Day 26 - Proud Canadian in Ottawa

This airbnb is wonderful!  It is in a residential area close to everything.  The house has been updated and tastefully decorated.  I love the added touches of local soaps and shampoo/conditioners.  

The bed was very comfortable and we sleep very well.

When we get up early we are downstairs enjoying some tea when I listen to a voice mail I got during the night.  Sadly the walking tour we had booked for this morning is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.  Too bad but we still have a lot to see.

But we can take our time getting up and moving then.

another Terry Fox monument

We leave around 8 am and walk towards the Parliament buildings. The Canadian Parliament offers free tours but you do need to get your tickets early.  When we arrive at 8:35 there is already a line.  When the doors open at 9 am it moves very quickly and we secure tickets to the 9:30 tour.

Construction of the buildings began in 1859 two years after Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital of the then Province of Canada.  

A fire in 1916 leveled most of the Centre Block.  

The Parliamentary Library survived the blaze for three reasons -- the efforts of the firefighters, the direction of the wind, and the design of the library.  A long hallway separates the library from the Center Block also there are large steel doors that closed and inhibited the spread of the fire. 

The East and West Blocks, which are not physically attached to the Centre Block also survived the fire.  

When the Centre Block was rebuilt it was made much taller, and was renamed the Peace Tower.  

We were not able to visit the House of Commons as the legislature was sitting.  I would of love to see my old roommate (we roomed together a few times as educators with our union in Port Elgin) who now is a member of Parliament Tracey Ramsay but we lost touch and I am sure she was busy.

However we were very excited to visit the Senate - of course they were not sitting.  

We learned a lot and I was so very proud of my country. 

The Eternal Flame

We then crossed the street to the National War Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

Ottawa has a lot of staff all around in blue shirts that are here to help you with any questions you may have.  

Right in front of the War Memorial is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It contains the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who had been buried near Vimy Ridge in France — the site of a famous Canadian victory in the First World War.

love this shot of a father explaining to his son about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Unknown Soldier represents the approximately 116,000 Canadians who gave their lives for their country, including about 28,000 soldiers whose resting place is unknown.

We are lucky enough to be here for the changing of the guards.  I took a video, check it out.

A few blocks away is the ByWard Market and it comprises of many city blocks.  Lots of locally produced crafts, foods, stores are here.  Lots of bars, restaurants, pubs, food stalls can be found here too.

It is a lovely day with a temperature of 22, so many are outside drinking and eating.

We find a cute restaurant called Zak's Cantina where we each order a drink and check out the food!  I had a veggie chimmichanga - I could not finish it.  The staff were phenomenal and very helpful and friendly.

Check out the bus that is actually IN the restaurant!  Bea likes it too.

When we stumble out with full bellies we head over to the National Gallery of Canada.   A beautiful HUGE building.  Entrance was quite reasonable at $15 each.

we immediately recognized this artist as we saw his work in Saskatoon too, see we are learning lots

I real purpose is to see works from the Group of Seven and Emily Carr.  We were not disappointed.

Here is more information about the Group of Seven.

After around two hours in the Gallery we are loosing steam.  We have been touring around for 6 hours!  

overlooking the Rideau Canal

We start walking back to the apartment (about a 25 min. walk) and as soon as we arrive we both decide a short nap is necessary.

We end up having dinner in tonight.  It is a nice option and it saves on money.

Tonight our friend Meghan is coming in from Toronto. We sailed twice with Meghan and the most recent time was in January.  We keep in touch all the time and it is a nice treat that she is coming up to spend two nights with us.  We will pick her up at the train station tonight.