Leisure bike rides in and around Montreal

     In my previous blog, I described how difficult it was to sight-see Montreal while riding in the city's 50K "tour" with 25,000 other bicyclists. Fortunately we were in Montreal for seven days, time enough for my sister and her hubby and me to strike out on our own and explore Montreal. Here's a few photos taken by my sister and me on those more relaxed riding excursions . . .

Montreal's Botanical Garden includes a Japanese section which was lush with every shade of green . . .

Love this stick fence around the Japanese House . . .

The red and green ground cover contrast was striking; that's my sister walking.

The Japanese section included an extensive Bonsai collection donated by original owners who died many years ago; this Sargent Juniper is 270 years old.

This is the beautiful entrance to the Chinese section . . .

 It's hard for me not to take photos in this beautiful place . . .

 This tree struck me as one of the Talking Trees that grows on the banks of the Munchkin River in Wizard of Oz . . . .

It amazed us that total strangers stopped to chat with us. Montreal's citizens are mostly bi-lingual and very friendly.

Montreal has several historic cathedrals with beautiful interiors.

There's thousands of historic homes like these Victorian row-homes built in the late 19th Century  . . .

     On a peninsula of sorts, between the Port of Montreal along the canal and the Saint Lawrence River on the other side, this is Montreal's famous "Habitat" collection of condos. They were initially part of the World Fair Expo of 1967. These cubist homes are established as a limited partnership and buyers become a "partner" when they purchase a unit worth over $1 million. The monthly fee includes all utilities and private shuttles to downtown and Old Montreal. Perfect place to live if you have money and a love/hate relationship with cities!

I'm not sure what this sculpture is all about, but Montreal has a huge number of artistic sculptures downtown, many with a touch of humor.

      This is the famous Observation Tower of Montreal which looms over the city like something from a sci-fi movie.

 

You can ride the elevator to the top.

Those tension lines hold up a very large roof over a stadium. "The Big Owe" stadium has an illustrious history worth the read; click on this link to read it.

A summary of my week in Montreal? I loved visiting this French-speaking city. C'est tres agreable to bike everywhere to see places, things, people, and lush gardens and to interact with friendly urban Canadians. Je reviendrai!