We began with a city tour aboard a double decker bus and had a prime spot second row from the front up top. We find a tour like this is a wonderful way to acquaint oneself with a new city. We saw the Prime Minister's home, several museums, the farm where the RCMP train the horses for the musical ride, various embassies, Rideau Hall, the Byward Market and more!
We also took a ride on a boat on the Rideau Canal, which was very relaxing. Our guides on both these tours were very informative...for example on the Rideau Canal we were told that it took 4000 men to build it and 400 of them died of malaria while working on a boggy portion during the construction.
We walked around downtown and were fortunate to catch some of the acts performing at the Buskers Festival. Lots of talent and likely many of the same acts that visited Edmonton for the Street Performers Festival I imagine.
We were entranced by the timeless beauty of the Chateau Laurier Hotel...
We also visited the Parliament Buildings...the only tour left when we went to get our tickets was one entirely in French, the final tour of the day, so we decided to take it just to get inside the building. We knew we would understand very little with our limited French...but even though we understood next to nothing of the tour itself, it was wonderful to see that amazing building inside. I was there 40 years ago and wow have things changed security wise...a metal detector and tickets and the whole nine yards worth of security. When I was there before one just walked into the building and could wander around! :) Even Harry, who is no fan of government :), was very impressed with the architecture and we both marveled at those who had this vision so many years ago. It took 16 years to complete and the intricate carvings, both wood and stone, and the craftsmanship has certain stood the test of time.
Here is Harry pointing to his future seat in the House of Commons...
Ottawa is a beautiful city and we will share a few more images with you that we particularly liked...hard to pick the favourites but this will give you a taste for what we saw and enjoyed. It is definitely a city we would like to spend more time in.
This is a very cool picture I think...a reflection of the old in the new...
Some people...not naming names here...think all politicians are slightly crooked...and perhaps this fish eye lens view of the parliament buildings lends some credence to that theory...:)
Can you see the tulip shape in this building? We couldn't but it is apparently what the architect's vision was for the new conference centre that is mainly used by the politicians we were told...
In the evening we went out to supper with our hosts to celebrate Gerry's 89 birthday. They got to choose the restaurant and picked the Keg and we all feasted on lobster and shared an enormous piece of birthday cake. It was lovely enough to sit outside and we enjoyed lively discussion and people watching and very much enjoyed sharing a meal together. On our way back to their place in the cab we caught a couple of the night show images on parliament hill....a kind of history of Canada light show they project at night on the parliament buildings. Next time we are in Ottawa it's something we will definitely plan to take in in its entirety.
It was a wonderful day - we were tired and foot sore by the end of it but it was such fun! And sun...did I mention it was a gloriously sunny day, which was such a great after the initial bouts of rain we encountered earlier in the week.
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