Nice to have a kitchen again. After a week of buffet breakfasts – eggs, sausage, home fries, french toast, crepes, nutella, and so on and so forth – I’m happy to just have a bowl of yoghurt and oatmeal. I’m not entirely sure the kids feel the same way, but we’re in the home stretch so it’s time to transition back toward regular life.
On the way to the market, I stopped to take in some of Montreal’s beautiful architecture:
I wish I had more time to just explore the city and photograph the buildings alone. Maybe next trip!
Sonder Apollon is a mere ten minute walk to the Montreal Science Centre, so that’s where we’re headed this morning. We haven’t been here since our daughter was little more than a year old, and we only made it to the first two exhibits before we ran out of time. Hopefully we make it further this time out!
The cost of visiting the Science Centre is roughly $100 for a family of four. We were tempted to take in the IMAX show but unfortunately it wasn’t running until 3 pm in the afternoon. That would conflict with the Cirque du Soleil show, so no such luck. Normally it would have run at 11:30 am, but they seemed to be experiencing technical difficulties.
On to the Science Centre – we started with their featured exhibition on the Tyrannosaurus Rex. I was amazed to discover that they took a long time to grow. They were only this small at the one year mark:
But they don’t stay small for long:
It’s a well-done exhibit, and includes pretend archaelogical digs and a computer simulation in which a tyrannosaurus walks around its natural environment:
There is, of course, also the classic skeleton:
Afterwards we continue into “Explore – Life Sized Science”, starting with a massive kaleidoscope:
And moving on to other fun experiments like “satellite” dishes that let you project your voice around the room, and a tornado machine:
They also have a genuine moon rock that you are able to touch!
This is fairly rare, with there only being roughly five museums that let the public touch an actual moon rock – most of which are in the United States.
We carried on through the rest of the exhibits in turn – including ones on water in the universe, being human, and an expedition to Northern Canada.
The robotic arm was non-functional in the human exhibition, but otherwise everything seemed to be in good working order:
The kids also enjoyed seeing what their arms were like if they were different species, such as birds, dolphins, and dinosaurs:
And then it was time to head out. We didn’t even have the chance to visit the Fabrik creative challenges. Ah, well – maybe next time.
We only had a little over an hour before Cirque du Soleil, so we went to Gaspar French Brasserie for brunch.
Image Credit: Gaspar (website)
It wasn’t cheap – think $17 for three small pancakes, $23 for avocado toast, and $24 for a croque madame. But it was very tasty:
It was busy, but we were still in and out of Gaspar in less than an hour.
Off to Cirque du Soleil! I’m sad to say that – despite having lived within three hours of Montreal for most of my adult life – this is the first time I’ve ever gone to a Cirque show.
We went to see Luzia, which is described as: “A Waking Dream of Mexico. Poetically guided by light (‘luz’ in Spanish) and rain (‘lluvia’), LUZIA chronicles the encounters of a parachuted traveler with the culture, nature and mythology of a dreamlike land inhabited by a mystifying menagerie of characters.”
Photo Credit: Cirque du Soleil – LUZIA (website)
I’d honestly suggest just going into the show cold – without any further idea of what to expect. But if you do want a sampler, then Cirque has put out a very detailed trailer:
The show was spectacular – vibrant, exciting, and funny all at once. I could see the awe on our kids’ faces. The costumes, the performances, the effects – it all came together to create something truly memorable.
Moving on to practicalities – we were in Section 102 / Row C / Seats 11 to 14, which I think are perhaps some of the best seats in the house. Yes, VIP seating is available but the closer rows are also lower down so you may need to crane your neck to get a good view. And apart from the VIP entrance, bathrooms and special seating area, I don’t think you got much for that additional cost.
We arrived perhaps 40 minutes before the show started, and had no issues getting through security or ordering concessions. The performance tent itself opened 30 minutes before the start of the show, while the outer concessions tent opens earlier. It was a blisteringly hot day – the outer concession tent was warm, but the inner performance area was pleasantly cool.
Booster seats – specifically, repurposed car boosters – were easily available at no charge. Our daughter found these far more comfortable than the standard ‘plastic buckets’ she ends up using at most theatres.
