And yet another TV show has just started by creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams (Lost & Alias). In the new sci-fi FOX drama, a research scientist named Peter Bishop and FBI agent Olivia Warren team up to investigate paranormal activity. They seek help from Bishopâ??s father, Walter, a brilliant (but possibly insane) scientist who is being held in a mental institution. Fringe explores mysteries of the paranormal as well as the relationships between the characters, and is steeped in mythology.

I guess Mr Abrams has a thing for plane crashes Torrents are here…

With my hotel I got (bought) entrance tickets to the Botanical Gardens, the Insect house and the Biodome. So I took the Metro to Pie IX and walked into the Botanical gardens, first stop the flower garden:

They also had a Japanese garden, but while it was good, the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco was much nicer. Next stop was the insectarium. Outside I saw several Monarch butterflies, probably the most well known butterfly. They are one of the few insects capable of making transatlantic crossings and they migrate from Canada to Mexico for overwintering. These journeys often extend the lifespan of an individual butterfly (which is about two months) so often their offspring returns back to Canada for summer to start a new cycle.

I had expected a butterfly greenhouse or something, but instead the insectarium was a building containing pinned insects and some showcases with life insects. They even had a bumblebee nest on display, now that brought back some memories…. They also had several honey bee nests:

After the botanical gardens I walked across the street to the Parc Olympique. As you probably know, Montréal hosted the 1976 Olympic summer games. The parc itself seems a bit like it is not used often anymore, grass between concrete slabs and the water in the fountains have been replaced by grass and plants. There were several interesting lines and geometries to be seen in the concrete landscape:

Walking around the stadium you get to the Biodome, a large indoor tropical forest and aquarium, quite similar to Burger’s zoo although I think the latter is better. I did not stay there for long as I have seen quite a number of better zoos and animals in the wild the last couple of months, but it was fun to see the beavers swim underwater: