alligators and surfers
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Today we got an earlyish start and went to Montreal's "Biodome". It's a zoo in four pieces that's been built into the former 1976 Olympic cycling facility.
A rather clever re-use of the building, I thought, and one that's doubly smart for having been done utilizing a heat-exchange with the ground water.
The four areas are all taken from the Americas: tropical rainforest; arctic Canada; Atlantic; and woodland. The woodland environment - made to match the mixed forest of southern Ontario and Quebec - has lynx, otters, beavers, and a porcupine (which the day before we learned can be eaten raw, but where do you start!). The Atlantic environment - my favourite as far as temperature was concerned - has 600 fish from many species (mmmmm, mackeral) and a sky full of terns and gulls. It was hilarious to watch some of the birds dive - so ungainly under water. The tropical environment has alligators: I'd sold Kenny on the idea of the "Biodome" by mentioning the alligators, and the boy turned out to be particularly good at spotting the creatures under the dense foliage despite their muted colours. The environment also has many lividly-coloured birds and some primates as well, though I never spotted the golden monkey that Kenny and Mari saw. The arctic region has auks, the penguins of the north pole. This group of birds is a more graceful and cheery-looking equivalent to penguins, which were included in the arctic environment in a special separate room (I suppose penguins are more popular than auks in the public imagination).
Over all, the biodome was a hit with the boy, he loved racing around to see what animals were next. It's also just about the right size, I think we were done in about 2.5 hours of steady touring. If I had one word of advice for the operators it would be to add some actual information to the interactive kiosks: some maps showing each animal's habitat for instance; maybe some clues as to the animals diet and habits and lifespan and so on would help.
After the zoo we hopped on the subway and went to a spot along the Lachine canal where we could rent bikes. We signed out two mountain bikes and a single-wheeled trailer for Kenny that had working pedals. For $75 we had the bikes for the day, and took them to the up-stream end of the canal. Stopping there at a steak place for lunch, we plotted a return trip that would follow the river back to the city centre and from there across the river to the Expo '67 grounds. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast. Kenny's pedalling was actually helpful, there was even a time while I was walking the bike that I had to ask him to ease up a bit.
Along the way we saw people surfing a standing wave on the river in the rapids: they'd paddle out, catch the wave for a spell, then swim back to shore as the river carried them away. It seemed like a lot of work, but when I commented to one of the surfers that it looked like fun she looked at me like I was an idiot for stating the obvious. Or perhaps she was just appalled that a flabby forty year old had deigned to speak with her.
Cycling is a great way of seeing any city, but seeing a new town on a sunny summer day with an easy cycle path that wends between homes and old industrial sites and swimming pools bustling with kids - priceless. One thing that struck me, though, was how the city's retention of Expo '67 grounds (along with the 1976 Olympics buildings) reflected on the Montreal. Along with the many "a louer" signs on all manner of buildings, Montreal seems a bit more backward-looking than it is living in the present.