the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was only a preseason fixture, but the announcer did his best to whip the crowd up into a frenzy before the game, but as soon as the game started all went quiet in the crowd. Not sure if that's because it's preseason, but all you could hear was skates and sticks clashing. The crowd first got excited when one of the Canadiens buried a Maple Leaf into the boards. The arena was very impressive however the atmosphere was not. Each period last 20 minutes but they take a 15 minuted break in between. I know they've got to look after the ice but give me a break. They also come on during every penalty to wipe up all the slush. Is this just because the Americans don't have the attention span to concentrate for 20 minutes.
On the whole it's a fast and skilful and enjoyable to watch apart from all the breaks. I'd definately give it another go, but only at a league game. It did strike me that the Canadians have a worrying love of Celine Dion, that didn't help much either.
