OTTAWA

Wednesday we left Sault Ste. Marie and went to Sudbury the evening meeting.  Lindsay and Karen Harris had us go to their place and they drove us to meeting in their van.  This was very kind of them because the meeting was difficult to find.  It was a lovely meeting with only the Harris's, the couple of the home and her sister and one other young man other than ourselves.  The Harris's were very kind and accommodating and we were able to park our motor home in their yard for the night.  The next day was on to the Algonquin and then to the Samuel de Champlain campground for the night.

 Algonquin Provincial Park

 Algonquin Provincial Park

 Daisy going for a bike ride.

A very large frog we found at the beach. Yuck!

Well, we made it to Ottawa!  We arrived at our campsite Friday, August 19, before dinner so we started a few loads of laundry at the laundromat and took a short bike ride.  The next day we were trying to be downtown by 9:30am to get to the Parliament buildings in time for the changing of the guards.  We got held up in construction delays on the freeway and ended up pulling up to the parliament buildings as the the marching band came marching down the road.  Kent pulled off into a tour bus loading area and allowed us girls to make a beeline over to the grounds to watch the show.  It was quite hard to see through the throngs of people but as it went on people got tired of watching and left so we had a better view, the part I found most interesting was the selection of music.  After the changing of the guard we went back to Kent and found a place to park the big rig before setting off on foot to explore the city.  We walked back up to Parliament hill and found out that we needed a ticket to take a tour of the buildings so we went and got tickets for the next available tour which wasn't until 2:20pm with a few hours to go before our tour we decided to go see what was around the area.  We walked down Wellington to Sussex Drive and found the National Gallery and went in to look at some of the art on display.  We had taken Daisy with us on our walk so we tied her up outside but it was hot so we didn't want to leave her out in the shade of the trees for too long so our tour of the art gallery was only about 2 hours long and we only got to cover the displays on the first level of this magnificent building.  By the time we got back outside everyone was famished and we did not have time to eat and still return in time to take our parliamentary building tour.  We made the democratic decision to fore fit our tour time for today and find lunch instead.  We walked down to the Byward market and picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables as well as some delicious pastries before we found a market with some very tempting smells and were lured into having a lunch of East Indian food with some crepes for dessert.  While sitting in the market having lunch the big grey clouds rolled in and by the time we were walking again it started to pour.  We found shelter in the Chapters store we had passed earlier, yes, this was not too hard to take.  The only problem being I had the dog so we had to wait just inside the first set of doors while the others got to wander through the books.  The rain let up so we continued our walk through the drizzle down Sussex to the Royal Mint and then headed back up the street and through Major's hill park.  We walked through the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the National War Memorial and down by the Rideau Canal Locks.  We were too late to go into the Bytown Museum and Kent was not sure how much visibility he would have from the boat on the canal boat tour so we did not take it.  It was now 6:00 and Victoria was complaining of very sore feet so we decided to call it a day.

Changing of the guard.

 Notice the name of the street.

Reflection of the Parliament buildings in a building across the street.

 Centre block of the parliament buildings.

 The National Gallery.

 Cathedrale Notre Dame

 Looking across to Gatineau and the Alexandra Street bridge from Parliament Hill.

Looking back to Parliament Hill from Major's Hill Park.

Rideau Canal Locks and the Bytown Museum.

 National War Memorial

Laurier House.

 Sunday morning we had meeting at John and Charlene Oulton's and stayed for a lovely lunch and visit following the meeting.  After we went back to parliament hill to try and get a tour of the buildings, by this time it was already 3:45 and we found that there were no more English tours left for the day but there was room for the five of us in a French tour so we decided we would take it because it would give us access to the inside of the building.  We took the tour but we didn't learn very much because we couldn't understand what they were saying.  At the end of the tour we met a security guard who told us about the stone (limestone) that was used in the construction of the building and pointed out some of the carvings in the ceiling of the entrance.  We wish we could have taken the tour in English but at least we got inside.  Then we proceeded outside and took the self-guided tour of the grounds.  Katrina was very glad we got inside to see the library - truly a remarkable room and the only room that was saved in the fire of 1916 which destroyed the rest of the building.  It was because of this fire that the buildings were rebuilt with stone and not wood, the library is the only room that is wood and not stone.

 Katrina and Juanna at the entrance to the parliament buildings.

 Inside the Parliamentary Library.

 The outside of the library.

 The girls having tea with the 'Women are Persons'. 

The girls with the statue of John A. Macdonald.



Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Anita, Happy Birthday to you!!

Monday, our last day in Ottawa, we drove along the Ottawa River Parkway took the bridge over to Gatineau and went to the Museum of Civilization.  We took in a 3D Imax of rescue missions which was very interesting.  We were not able to cover all the levels of the museum but we went to the children's museum, the postal, the polar expedition, and the Japan exhibitions as well as the Canada Hall.  The Canada Hall is a journey through the past thousand years of Canada.  The museum is wonderful and definitely a must see for anyone in the area we would love to go back again if we are ever back this way.  We took the Alexandra Street bridge back to Ottawa and drove down Sussex Drive past the Prime Minister's residence and Rideau Hall.  We tried stopping in at the RCMP Stables but they were not open, we also would have loved to go to the Aviation Museum and the Museum of Science and Technology but once again we found ourselves short on time.  We drove down to Hudson, Quebec, hoping to get a chance to get together with Jean Dicairre and family but we could not get a hold of them.  We took a small ferry across to Oka and spent the night at the provincial park there.  Hudson and Oka were both beautiful towns with beautifully well maintained homes and yard.

The girls in the Children's museum.

Down at the ferry dock.