Day 5 - August 26, 2013
Before recounting yesterday's events, a word about the neighborhood we are staying in. We are in the Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighborhood which is west of the downtown. From my observations, this has to be one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the world. It's really amazing. On our block, it appears that the majority of residents are Orthodox Jews. But you have lots of people of asian, middle easterner, and european descent.
Last night on one block alone I counted restaurants that served Thai, Vietnamese, Halal (food that is permissible under Islamic law), Indian, Sushi, Maghreb (from Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia), Cambodian, Lebanese, Italian, and British fish and chips food. And that doesn't include the nearby grocery that specializes in Sri Lankan and Bangladesh food or the multiple restaurants serving Philipino food scattered throughout the neighborhood. And I also spied an Armenia pizzeria. What a mishmash or peoples and cultures!
After another breakfast run to Second Cup (and luckily no Quebecois separatists attacked while I ordered my soy latte), we took a 40 minute Metro ride to the Olympic Park.
The long, grinding Metro ride has obviously exhausted her.
When you come up from underground, the stadium appears before you like a giant white stapler with it's angled tower. According to the tour we took later, the tower is the tallest leaning tower in the world, which is why to this day, no one from Pisa has ever visited Montreal. Later dubbed by locals as the "Big Owe" because its construction was not paid off until 2006 (by that time Bruce Jenner was old and gray - even with all those bowls of Wheaties he allegedly ate), the facade is crumbling in parts. However, from afar, it is still very impressive.
So impressive that one must blow bubbles with gum.
When the kids asked what the tower was used for, I explained that it was the world's largest stapler. When people need to fast two extra large pieces of paper, the building is put into use. In fact, when Mitt Romney founded Staples through Bain Capital, he tried to buy the rights to the stadium's image to use as the logo for the store.
Contemplating the extra large stable holes.
Because the Montreal Olympics were the first ones I recall watching, the stadium has sentimental meaning to me. Plus, I was always a sucker for the Olympics while growing up.
Afterwards we headed to the nearby Biosphere - which was used as the velodrome for bicycling events during the 1976 Olympics. Similar inside to Milwaukee's non-famous Domes, the building houses tropical and other types of plants. Unfortunately, the place is not kept very clean, and it teems with overgrown rats.
You'd think they could keep the rats out.
Despite the rodent problem, we ate lunch on the premises (the nearby Burger King which was housed in a movie complex charged $11 for a burger - thanks, but no thanks).
After the Biosphere, we entered the Olympic Stadium proper, heading to the pool that was used for the swimmers to warm up in before events. Nastassja and Emily were quite impressed - I think it was their first time seeing an Olympic sized pool.
No 25 meter races allowed here.
The gift shop in the stadium had some really nice retro t-shirts with the 1976 Olympic logo on them - which of course were irresistible to me. We then took the $5 stadium tour which consisted mostly of the guide recounting all the famous car salon shows that had taken place inside the stadium ("car salon" is a Quebecois euphemism for Monster Truck Rally as those Quebecers love their monster truck shows on Sunday).
A golden hue remains inside the stadium, a leftover from all the steroids the East Germans used to obtain Olympic Gold during the 1976 Olympics.
The guide also mentioned that the Montreal Expos used to play baseball here until they were sold to the Americans, the guide placing special emphasis on the word Americans while glaring at us.
The guide did tell us about the two queens who came to the 1976 Olympics - Elizabeth II and then of course Queen Nadia Comaneci who scored the first perfect 10 in female gymnastics. I think Nastassja particularly like this story.
The coolest Metro stop in the world though it appears that a certain someone who will not be named, but is in the middle, was unhappy about having her siblings in the photo.
By this time, it was 5 pm so we headed home. In the evening, Thane participated in a Magic the Gathering draft at a game shop that was about a 30 minute walk away. It was a little disquieting as a parent leaving him alone in a foreign speaking country, but he had a blast. So much so that when I came back two and a half hours later at 9 pm, he elected to stay until the tournament finished at 11 pm. He finished 4th out of 12 players so I think he was pleased with himself since he was the only kid there.
Thane the American invades a Canadian gaming tournament.
The gals and I ate at the Blanche Neige Restaurant, a restaurant I found on Tripadvisor. Although the food quantities were huge and the prices reasonable, the quality was left lacking. Damn you Tripadvisor!
We all ended the night with the Olympic theme song playing in our heads as we fell asleep.
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