botanical garden

or Jardin Botanique. I love Botanical Gardens and always find them inspiring. Oh, but first, I forgot this photo for the market post- look at all the beautiful preserves!

Okay, now, back to the gardens.

I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to visit these greenhouses in the middle of the winter.

Out to the display gardens- look at that gorgeous purply-red giant decorative Kale. Maybe it’s edible, I don’t know. Very impressive!

And artichokes. Such crazy looking things.

This is the Chinese Garden. I love the Lotus plants. Can you see the man in the boat? That is a lantern, part of the Lantern Festival they have in September.

We wanted to see the lanterns lit up but obviously had to wait until it was dark-ish. We decided to head back to the car and just relax until dusk. On our way to the parking lot, we saw this sign. Tintin! How could we resist?!

Well, Tintin and a display of mushrooms. It was an impressive collection. So many varieties.

Tables and tables full.

After that and a little rest in the car, it was getting dark enough to go back and see the lanterns.

There was an impressive crowd for a Sunday evening in September. This is obviously a very popular yearly event. I can see why- it was fun to walk around in the dimming light with the lanterns glowing and people all around.

We left before it was fully dark and loads more people were streaming in.

We had a great time in Montreal. It is not that far from Boston- about 5 1/2 hrs driving. We should go more often. I’m already thinking about what I want to do next time!

Montreal food love

We pretty much went to Montreal to enjoy some great food. I mean it is a fun city and all, but really, I think every meal we had in Montreal was better than any meal we had in Paris last year. I know, Heresy! Foodie culture is thriving in Montreal. I didn’t take meal photos. I would remember that I could have taken a picture as I leaned back to relax and enjoying the glow of a good meal. I was very busy with the camera when we went to the food market though.

So much abundance, beautifully displayed.

The smells were wonderful too!

So many colors-

And then Green!

Beautiful berries with edible orchids.

Globular food-

And who can ever resist cabbages!

A market like this makes me want to load up a cart and run home to cook something adventurous. Since that wasn’t an option, we bought some munchables- carrots, blueberries, other things too but ? I can’t remember. And Maple Syrup. Really, you can never have too much. And, we went to the Botanical Garden. That is for tomorrow.