Montreal Botanical Gardens use the early nights of Autumn to their benefit. The Chinese and Japanese gardens stay open until 10pm, and put on quite the show. My camera gave up on me just as we arrived at the Pie IX metro station, so all of the photos owe credit to Helena who kindly let me use a few of hers.
I managed to take the snap of the Olympic Stadium while battery was still on my side - it is neighbour to the gardens, which was an added bonus to our journey. Lit up at night it looks great, I'm not so sure during the day. I could see the cars on the side of the stadium's leaning tower taking tourists to its very top - that would prove a pretty view I am sure.
These first two pictures are of the Chinese Garden, which was decorated with hundreds of paper lanterns from Shanghai. Faye knocked the nail on the head by pointing out how 'untouristy' the garden was; paths were windy and uneven, you could choose to clamber on a much rockier route rather than take the easy option. We really liked that, it made it feel much more 'real'. Saturday night was definitely peak time though - I'd recommend taking time out on a week night if I were to go again.
The Japanese Garden had a very different feel, it was peaceful and had been designed with an unobtrusive sound track of bells tolling in the background and clever lighting to make the most of the ornate trees and water features. It even had a 'contemplation zone' which we bypassed. We were all prepared for it to be a crisp evening, but coats proved necessary in yet another balmy twist in Montreal's Autumn weather. Larvely.
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