Day 45 Montreal (Day Three - Fri)

We woke to a rainy day today. From our advantage point we could see people moving around with umbrella and raincoats so we did the only thing possible. We went back to bed! We had inside information that the rain would lift around 11am.

So after the second rise and having breakfasted, we headed out. We were off to the Biodome today. The Biodome was an easy 3km walk from our accommodation, mostly through Parc Maisonneuve which is a lovely place to walk, run or cycle. The open parkland is approx. 60 acres in size. If you include the surrounding botanical gardens, 9 hole golf course and Olympic park it is 290 acres in size. The park was established in 1910 with the above features taking place thereafter.

Enough about the park. The Biodome was opened in 1992 after Montreal held the summer Olympics in 1976. As with all large events, the Olympic committee asked the people what should they do with these buildings post the Olympic games. The decision was to build the Biodome.

The Biodome was established to create four of the ecosystems of the Americas:

• the lush and humid Tropical Rainforest, warm even in the depths of a Montréal winter;

• the Laurentian Maple Forest, changing with the seasons;

• the Gulf of St. Lawrence;

• and the Subpolar Regions of the Americas: Labrador Coast and Sub-Antarctic Islands.

  They have done a great job in setting up each of these regions. They are very lifelike. When we entered the tropical rainforest, off came the jackets in the humidity of the lush rainforest. As you walked through the enclosure on the raised platform different sections opened up before you. There were different types of birds flying through the enclosure or walking around in streams. You saw tamarins and marmosets(species of ape) running through the trees (three types - ). They are supposed to have three types of macaws but we could only see the red (scarlet macaw) and dark blue (Hyacinth macaw).

  There was a sloth slowly making his way around the top beams and 3 caiman (alligators) sleeping by a pond.

  Making our way into the next enclosure we noticed a drop in the temperature. The first thing you come to is a guide with a table displaying different types of animal poop. You are challenged to match the animal to the poop. As you walk through each area they have information about some of the animals and distinguishing attributes of their poop. For instance, Beavers poop twice. The first contains goodness not yet absorbed by their bodies so they eat it and the second time it is dry and fibrous.

  In the Laurentian Forest we saw river otters, wood ducks, beavers, racoons and north American Porcupines. There supposedly were Red Cardinals and some other birds but they were hiding (if there at all) as we did not see so much as flitter through the tree branches.

  The beavers were swimming around with one having fun dragging a piece of branch around. Later it took it into its lodge (this was shown by CCTV). We were amazed at the size of the porcupine sitting on the ledge of its enclosure.

  Next stop viewing starts by looking into the huge tank filled with sea creatures from the Gulf of St Lawrence. There was a school of fish with one who liked to swim on his side (he may have been a little sick or he could just be unique). There were ducks diving down to the bottom of the tank (about 10 metres deep) to pick up food from the sea bed.

  Moving to the top of the tank we were able to watch a number of different types of sea birds.

  Lastly was the sub polar region. Here we saw puffins having fun swimming against the jet stream. There were also four different types of penguins- King, Gentoo, Rockhopper and Macaroni. During feeding time a guide came out and gave a talk about the different penguins. One cute little rockhopper stood on a ledge behind the person feeding them and would tap her on the back with his beak in order to receive its share of food.