Ottawa 14 to 16 August 2016

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Ottawa 14 to 16 August 2016



Arriving in Ottawa, I had booked an AirBNB apartment, the address of which we had no trouble finding. We found the apartment open and after a look around we found it very unsatisfactory, particularly from a cleanliness perspective. I contacted the owner through email who told us we were a day too early!!! He was right. While we were there, the rightful 2 couples who had booked it, arrived. We vacated it after booking into the Hotel Indigo in central Ottawa. I told the owner we would not be coming back to his unsatisfactory apartment and would complain to AirBNB – which I have.



Hotel Indigo was very central and a lovely place to stay. For the next day and a half we explored this beautiful city.



Ottawa is the capital of Canada and is situated along the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, opposite Gatineau, Quebec. The metropolitan population of Ottawa is 1.1 million and is currently the fourth largest city in Canada, and the second largest in Ontario after Toronto.



Unique as a North American capital, the city is bilingual. English is the first language of a majority of the population, but French is the first language of a significant number. Staff in most stores and restaurants speak both well and, in general, bilingualism is common.



Ottawa is home to many of the world's cultures as thousands of immigrants from around the world now call Ottawa home. The city is probably best known as the nation's capital but has become one of the fastest growing cities in North America owing to the booming high-tech business sector.



Ottawa started as a humble lumber town, then called Bytown, named after Colonel John By. Colonel By oversaw the construction of the Rideau Canal, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, much of which was done by hand, between 1826 and 1832.



Just as a note, when I was in Ottawa in December 1992 the Rideau canal was frozen over and people were ice skating on it.



Lumber mills were built along the Ottawa River in the mid-nineteenth century and those brought employment and wealth to the growing population. The centre of action then, as now, was the ByWard Market. While it's still the centre of the city's nightlife, it has changed appreciably from the rough and tumble early days of brothels and taverns.



We saw stalls selling fresh produce and flowers line the streets. In the evening, the market shuts down and the area's restaurants, pubs and bars take over as the primary attraction, alongside many street performers.



We found this most wonderful icecream and coffee place called Sweet Jesus. The coffee was the best we had tasted since being away. The icecreams were sooooo creamy that over the afternoon Sheryl has 2, yes 2 ice-creams. We learned that it was a new shop.







We did a fantastic tour through the central building on Parliament Hill and learned that in 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital of Canada. The choice was controversial, partly because it sidestepped the rivalry between Toronto and Montreal (then, as now, Canada's largest cities), and partly because the new capital was still a tiny outpost in the middle of nothing much — an American newspaper famously commented that it was impregnable, as any invaders would get lost in the woods looking for it.



Parliament Hill is in the middle of downtown Ottawa, overlooking the Ottawa River and was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. The 3 buildings making up Parliament Hill are fine examples of the Gothic revival style architecture.



Our Tour lasted 45 minutes taking us around the restored offices of some of the Fathers of Confederation (Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir George-Etienne Cartier, Governor General Lord Dufferin and the original Privy Council Office) explaining the beginnings of the Dominion of Canada.



We also visited the Peace Tower of the Parliament building. This holds the bells that chime every 15 minutes. In the same tower is the Memorial Chamber which is dedicated to the memory of Canadians who have died in military service during WW1.



The city is littered with beautiful architecture. One such building is the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, a former railway hotel is just across the road from Parliament Hill, another very beautiful building.



We saw the end of the Changing of the Guard which takes place daily on the lawns of Parliament at 9:00am during July and August. We also saw the Governor General's guards change at Rideau Hall.



One of the most spectacular thing we saw was the Parliament Hill Sound & Light Show. Newly developed for 2010 by the National Capital Commission, the Sound & Light Show is a 30 minute film about Canada projected on the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. It told the history story of the last 150 years in Canada, and one couldn’t help but feel proud to be a partner of Canada over the years. It was extremely well presented and very dramatic.



We walked to Rideau Hall, which is the official residence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her representative the Governor General of Canada. The grounds and the residence are open to the public for tours. It is opened all year round unlike our GG’s residence and gardens in Australia that is only opened to the public twice a year. We really enjoyed our visit. There were extensive renovations going on in the front of the building so we didn’t get a full view of the whole building. The gardens were beautiful and heavily used, particularly on weekends by locals.



That was one feature that we noticed in Ottawa, none of the Government buildings (Mint, museums, Parliament etc) have entry fees. However, since the fatal killing of a government person and the shooting of the Prime Minister while he was in Parliament House, security has been very heavy. It was the most thorough search we had experienced, going into the Parliament building.



During our time in Ottawa we had lovely food and wine, even Canadian wine. With the Rideau Canal, the Rideau River and the Ottawa River all snaking their way along their own path between the beautiful buildings, is was a pleasure to wander. We also saw the Rideau Falls, an area associated with some hydroelectric system.



After 1 ½ days in Ottawa we certainly packed a lot in, particularly in the downtown area. On our way out of the city, on our way to Montreal we stopped at the Canadian Mounted Police stables to look at the horses and watch the Mounted Police training with their horses. We were lucky to see them. It is only very special occasions that the Mounted Police wear their red uniforms which are so famous world-wide.



It was then off to Montreal

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