biodome and insects

Yesterday I went to the biodome (which was built for the olympics here, and took 20 years to pay off) and the insectarium, which is the largest collection in the world of insects.

The day started off rather challenging. I was going to walk to the biodome but was told it was too far and that I should take the metro. So I went to the metro and spent 10 minutes trying to read the directions in french for buying a ticket. I couldn't get the machine to work so I went to a kiosk. The woman sent me to another kiosk across the metro station. I walked over with my little subway map and said, to the woman in the kiosk, "I'm going to the Viau stop". She pointed to a stairway and said "it's down there". I was like "that's great, but how do I buy a ticket?" and she said "you buy it here".

We stared at each other for a few minutes, and then I said "well, where do I buy a ticket?" She got all excited and said "here, of course!" I was like why the fuck didn't you give me a ticket to begin with? I got an all day ticket, and it's a scratch off affair with the day, month, and year. Then I tried to put the ticket in the ticket slot at the turnstile. It didn't fit. So I went back to the kiosk and asked what I was supposed to do. The woman said "Show the ticket to me, and I open the turnstile." I stood there for a few minutes while she examined the exact same ticket she had issued me. She finally let me through.

I went to the biodome first. It was interesting but way too crowded. There were so many people with baby carriages that you couldn't get close to anything. I watched the penguins for a while. One pushed another one into the water. That was funny.

Then I set out to find the insectarium. Everyone said it was close to the biodome. Close, in relative terms. I had to walk through a park to get there. Then this woman yelled at me because I bypassed the ticket line (I already had a ticket). She stopped me and said "where are you going?" I was like "to see the insects". She said "do you see this line?" I said "the line of people to buy tickets?" and she said "yes". I said "if I have to wait in that line (which was really long) that defeats the purpose of buying a ticket in advance, doesn't it?" She said "I don't understand you" and waved me through. Everyone else was getting a stamp on their hand, but she didn't give me one.

Again, the insectarium was way too crowded. All the displays were set up for kids so I had to lean over to look at stuff, which was hard considering how many kids were there. My favorite thing was either the bug that looked like a branch or this orange and black tarantula. It was really bright orange.

Today I walked around old town Montreal. I went down there for dinner on Wednesday, and then a guy was shot the next day in front of the restaurant I went to. It was a mafia hit. The mafia is pretty active here, and everyone blames the US/New York.

Whatever.

I head home on Tuesday, and hope it has stopped snowing here by then. It's weird being in cold weather after the UAE.