Total run time was roughly 2 hours, with a 15 to 20 minutes intermission. We were glad to have stopped at the bathrooms first as they soon had massive lines. They have something like 30 to 40 high-end portable bathrooms so the line moves quickly, but waiting in the heat can be unpleasant.
In terms of guest photography / filming, the instructions are somewhat unclear. While there’s a sign outside the tent indicating that phone photos and brief videos are allowed:
But there were also staff members going around and telling people not to take their phones out during the show. (Or rather, they held up phones and wagged their fingers.)
Ultimately I decided not to take photos – I find it irritating when people look at their phones during plays, movies, and so on so I didn’t want to distract others in the audience. Better to just be present, and soak it all in. Which is exactly what I did.
And the final verdict? Highly recommended, and I expect we’ll be back to Cirque again in the future.
We had about a twenty minute walk back to Sonder, and then decided to cook dinner for ourselves that evening. The kitchen is somewhat limited in terms of appliances and supplies – no parchment paper or salad spinners, for example – but we had everything we needed to prepare a lovely spaghetti bolognese:
Meanwhile, filming of the indie comedy Love & Chaos had started up in front of our hotel, so I took my daughter down to have a look:
We got to witness one scene being filmed in which the door to the porta-potty was being shaken. It was fascinating for my daugther to see everything going on behind the scenes, and the ways in which movies come together. This came at a particularly good time as she had just finished filming her own movie for a school project.
The kids went to bed, and I popped upstairs to check out the rooftop terrace:
There’s also a fitness centre, steam room, and a sauna. Wish we’d had time to make use of those! Yet another reason to return to Montreal.
We were up early the following day, and I went over to the parking lot at 249 Rue St. Antoine. No issues with our vehicle, and the cost was only $46 for the two days – so billing was done based on 24 hour periods, rather than calendar days.
Filming had finished, so I had no trouble parking in front of the building. We quickly loaded the car and were on our way.
A heat wave had gripped the Eastern seaboard, so the Taycan’s efficiency was roughly 10% lower than what we were able to achieve on the way down. We still had both the Electrify Canada stations in Cornwall and Brockville open to us, but Brockville was the preferred option given that it was almost 100 km further down the highway and had closer restaurant options.
Thankfully, the extra bump in power we’d taken in during the stop at the Montreal Biodome was enough to give us about 80 km leeway. That leeway had dropped to 50 km by the time we pulled into Brockville, and the Electrify Canada app was warning us that 3 of the 4 chargers were taken. Eep.
However, I’ve learned that the easiest path through these situations is just to commit to a charger and not try to station-hop. So I dropped my wife and kids at a nearby Subway and headed over to the charger. Thankfully, that single charger was still open when I pulled up – and indeed two more stalls opened up just minutes later.
Charging wasn’t quite as seemless as it had been previously – remote activation through Porsche’s app wasn’t working for some reason, though it did start on the second attempt. We immediately started pulling close to 140 kW from the 150 kW charger – and we were topped up by the time I’d finished eating my meatball sub. (Add that to the list of dishes I’d prefer not to eat on the move.)
Overall, we did almost 1,500 km of travel this trip and it cost us a mere $10 to charge in Montreal – the Electrify Canada stations are free to Porsche customers for the first two or three years, depending on the vehicle purchased. We would definitely take our EV on another extended road trip.
For anyone attempting to do a similar trip in an EV, I strongly recommend ensuring your co-driver has access to PlugShare and the Electrify Canada app. This lets you check whether the station is experiencing any technical issues, and to monitor charger usage in real time.
I also recommend having a “backup” charging point in mind in case the first doesn’t work out – though thankfully we never had to make use of our backup options.
As we set off on the final stretch of the roadtrip, there was one last task to handle – and so we booked our stay at Club Med Charlevoix for the summer of 2026.
Thanks for joining us on our trip to Charlevoix, Quebec City and Montreal – our next trip will be to Rocking Horse Ranch and Legoland in August. In the meantime, we’ll continue to have regular posts, including a head-to-head comparison between Sonder and a regular vacation rental in Toronto.