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Well the day started off in Starbucks, over breakfast we compared all the listed highlights of Montreal with the map that we had trying to plan a route through the city. To be honest we were probably getting too technical with ourselves and we should have just walked but those who know us know how much we love a plan!

First stop of the tour of the day was the old town. Now before I go on about the old town I need to share some important information about Montreal first. Its fair to say that Montreal feels like the busiest and most people packed city that we have stopped at this time in Canada and in fact it is.

Even Vancouver felt like a city with a slower heartbeat than

here so as we venture out onto the streets we are dealing with hoards of people going about there business. It also means that the city is carved out into many different areas like London and it stretches for miles. The city has an underground (not like the London tube, this is more like train carriages with wheels like travel over the city in the underground tunnels, they are actually more akin to buses).

So as I said the forst stop of the day was the Old Town of Montreal that consists of about four blocks back from the river here. Its the old port area that is full of tall old warehouse buildings lining the shoreline and where Montreal originally grew from being an important import and export receiver of goods for centuries..

Now there are too may historic buildings to mention that we passed here in the old town but we will mention a few that have more than a little bit of a british connection. Firstly we passed statues of our old monarchs in King George the 7th and Queen Victoria, all heralding them as great monarchs and the good that they had done for Canada. Being we were in the sea faring area, there is even a Nelsons Column celebrating one of England's greatest men of the sea.

The most impressive building that we went into was probably the Cathedral of Notre Dame (they all seem to be called Notre Dame since we got into the French part of Canada). This was a huge double towered granite buit church with a huge square to the front of it. The exterior was impressive enough with its huge foreboding oak panelled doors but it was when you got inside that it really showed it opulence. The ceiling was vaulted and painted and there were balconies to all sides with a huge church organ tot the rear. The sides of the church had many mini alters with glowing multi coloured candles burning in front of them The candles bounced the colour from the stained glass windows all around and created a mottled hue, it certainly felt tranquil. It was the main alter though that the real opulence of the cathedral showed through. Here they had been allowed to go mad with gold leaf and everything seemed to reflect something. The total impact was impressive but I could not help thinking that back in 1823 when the church was built the conditions that people were living in would not have come close to the wealth that the church was displaying yet they base their religion on helping the needy......spending all their collection money on such a building just seemed a little ironic but then at the same time i did appreciate its beauty and its history.

We left the old town and wondered around the old port area watching some of the modern giant tankers coming into port with goods from China no doubt. This was a great leisure area with lakes for paddle boats, a manmade beach and cycle paths everywhere and it was great to see many families taking advantage of the good weather at the facilities that they are very fortunate to have in such a large city.

We left the docka and starting a long walk back into the city and the Olympic Park and Botanic Gardens. Now we had not realised just how big a walk this was going to be so after an hour we gave in and caught the Metro (underground) the remainder of the journey. It was just as well to be honest as even on the Metro the journey out into the suburbs seemed to take an age.

Montreal hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1976 and to be honest the Olympic Park was showing its age of that time. A vast concrete bunker of a building with a huge tower that had become a look out point as it had changed use. In a way although it was obviously in use it looked like this was only just being achieved as it had that feeling that it could so easily be shut down just like that. With it being a 1960's / 1970's constructed it was a sea of poured concrete, trying to evoke modern space age times as most things did at that time (remember that man had only just landed on the moon in 1969). It was a shame to see such a vast expanse of buildings look like they were a breath away from decay......lets hope that London's doesn't end up this way.

Across the road form the Olympic Park sat The Botanic Gardens and this was a completely different proposition. For a start it was mobbed on such a sunny day and despite the admission fee (an extortionate $30 per person......thats a lot!!) We got our ticket but were certainly ill prepared for what we saw in the next three hours or so.

Before we move on I should point out that we had actually been to the entrance of the botanic gardens the last time we were here in Montreal but because it had been winter then (we figured that everything would be out of season etc and again we both remember gulping at the admission fee we walked away)Not this time.

The botanic gardens here in Montreal are actually the third largest in the world (only behind those of Berlin and London's Kew Gardens). We were so lucky as despite the usual attractions such as the Chinese garden, the Japanese gardens and The Rose Garden, all the normal things that you would expect to see when you come to a botanical garden they had something extra special up their sleeves.

It was called the Mosaicultures International 2013 festival and what that means is that there were sculptures all around the gardens that had been commissioned by different countries from right around the globe that were all built out of plants.. Now we are not talking a little bit of topiary here. Some of things weighed 100 tonnes and were as tall as seven or eight story building so I hope we are conveying just how extraordinary these things are..

It was not just about these amazing foral works of art though, the botanical gardens also had its traditional side with a Japanese Garden and an absolutely stunning Chinese garden (all the trip advisor reviewers were correct). To be honest it was the sculptures that sold the show and the boor beautiful blooms and flowerbeds played very much second fiddle to the more unusual offerings. You really do need to look through the photos to understand what we mean as we just dont have the words....and yes......it must be a sign of the ageing process that we enjoyed walking around a botanical gardens...its happened somehow along the way we crept into middle age!

We caught the Metro (tube/underground) back to the Place Des Arts (our nearest stop) and went back to the hotel for a little down time. Jonathan went off to the gym for a run whilst Trevor went for a swim (making the most of the hotel facilities although Trevor did report that the pool complex had not seen the same refurbishment budget as the hotel seemed to have done).

Exercised out we headed off to the village, another twenty minute walk up the road and ended up in a lounge bar for our dinner people watching on the street in front of us. It was one of those meals that will not go down in history but there was nothing wrong with it either.

Following dinner we sat in the street terrace of a local bar called the sky bar for a couple of drinks although Trevor could still not order a scottish whisky and had to make do with Canadian Club. It was a lovely unwind to what had turned out to be quite a full on day and after all the walking / swimming / running we had done in the day we gave in to the metro on the way home to save our poor aching muscles.

I certainly dont remember either of us falling asleep so we must have been tired!

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