Day 19 July 6 Ottawa ON to Montreal QC

It is always sad to say good-byes, but on a trip like this we have a lot of them.  Thanks to Marti and Nigel for a very nice time. It was a really nice visit, and now on the road again.  This time we are driving to Montreal, our first city in Quebec.  Not such a long drive today: only 155 miles.

The drive went well, although we were a little nervous about the heat.  Hot weather has returned for us.

Patti suggested that today would be a good time to go check out the Olympic Stadium, from the 1976 Olympics.  It was a bit challenging finding it, and when we got to the area, parking was so confusing.  We hung in there and finally found a good pay parking lot. 

We ate our picnic lunch in a nice park, watching scores of summer camp children trailing by.  The weather was HOT, and it was very nice to find a spot to eat in the shade.

We thought we might just take a quick look around the Olympic grounds, but Patti was enchanted at the idea of taking a guided tour.  It turned out that for the 40^th anniversary, which is this summer, they just opened a new exhibit focusing on the 1976 Olympics.  Both Patti and Dick remember this one well.  Highlights included Nadia Comaneci, and Bruce Jenner’s big wins.

There were lots of little movies and hands-on opportunities.

The tour allowed us to go inside the aquatic center where we got to see many Canadian divers training for next month’s Olympics in Rio.  We saw pools where Olympic records were broken so many years ago.  In the same space were also the diving areas.

Then we went into the actual stadium:  an enormous venue, now a white elephant.  Patti had one of those skin-tingling moments when we came out into the view of the stadium and she could feel the thrill that the athletes have to feel as they come in to the roar of the crowd.  Wow!  Highlight moment.  Originally, there was no roof to the huge stadium  Later, they put in a retractable roof, which also did not work.  Finally, they added the enormous support tower that allowed them to put in a permanent roof.

This Olympics had been sold to the public as an event that would need no public money to support. Surprise!  It cost way more than estimated, and they are now stuck with a venue that can rarely be used for sporting events or only a few music concerts which are held there.  It now is used more for tradeshows: the RV show, home and garden, etc.  What a step down from Olympic glory!  But, the guide told us, it would costs millions of dollars to tear it down, so they keep limping along.  It was still great to see.

And Patti even got to stand on an Olympic podium in first place and get a photo taken. Very cool.

We when walked all the way around the stadium…almost like waking around an empty archeological site.  It was even hard to find our way out. All over the world there are Olympic venues that are now not in use, and sometimes in ruins.  So sad to go from glory to useless.

We were tired, and wanted to find out way to our AirBnB site.  As it turns out, we were only 7 minute drive away.  Yay!  So glad to come and get checked into our basement studio apartment.

Some people have been asking about AirBN B.  Here is a link to the page of the apartment that we stayed in (https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/8626869).  If you click on this link, you can see information and photos of the place.  It is a very cool service, where you get to search online for the size of the place you want (how many people you need it to accommodate) and how much money you want to spend, and in which area.  We have been very pleased with the cost, as well as the kinds of things they have to offer.  We cooked dinner and stayed in for the evening.  So nice to have our own little kitchen and space to work on pictures and our blog.  Go AirBnB.  We were both tired and ready to rest.  Goodnight!