Cruising Down the River

Yesterday we decided to take a bus tour of the city so we could view the sights of interest from a tourist's perspective. The city's architecture is made up of a number of replicas, on a smaller scale, of famous buildings throughtout the world. There is a Notre Dame Bascilica, a Chinatown and an Empire State Building. No building in the city can exceed the height of the city's Mount Royal which stands at approx 740ft. We saw the 1976 Olympic Stadium with its tower built at a 45 degree angle and standing 500 ft tall. This tower houses the swimming pool and has a cablecar running up the outside. The 2 pyramid style buildings that comprised the Athlete's Village are equally impressive.

Today we did our own thing and walked down to the wharf where we took a cruise up the St Lawrence waterway. The weather was a sunny 25 degrees althought we have learnt to carry an umbrella as there are often sudden downpours with thunder and lightning. The attached picture is of an old storage warehouse that has been converted to apartments. Four penthouses were added to the top and were for sale at 5 million a piece.

After the cruise we walked back into the centre of town and explored some of the shops and foodcourts that can be found in the 80 kms of underground retail outlets located on 4 different levels. We made a few modest purchases but didn't over indulge as nearly everything has approx 14% tax added to the price shown on the ticket; plus add another 20% for conversion to $NZ. We did however find a great $1 shop!