The annual Magic of Lanterns show is on at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. I finally got a chance to see it on Saturday and the weather was perfect for a night time stroll. The line up to get into the section where the Chinese Garden is located was extremely long, but people were patient and smiling as everyone inched forward.
The annual exhibit has a new theme every year. Artisans in Shanghai create over 900 lanterns that are designed by a team from the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The results are beautiful. Ancient Chinese figures line the walkway to the main exhibit at the lake which comes alive with lanterns in the form of birds, insects, wild animals, trees and villagers.
It took us a couple of hours to see everything, not because of the size of the garden, but because of the size of the crowd! The stone pathways around the lake and the terrace surrounding the main pagoda were jam packed. If you’re a shutterbug like me, you may want to bring a tripod. The exhibit runs until November 3rd.
These Gardens are amongst my favourite in the world because they were one of my father’s (Guey Dang Wong) places of solace and wonder on his rare days off work.
I went with my parents if they managed to get an afternoon off. They liked to sit there and enjoy the peacefulness of the gardens…then before we left my mom made me hold a small bag while she snapped some snow peas off the vines!
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