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Published: January 4th 2017
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Sunday, October 16th, 2016 Day 2: Gatineau and Ottawa: Raining fall in Gatineau Park and remembering the fallen at the Canadian War Museum. Today, was a very gloomy day. It was a grey morning on the verge of rain. We planned on being outdoors for the majority of the day. It was the last day to take the free shuttle bus from downtown Gatineau to the “Fall Rhapsody” festival in Gatineau Park. This is the first time Renata and I have been to Gatineau Park. With no easy way of getting to the park without a car, we had to take full advantage of the free shuttle even though there was a 100%!c(MISSING)hance of showers.
Our first stop off the shuttle was Pink Lake. Named after a family of Irish settlers, Pink Lake is Gatineau Park’s most unique lake because it is “meromictic.” Unlike a normal lake, the upper and lower water levels of Pink Lake do not mix. The mixing of lake waters distributes nutrients and oxygen evenly throughout lakes. Since Pink Lake’s waters do not mix, there is no oxygen in the deepest seven metres of the lake
With
no oxygen at the bottom of Pink Lake, there are not many organisms that can survive in its depths. One of the organisms found in the lake is a pink photosynthetic bacterium that uses sulphur instead of oxygen to transform sunlight into energy.
The greenish tint to the waters of Pink Lake is caused by the growth of microscopic algae. The algae are very harmful for the lake. They take over the remaining oxygen, suffocating the lake. This natural process called “eutrophication” can stretch out to many thousands of years. However, due to the popularity of Pink Lake with visitors, this process has sped up. To preserve the lake, platforms and trails have been built to limit the damage due to erosion.
We did not spend long at the lake because it started to rain heavily. We decided to seek shelter on the shuttle bus on the way to our next stop the Mackenzie King Estate.
Luckily, it was one of those on and off showers, and the rain suddenly cleared as we reached the estate. The Mackenzie King Estate, served as the summer residence of Mackenzie King, Canada’s tenth and
Getting Wet
@ Pink Lake longest serving Prime Minister. When he died he left the estate to the government of Canada.
The two areas of the estate are Kingswood and Moorside. At Kingswood, we discovered two small chalets with one housing this cute little children’s classroom. At Moorside, there was a larger more elegant cottage with rooms including furniture resembling Mackenzie King’s time. There was also a beautiful flower garden in the back and interesting ruins to explore nearby.
Whenever it started to rain we would find shelter inside the cottage. Unfortunately, due to the rain we decided not to walk the various trails nearby. We were already getting soaked and longed for the warm indoors.
So, we cut our visit to Gatineau Park short and headed back to Ottawa. We went to the Canadian War Museum where we ate lunch while drying off from the rain.
Some of the interesting artifacts we saw at the Canadian War Museum include the car that Hitler drove and a room full of interesting military tanks.
Tomorrow we head on over to the Royal Canadian Mint, to see how Canadian coins
Reading the signs
@ Mackenzie King Estate are made and then it is off to the Canadian Museum of History.
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