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I don't think Ian mentioned in his blog yesterday that the Capital Hill Hotel & Suites felt so sorry for us drowned rats that they gave us a complimentary upgrade to a king suite with soaker tub. Did we ever make use of that tub. Baths, laundry, more baths. Thank you Capital Hill !
We love Ottawa! Why haven't we been here before now. Truly a beautiful city, apparently the 3rd cleanest in the world,1 million people, 100,000 civil servants, 75% working in Ottawa, 25% across the river in Gatineau QC. Learned all this on the hop on hop off double decker bus tour this morning! This is such a great way to see any city, especially for the first time there. The one and a half tour took us past 24 Sussex Drive where we were asked to wave to Prime Minister Harper with ALL 5 fingers, up to the RCMP training camp to see their identical horses, about 30 of them in a large paddock full of baskets of fresh Grade A hay, past several museums including the aviation war museums, both of which we would have toured had we had more time here, many other museums and
art galleries, across the Ottawa River into Gatineau for 5 minutes, then back into Ottawa and along the Rideau canal to tulipland (essentially properties mirroring Uplands with grounds comprised of Kentucky Blue and tulips, tulips and more tulips). Condos situated opposite the canal with their address being our tour road, will set you back $1 million. The canal is 10 feet deep, and in February of every year, it is drained to 4 inches at which point it freezes and 45,000 people skate on it every day. You can navigate the canal 200 miles to Kingston where it meets with the St. Laurence River. We should do that .............. Other highlights included seeing many foreign embassies (and not appreciating the quantity of such) i.e. British, American (the most expensive one to build), Saudi Arabian, French, Swedish fully decorated with Ikea furniture, just to name a few of the one hundred embassies in Ottawa.
At the conclusion of the tour, we walked down to the locks below Parliament Hill, and I hadn't realized there were 7 individual locks each taking 15 minutes to pass, and each gate needing manual operation. I am a little embarrassed about how ignorant I am
about this part of Canada and our capital. More on this when we talk about Quebec City. We have already said "we should come back to Ottawa" which means that one day we will.
Later in the afternoon we walked up to Byward Market, and enjoyed an hour of people watching from the patio of the Irish Dubliner pub. It was a very young crowd, perusing the market stalls, lattes in hand. For dinner, we decided to walk back to a pub called Darcy McGees just around the corner from the hotel. We waited for a table at the bar, and then decided that the table we eventually got was too small and cramped and dark so returned to the bar to eat dinner. At the same time, we were joined by 3 businessmen, who within a minute of being seated asked where we were from. Victoria BC we said. So are we, they said! One looked so familiar, and upon further conversation, we remembered him from Wilson's Transportation, the yellow school bus rental for our wedding! With them was the manager at the Accent Inn on Blanshard (also current chair of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce) all there
for a tourism conference. Anyway we had a lot of fun kibitzing back and forth over dinner, especially with the bar server who forgot for a moment that Ian wasn't her new Doberman puppy.
To answer the question about the perfect hotel room and amenities for bikers: a large room, suite preferably (!), on the main floor close to lobby, with enough space to arrange 6 bike luggage bags, jackets, pants, boots and assorted gear. A large soaker tub for sore tired muscles at the end of the day. Laundry within the hotel, not a service. Complimentary old rags to clean up the bikes and helmets. Washing station for the bikes (just like UVic has outside Cinecenta). Parking spots close to the lobby for observation and security. That should do it!
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JOAN MUMBY
non-member comment
My dear Helen and Ian,thank you for being so closely in touch for my birthday and Mother\'s day! I have never before had my phone on speaker - it was wonderful for all of us to get together for a family visit. Sally connected Skype to my PC, but the microphone is not working, so she is coming back to fix it when sh has more time. The girls were full of fun, but I will leave them to tell you what they did with the photographs on Emma\'s new phone. I knew that you would love Ottawa and Quebec. I wasn\'t there long enough to see all that I wanted to see in 1989, and I would love to go back to both cities, but it is a bit late now. Your pictures are fantastic. It is great that that the two of you are making such great memories together. I travelled alone to Expo 86, in Montreal, but the city itself doesn\'t compare with Ottawa and Quebec, they are two jewels. Eventually, the weather will allow you camp and picnic, so the best is yet to come. Loads of love Mum xoxox