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We were up a bit later today, but had decided already to go to the botanical gardens. We went to Starbucks on route for some breakfast before getting the Metro across town - the gardens are quite a bit further away than we've been so too far to walk. The botanical gardens are the same stop as the olympic park on the metro so you walk past the stadium on the way in. The gardens as it turned out, are huge. We started off walking through the greenhouses which were much too warm and so we quickly raced through them back to the outside. The gardens are broken into lots of smaller gardens which we walked through intermittently sitting on benches in the shade. 

The gardens were really well organised but the highlight had to be the Japanese and Chinese gardens. On the walk around we did see a bit of wildlife including a chipmunk and a number of different types of birds. Whilst walking through the Japanese garden I saw a large bird of prey fly quite low overhead, and then as we walked between the Japanese and Chinese gardens we could hear the cry of a large bird. As we looked up through the trees we could see a pair of what we later found out to be juvenile Cooper's Hawks. We were able to get some good photos with the big lens on the camera! 

After stopping for a cold drink at the cafe, we a bit more of a walk in the Chinese garden. I think this is perhaps the most impressive of the gardens that we saw, with a number of Chinese style buildings, a small waterfall and lakes. After another long day, we headed back to the hotel for a break before getting some tea at another restaurant nearby. On our first day here we had heard fireworks and after a bit of a search online, Dani had found that it was linked to a fireworks competition with the next and final show on this evening, so at 10pm we headed up to the roof terrace to watch the fireworks, not a bad way to end our time here! Afterwards we packed up ready for the journey to Quebec City, our destination tomorrow!   

We got up a little later than usual today - I think the warm weather is wearing us out! So we decided to get brunch instead of breakfast. We went to a relatively nearby restaurant, famed for it's brunches - 'Eggspectations'. I had the 'All American' breakfast (a variation on an English breakfast) and Dani had pancakes, with bacon and eggs. From there, we were heading through the city towards la Fontain park and le Mont Royal today. The journey there was also going to take us through an area of interest marked out on our map, so we decided to walk. After breakfast we made our away across town towards the parks. once in the area we took a walk down Deluth Avenue which is much quieter and partially pedestrianised. There were lots of Grafitti murals covering the walls throughout the area, including some huge pieces that covered the sides of large buildings. 

At the end of Deluth avenue we reached La Fontain Park. We had a walk around the park stopping to take some photos of the dragonflies that were darting about around the edge of the lake. We sat for a while on some benches and then after a bit more of a wander, we decided to head for Mont Royal. We walked along Rue Rachel, stopping off to buy some more water before heading into the park. It turned out to be a bit of a climb, more than we had anticipated given we were already feeling tired but we percevered following signs for a suspended cafe. The cafe wasn't quite what we antipated, but neverthless it was at a nice viewing point down acorss Montreal, and we were able to get some cold lemonade to drink. Whilst we were sitting we noticed a bit of a fuss just down from the cafe, and after a quick look we saw a family of racoons. I was a bit late getting there with the camera but I did manage to get a couple before they disappeared back into the woods.

After the cafe, we walked up the hill a little further to the giant cross that sits at the top, and then we headed back down and walked back to the hotel. We were feeling pretty knackered by the time we got back having covered quite a distance. We had a rest for a bit before going out for tea a bit later on. We decided to go to a place we had walked past yesterday - Brit and Chips. It ended up being just what we needed after a long day, the restaurant is set up inside just like a normal chip shop with some tables around to sit at. It would be fair to say, that the fish and chips is amongst the best we've had. They do a range of different fish and chip meals, and whilst I went for a pretty standard code and chips, Dani had a Haddock in a maple syrup batter! Back at the hotel, I uploaded a few more photos and updated the website. It's our last day in Montreal tomorrow!

