cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.”
There are other wonderful parks in
and around the city as well. Parc JeanDrapeau, known for its diverse cultural
and sports programming, is just 15 minutes from downtown Montreal. The park
is home to Biosphère, an environmental
museum that hosts educational exhibitions on major environmental issues such
as biodiversity and sustainable development, including “Renewable Energy:
Time to Decide,” about global energy in
the 21st century, and “Finding Balance,”
which discusses how consumer choices
impact the environment.
Beyond the parks, the city offers a
number of other nature-centric activities. The Montréal Botanical Garden is
one of the world’s greatest botanical gardens, featuring 22,000 plant species and
cultivars, 10 greenhouses and more than
20 thematic gardens. “The Chinese garden is the largest ... in the world outside
China,” Rossi says. “The Japanese garden,
a very peaceful environment, offers a tea
ceremony during summer, and you can
even take classes to learn more about it.”
Nearby, the Biodôme recreates some
of the most fascinating ecosystems in the
world: Gulf of St. Lawrence, Laurentian
Maple Forest, rainforest and the subpolar regions of the Americas including the Labrador Coast and subantarctic
islands—all under one roof. Biôdome’s
“residents” include 4,500 animals from
250 different species, from anacondas to
penguins, as well as 500 plant varieties.
The ecosystems function as laboratories
for scientists to study the relationship
between organisms and physical factors of
their environments.
Information Station
Top: Chinese Garden at Montreal’s
Botanical Garden; bottom: Montreal
Known as the Pink Palace, the legendary Mediterranean-style Loews Don
CeSar Hotel is located in St. Pete Beach
on Florida’s Gulf Coast, which hosts
myriad wildlife. Following numerous
inquiries from guests who were curious about the area’s natural environment, Loews partnered with Tampa Bay
Watch to create permanent Sea Life
Education Stations around the hotel.
“All eight of the educational signs
show pictures beautifully depicting and
giving quick facts about their given topics
with the goal of educating the reader in
the specific topical area,” says Jill Kunesh
of Tampa Bay Watch, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection and restoration of
the Tampa Bay estuary through scientific
and educational programs. “The dunes
on St. Pete Beach and the warm Gulf
waters are home to a variety of wildlife,
and the beautiful beaches bring millions
of people from across the country to our
coast every year.”
Loews Don CeSar Hotel, also known as the Pink Palace, originally opened in 1928.
For those visitors, the educational
stations are an ideal way to gain insight
into the area’s ecosystem. The resort’s
manatee station, for example, gives a
closer look at the Gulf ’s wildlife with
life-size replicas of an adult female
manatee and a baby manatee. The sea
turtle station shows a replica of a turtle
nest—including how deep a nest is
buried, how many eggs it contains, what
hatchlings look like and how hatchlings
must climb about 2 feet up the sand to
get to the sea. Another stop includes
two oyster domes made by Tampa Bay
Watch. Other stations explore beach
p