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Published: November 25th 2008
Outside the Parliament Building
Came out of the tour in time to see this rainbow. Talk about luck!Well, my journey out to the eastern part of Canada continues. I'm currently in Ottawa right now, and I'll be leaving for Montreal this afternoon. Ottawa's an interesting city. I've enjoyed my stay here, short as it may be. But more on that later. I'd like to talk about Niagara Falls first.
Just before leaving Toronto for Ottawa, I took a one-day trip to Niagara Falls. It's only the most famous waterfall in the world, so why not go check it out? When talking about Niagara Falls, you have to separate the Falls from the Town, as they are a weird sort of yin and yang. Simply put, the Falls themselves are an awesome specimen of nature, cheapened only by the Las Vegas atmosphere on the main drag of the city, Clifton Hill.
Let's start with the Niagara Falls the waterfall first. The best way to describe them is
pure power. It's funny, they seem a lot taller in pictures (52 meters is pretty tall... I guess...), so at first I was a little disappointed. However, that changed really quickly once I went on the
Maid of the Mist boat ride. For those of you considering going to Niagara
Falls, you have to take this boat ride!!! It's only $15, it will bring you as close as they can to both the U.S. and Canadian parts of the falls. That's how you find out just what the falls are made of. The U.S. side of the falls would normally be pretty spectacular on its own, but once you get to the Horseshoe Falls, well HOLY SHIT! Let's just say you best make sure you wear the raincoat they give you!
As for all Niagara the town, well it's... different. You have a regular town on one side, Las Vegas Canada on the other. Wax museums, theme parks, casinos - the list goes on! Now I can see why so many people get married there! It's so weird to see such natural beauty surrounded by such cheap sideshows, but that's kinda what its like. I don't mean that as an insult, I just find it very surreal.
Anyway, I've spent the past couple of days in Ottawa. What a beautiful city! It's been really cool to be in the nation's capital. I've been to a lot of places in this world and have seen a lot of capitals,
and I can proudly say that Ottawa holds its own. The Parliament Building was just stunning, as were all the government buildings and museums there. And behind Parliament Hill are some of the most scenic parks I've seen anywhere. They follow the Banks of the Ottawa River, and you can get some get some great views of Quebec and the city of Gatineau from there. I'd go in more detail, but I'll let my pictures do the talking Really, the only thing that left me a little disappointed was 24 Sussex Drive: you just couldn't see much. I felt like a paparazzi peeking through the bushes! Damn shrubs... Stupid Prime Minister wanting his prvacy!
One thing I find really interesting about Ottawa is that you have the Parliament area on one side, then across from it you have the entertainment district. Let me break it down a little better: one side - Government; the other side - bars and tattoo parlours. And all only 5-10 minutes walking distance from each other! It's just something I thought was an interesting contrast.
So now I'm off to the final leg of this trip: Montreal. It's a place I've wanted to
Parliament parks by night
That's Gatineau, QC across the river. see for a very long time, so I'm super-stoked to be going there!
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pawan bhatia
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gods creation
one of natures greatest creations