Montreal Day 6: Botanical Garden

Told you these would be all out of order.

I went to the Botanical Garden on Sunday, which I soon realized after arriving was a mistake because the line to get in was insanely long and by the time I reached the front, the garden would’ve closed. So instead of waiting in that crazy long line, I walked around the outside to a different entrance where the line up was way shorter and got in pretty quickly.

As I’ve done every day in Montreal, I started the day with food. Except this time, I got food in the garden instead of before arriving. As it so happens, the first thing I saw when entering the park was a menu for a food stand.

So of course, I had bugs for brunch.

I got a taco (with crickets despite the menu saying silkworms) and bug mix (I think these were just crickets). I’ve got to be honest, I only ate about half the bug mix. It wasn’t terrible. They’d seasoned it and it kind of tasted like sweet meat, like the time I ate chocolate-covered bacon (if you followed my YouTube channel oh-so long ago). Except they were a bit crunchier. The main reason I quit halfway through was because it was hard to eat the bugs alone—they got stuck in my throat a lot. I had to drink a lot of water to get the bits of antennae, wings, and legs to go down, and eventually I decided I didn’t care that much about finishing the snack-sized cup.

Here’s an unflattering angle of me eating bugs:

The taco, however, was absolutely delicious and after I ate and walked around a bit, I actually went back and got another one. You can taste the bugs, but they go down easier when mixed with the rest of the taco.

In all, it was $10 for two tacos and a snack. A pretty good deal, I’ve got to say, and I think the cheapest meal I’ve had in Montreal.

My first stop in the garden was the Japanese garden. I have to admit, my expectations were a bit high because I’ve been to a Japanese garden before and it was amazing. This one, while still beautiful, was lacking in comparison.

But I wasn’t discouraged. From what I knew of the Botanical Garden, it had an amazing Chinese Garden. I headed there next.

And it was closed for renovations. Damn.

The rose garden was nice, but a bit busy due to being near the entrances and having roses which aren’t quite big enough to block out other garden-goers.

There were a couple of Bonsai gardens, which were absolutely amazing despite also being busy. Every single little tree in the bonsai gardens was older than me.

I suspect, even if the Chinese garden was open, the Aboriginal garden would still have been my favourite. It felt like Canadian forests, like home. It was thick and didn’t have many visitors, but absolutely beautiful.

Every so often I’d come across a tree that would have been perfect for climbing. There was a small sunflower field and an area with different types of food growing.

It was pretty cool.

I found a bench at the top of a small cliff and sat for a while with no one around, just enjoying it (and getting bitten by mosquitoes). At one point the sun came out from behind a cloud and everything went gold.

I walked the length of the garden to a building about trees. There happened to be an art gallery solely about trees in different seasons and despite the garden being busy, I had the gallery to myself the whole time I was there.

There was also a more open area with a bunch of maple trees that I enjoyed for a bit. That’s where I happened to spot a red fox. (Video of it on Instagram @ByIvy)

Near the end, I went to the Insectorium, which I am tempted to call the Bug House in the future. There were some really cool, and disturbing, creepy crawlers in there, alive and dead.

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By this point, my phone was about to run out of space so most of the video I got was on Snapchat (imiller27). And when I was about to leave, I found myself in the greenhouses. There were a lot, all connected to each other, each decorated according to the country their plants came from.

These went on for a while. I think there were at least ten greenhouses all connected. I may or may not have gotten a tiny bit lost.

All in all, the Botanical Gardens made for a great Sunday out. And that’s also the last day out I had in Montreal. Sorry about how delayed this last one was. It was because I was waiting to get the pictures off my camera from when my phone ran out of space.

Waiting for what? I don’t know.

Here are a couple more pictures.

It was gorgeous, and if you ever get the chance to visit (preferably when the Chinese Garden is open), do.