Today we decided to head for the old town. Before heading out, we stopped at the cafe across the road from the hotel for a bit of breakfast. Dani had a fruit bowl and chocolate twist, whilst I had a chocolatine. As we were getting served they seemed to have a bit of a problem with the juicing machine which meant we both got sprayed with some bits of carrot - not the best start to the day! Our first port of call was to be the basilica; we had made it to there yesterday, but only in time to find it had just closed. They have a light show on in the evenings at the moment, but we decided to head inside for a look around anyway and may come back another evening for the lights. Whilst in the queue to get in, an information person came past and gave us a leaflet about the old town. I turns out that there are a few streets that are lit up and there was a map with them marked out in yellow - we figured we'd head back later in the evening and have a bit of a wander. The basillica was really impressive inside with a magnificant altar piece. We stayed quite a while, having a good wander around and taking photos. 

Leaving the basillica we headed across the square to the bank which is Canada's first bank. They have a little museum inside, but it is still a working bank - it certainly looks a little bit Hogwarts inside - I was going to take a photo but the security man told me not to. We wandered back towards the hotel through the old town stopping for some lunch in Starbucks. Afterwards we looked in another building that also turned out to be an old bank, but this time had been converted into offices and a cafe in the old banking hall. We decided we would go to St Patrick's Basillica which is close to the hotel. Again it was very impressive inside, but much quieter than the Notre Dame Basillica. We took some more photos before heading back to the hotel. We took the lift to the top to have a look at the view from the terrace. It was pretty decent, but the skyline is not quite so iconic as some other cities we've visited. 

We had tea at a French/Canadian restaurant called Holders. It was really busy, but we were seated straight away. I had the beef bourguignon and Dani had confit de conard. It was very nice, and we shared a chocolate mouse for dessert. Afterwards we walked back towards old town to take some photos. The basillica was nicely lit and there was an animated film playing on the side of the building next to the bank. We walked along the yellow route looking at many of the other buildings that were also lit, back near the hotel we came across a water feature that seenmed to be on fire. It turns out that it's an installation called the 'La Joute' by Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle. Every hour the fountain comes to life with a ring of fire surrounding it before being doused by the water fountain. We only caught the end, so dropped our stuff at the hotel and then went back out to see the next cycle from the beginning. By the time we got to the hotel it was gone 11 so we called it a night. We're going to have have a look at the parks tomorrow.  

It was a bit of an early start with alarms set for 6.30 to make sure we were up and ready for our 8.35 train. We had more or less packed everything up last night, so were ready in plenty of time and checked out of the hotel at about 7.30. The train station is only a short ride on the metro from the hotel, and although we initially got on the train going in the wrong direction, we arrived at union station in good time at about 7.50. We had planned to get some breakfast at the station but despite feeling like we had plenty of time, when we looked where the train was leaving from, we were suprised to find everyone already lined up ready to go. We joined the line and two members of staff worked their way along the line checking tickets and weighing suitcases on a portable weighing machine, and then we started filing on to the platform and straight on to the train. Feeling a bit hungry, we ended up getting food from the onboard selection, it wasn't too overpriced in the end so was OK. The train was comfortable with free Wifi and having downloaded some things to watch on my phone the journey went pretty quickly. 

We arrived in Montreal at about 2.30 which was a little later than scheduled after some delays along the route. After using the WiFi at the station Starbucks, we quickly found our hotel, it was only about a 6 minute walk away. We were able to check in straight away at our hotel which was about an hour earlier than check-in was supposed to be. The room is nice and this time includes a fridge so we'll get some drinks to fill it. With it being a bit earlier, we headed out to explore. We had walk down past the Notre Dame Basilica and towards the water front where the old port is now host to lots of small shops, food vans and some activities including a zip wire, big wheel and boats on the river. We continued wandering, dropping in a the Marche Bonsecours which contains a number of boutique shops.

Feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hotel for a break before tea. I've managed to pickup a cold so was feeling a bit rubbish. We headed out to tea at about 8, going to Il Focolaio, a pizza restaurant close by. The restaurant was really busy and we had a short wait for the table, but once seated service was pretty quick. The pizza was really nice and very filling, I had a ham and mushroom pizza and Dani had a Pollo Nostro pizza which had chicken and pesto on it. Back at the hotel, we caught up on the journal and I updated the blog a bit before bed time. I've nearly had all the cold and flu tablets we brought with us, so might have to have a look for a pharmacy tomorrow!