OTTAWA

Ottawa has been described as one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. Less than an hour's drive from the American border, Ottawa enjoys the attributes of a major center for the visual and performing arts, as well as other big city attractions. Yet, it still maintains the accessibility, atmosphere and charm of a smaller city, in addition to access to spectacular park and wilderness areas located within and around the city.  It met all of these characteristics for us and a great deal more. 

We arrived August 7^th and after settling in we headed out to begin a week of visiting a lot of the Nation’s capital hot spots, historic and otherwise.  One of the oldest landmarks in Ottawa, the Rideau Canal is filled with boats in the summer and becomes the "World's Longest Skating Rink" in the winter.  We drove over the canal many times and even managed to find the locks which connect the City to the Ottawa River.  It is between the Chateau Frontenac and the Parliament Buildings.

We began with a visit to Rideau Hall.  At 1 Sussex Drive, this estate is the official residence of Canada's Governor General.  We took a tour of the residence accompanied by a guide-interpreter, and discovered the 19th century elegance of the home where Canada welcomes world leaders and honors the accomplishments of Canadians.  This is where presentations of the Order of Canada are done. This is the home and workplace of every governor general since Confederation in 1867.  Today, the governor general represents the Queen in Canada, acts as head of State and is the commander-in-chief of Canada.  The residence is home to a magnificent collection of Canadian Art and furniture.  The grounds are huge, 32 hectares (79 acres) in all.  There are more than 10,000 trees on the grounds, some older than Confederation and many have been planted by visiting Heads of State.  We found ones planted by Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy and a host of other members of the Royal Family and other Presidents.  There is a changing of the guard ceremony every hour where a military honor guard is marched in by a piper to take their posts at either side of the entrance to the Hall.  These soldiers are members of the Governor General's Foot Guards from Ottawa and the Canadian Grenadier Guards from Montreal and wear the big furry hats (weighing 31 pounds).   We happened to visit on a very hot day and felt very bad for each guard standing in a hot suit and hat in the hot sun and not moving for an entire hour!

After Rideau Hall, we went visited many other places, including the Canadian War Museum.  An amazing display tracing Canada’s military history from 1885 including the South African, First and Second World War, the Cold War, Peacekeeping and other recent conflicts.  The special exhibition this week was war and medicine, which explores the uneasy and evolving relationship between warfare and the medical profession over the last 150 years.  There were also military vehicle demonstrations where some of the tanks and vehicles in the museums collection were driven around an outside course.   This photo is of Hitler's Munich limo which is currently in the Museum.

Another museum was the National Gallery of Canada.  Dating back to 1880, this visual arts museum holds in trust a collection of European and Canadian paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photos.  The special exhibit was entitled “Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome”, a major international loan exhibition of approximately 60 works that brings the genius of Caravaggio to Canada for the first time and marks the 400th anniversary of his death.  We found his paintings to be exceptionally vibrant and very life like – quite amazing, considering when they were painted.  

Across the street was the Notre Dame Cathedral and Basilica.  The first plan for the construction dates from 1839. The work on the building's structure was conducted between 1841 and 1865, and the interior ornamentation, from 1876 to 1885.  It was simply amazing.

We also visited the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.  Here we explored the history of aviation through some of the 120 aircraft in the museum's collection along the “Walkway of Time".  Interactive exhibits, workshops, demonstrations, and films complemented the exhibitions. The aircraft and exhibits in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum were arranged to guide a visitor along a “Walkway of Time” that traced the history of aviation and highlighted Canada’s contributions.

We took a lot of time at Parliament Hill.  Parliament is the heart of Canada's democratic system. Canadians' representatives meet on Parliament Hill to make laws that shape the country's future and affect the lives of every citizen. Parliament Hill is a place for national decision-making of course. It is also a place for people. Visitors are welcome to tour the buildings, view Parliament in action, and enjoy public programs and colorful spectacles, such as the ceremonial Changing the Guard ceremony.

