a gay beaver for an olympic mascot
funicular just in view
view from top 175 metres
inside entry to stadium
me in the stadium
the stadium
at the flame and rings 
inside the biosphere
bronte at the front of the biosphere
from the grand prix track
roller bladers on the trackSaturday 6th June
Today we head for the Olympic Park which was host to the 1976 Olympics. The main stadium is cool, it has the worlds largest incline tower built above it with a funicular ride to the top. The tower is meant to house the roof of the stadium when it retracts to have the top open. A couple of points. 1. The stadium was not finished until 1988 when the tower was completed. 2. The roof does not open as it never really worked properly and 3. The complex is basically not used for anything any more and looks like a ghost town. It is a shame as it is a massive and incredible building that is still costing Montreal money as it always has something wrong with it. The only part that is used is the pools. We took a tour of the complex with a guide which was very interesting and took you behind the scenes so to speak. Then rode the funicular to the top of the tower.
From there we went to the Biosphere which is a structure made for the World Expo 1967. It was the Symbol of Expo '67, the sphere designed by visionary architect Buckminster Fuller has an important place in the history of contemporary architecture. The largest building of its kind in the world, its structure reproduces more than 75% of a sphere. It is 20 storeys high and is really very cool. Today it houses an environmental museum and on this day was open to the public for free. So we went in for a look around.
From there we walked across to Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that is part of the city of Montreal, this was home to the Canadian Grand Prix up until 2008. At that time they were having a 24 hour roller blade competition so there were people everywhere. Bronte wanted to walk a lap of the circuit so we did. Only took about an hour to walk the circuit. Made our way back to the car and then back to the motel after a bit of a drive around.
Had some PFK which is KFC in the rest of the world for dinner as we had left over salad and rolls from the previous night. The guy who served us was a tripper he keep laughing at everything we said. It must be our accent. He was helpful and gave us good service. I think he was laughing as he keep talking about Crocodile Dundee and was asking us to say hello to Paul Hogan.
Off to Quebec tomorrow.
Today we head for the Olympic Park which was host to the 1976 Olympics. The main stadium is cool, it has the worlds largest incline tower built above it with a funicular ride to the top. The tower is meant to house the roof of the stadium when it retracts to have the top open. A couple of points. 1. The stadium was not finished until 1988 when the tower was completed. 2. The roof does not open as it never really worked properly and 3. The complex is basically not used for anything any more and looks like a ghost town. It is a shame as it is a massive and incredible building that is still costing Montreal money as it always has something wrong with it. The only part that is used is the pools. We took a tour of the complex with a guide which was very interesting and took you behind the scenes so to speak. Then rode the funicular to the top of the tower.
From there we went to the Biosphere which is a structure made for the World Expo 1967. It was the Symbol of Expo '67, the sphere designed by visionary architect Buckminster Fuller has an important place in the history of contemporary architecture. The largest building of its kind in the world, its structure reproduces more than 75% of a sphere. It is 20 storeys high and is really very cool. Today it houses an environmental museum and on this day was open to the public for free. So we went in for a look around.
From there we walked across to Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that is part of the city of Montreal, this was home to the Canadian Grand Prix up until 2008. At that time they were having a 24 hour roller blade competition so there were people everywhere. Bronte wanted to walk a lap of the circuit so we did. Only took about an hour to walk the circuit. Made our way back to the car and then back to the motel after a bit of a drive around.
Had some PFK which is KFC in the rest of the world for dinner as we had left over salad and rolls from the previous night. The guy who served us was a tripper he keep laughing at everything we said. It must be our accent. He was helpful and gave us good service. I think he was laughing as he keep talking about Crocodile Dundee and was asking us to say hello to Paul Hogan.
Off to Quebec tomorrow.
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