Olympic Tower

 

The Olympic tower in Montreal is the highest inclined tower in the world, with its 165-metre elevation and 45-degree angle. The Tower of Pisa, by comparison, has a 5-degree angle.

 

They have an elevator / funicular which is two stories high and can accomodate 76 people at a time. It has two stories!

 

We were lucky that we got to ride on the second story both on our way up and our way down.

 

The view was spectacular and we spent quite some time trying to figure out what is what.

 

The easiest to spot was amusement part La Ronde. The ferris wheel sure helped in identifying it.

 

Naturally that led to my kids to want to visit La Ronde, but I didn't think I wanted to add it to an already full day :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Animals

 

We really enjoyed seeing all the animals and biospheres in the Biodome.

 

Dawn made many pictures, although it is hard because you aren't allowed to use flash.

 

The porcupines looked quite lazy, made me wonder whether they had been hanging out with the sloths too much....

 

All the signs were in French and English, which added to the excitement of being in foreign territory ^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Biodome, we made our way to the Olympic Tower, which rises over Montreal.

 

Biodome

For many years I have wanted to take my kids to our 'closest foreign city' Montreal in Quebec, Canada. But as always, life interfered and it was one of those things that was on my list of 'some day' but not very high on that list.

 

One complicating factor was that I thought I would have to get passports for all the kids, and the amount of time and money I would need to spend on that never seemed urgent enough.

 

Plenty of excuses were easily found and life went on. Until last year when I was talking with some friends about traveling to Canada and found out that children still do not need a passport to get to Canada. As long as they are 16yo or under, they can get into Canada with just a birth certificate. I double checked the official web sites just in case, but as always, my friends had the correct info.

 

Fast forward to this year when I found myself in the middle of selling a house (amazing how much time and energy that takes!) but the trip to Montreal stayed in my mind as something I wanted to do. The summer went by fast but the good news was that after a few days of school we were going to have a long weekend with Labor Day. I closed my eyes, held my breath and jumped into our Montreal trip!

 

Yesterday we woke up super early and left the house before 7am (yawn!) The trip to Montreal was long but uneventful and the kids were still too sleepy to fight much in the car ^^ Even the border was fast and easy crossing (and yes, the birth certificates were enough)

 

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We started at the Biodome, where they have a lot of different biospheres set up. My favorite one is the tropical rainforest, complete with monkeys, many birds and all kinds of other creatures.

 

One big bird, whose name I can't recall, would walk on the walkway in the middle of all the people. He was very self assured, stopping to pose for pictures and wave at his fans.

 

I had been in the Biodome once, but that was many kids and many years ago and none of the kids who went with me yesterday had ever been there. They loved it.

 

For Sylvia, Erik and Kate I played up the 'first conscious visit to a foreign country' angle. What I like about Montreal is that there is so much French around so it feels more foreign to them. We had fun reading all the signs.

 

We arrived in Montreal around 11am, so the drive was not too bad considering that we made two stops along the way. Definitely something we can do again.

 

Fruit Loving Girl

 

My kids might not be big veggie eaters, but all of them love most fruits. Here is Sylvia with one of her favorite fruits.

 

She loves eating mango, so I always get them when they are on sale. Her sister Kate loves mango too but prefers it dried, and only from the Philippines, so she is a tad more picky ^^

 

Summer Play

 

This summer my kids have been getting together with friends to work on a play about Sparta and Troy to perform.

 

They had a great time getting together with friends twice a week and last week it finally was time for the performance.

 

They did a great job!

 

 

 

 

 

Humming Bird

 

I had never seen hummingbirds in the Netherlands, so when I moved to the States I was thrilled to see them in our backyard. Our flowers have been very popular with them lately.