This is the House of Commons (the green chamber):

This is the Senate (the red chamber):

We also visited the Royal Canadian Mint.  We saw over $1 million worth of gold bullion on display. Producing coins since 1908, this excellent collecting resource features gold, silver and platinum coins commemorating Canada's heritage.  It was a short tour but really worth while.  This is the sister Mint to the one in Winnipeg, which makes all of the currency we use day to day in Canada.  Susan managed to get her hands on a brick of solid gold - worth $700,000, but we had to give it back.

Of course, no visit to Ottawa is possible without visiting the RCMP Musical Ride.  Visiting the RCMP stables was possibly the most memorable visit of all the sites in Ottawa which included visits with the horses (the main Ride was out of town) and the Landau that has been used for over a hundred years for visiting dignitaries and just last week for William and Kate during their visit to Charlottetown.

One of the things we just had to do was going through the Byward Market or the Market, as locals know it.  The historic ByWard Market is a colorful mosaic of farmers' market stalls, shops, galleries, cafés and clubs just east of Parliament Hill. It's a popular place during the day for strolling and shopping, or at night for an evening's entertainment.   This traditional farmers' market surrounds a two-floor building of boutiques and features some fine restaurants as well as numerous places to grab a snack or a glass of wine or beer.  Another major draw is the Sparks Street Mall.  It is an outdoor pedestrian mall along about five blocks of Sparks Street, which runs parallel to Wellington Street a block south of Parliament Hill.  The street is closed to vehicle traffic.  At the start of the Mall is not only one of the very best Irish Pubs I have ever found, it is also the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   The three-tiered sarcophagus it is 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 3 feet high.

Just a two-minute walk west of the Parliament Buildings on Wellington Street stands the Supreme Court of Canada. Completed in 1946, the impressively bold structure is crowned with the green copper roofing that has become a symbol of the nation's capital.  We had a chance to visit the actual courtroom of the Supreme Court, which often is only seen, on TV for anyone other than those who live in the Capital. We were quite amazed with the level of technology that is incorporated into each session with each lawyer having immediate access to the Internet; this allows them instantaneous information gathering during a session and additions or changes to their presentation.

We also visited the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec.  It was simply amazing.  We saw how civilization changed over 1,000 years of history through life-size reconstructions.  The presentations used real people in history, not necessarily well known individuals, which allowed us to become acquainted with some of the remarkable individuals who have shaped our nation, and explore the traditions and achievements of its First Peoples.   It was really interesting wandering through each exhibit as it travelled through the generations from the earliest BC coastal natives through the French development of New France.  The ships were full size, the buildings occupied with actors in costume and all of this was indoors.  It took us almost a full day just to go through the four floors of exhibits, including the Canada Post Museum.

The Canada Agriculture Museum was another stop.  This is living proof of the "Green Capital". In fact, Ottawa is the only world Capital that has a working farm at its heart. Canada's unique agricultural heritage is featured at the Canada Agriculture Museum, where one can explore the sights and sounds of typical farm life. The Agriculture Museum is located across the Rideau Canal from Carleton University at the Central Experimental Farm.

We tried to get in to see the Prime Minister at his home at 24 Sussex but it seemed he was down in Brazil so couldn’t buy us lunch, but we did have a quick look around his home, albeit from the street and through many serious looking Mounties.  In truth, the residence is a stone mansion that is barely visible through the densely treed lot.  The home was bought by the government in 1943 and became the official residence for the Prime Minister in 1951.

We visited the new RCMP Headquarters and had a chance to have a wonderful visit with my co-workers.  It was certainly nice to catch up and see them all again.


On the 14^th we left Ottawa and began our trip to the East Coast.  We are going to be back in Ottawa in early September after we visit Quebec as there are still some things we haven't seen and others we want to visit again.


We headed east and drove through Montreal and on to the east shore of the St. Laurence River.  In some areas, we thought we’d already reached the sea the river was so wide.  We went through Levis, Quebec and then on to Edmundston, New Brunswick where we spent the night.  The next day we headed on to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.   The boys are doing well, certainly learning how to travel with us.