Ottawa

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Our home for the next 3 nights is an RV park outside of Ottawa.  It is only a few miles to Downtown Ottawa, but traffic is a bit of a bear and it takes quite a while to get to our destination.

Before getting on the Tour bus we were treated to a parade.  The Red Coated soldiers marched down the street, complete with Bagpipes. 

We took a Tour on our first day.  It was an hour and a half on a double decker bus.  We had a great tour guide who told us about everything we passed in both English and French. She was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed the ride and everything we were able to see.  Though the weather was fairly warm, I was glad I had my poncho to keep me warm. We wanted to be on the top level to see everything we could and to get pictures, but the wind gets a bit brisk.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada. If you will, it is the Washington DC of Canada.  The buildings are amazing. 

The East Wing House of Commons is the offices of the members of the House of Commons (our House of Representatives). These people are elected by the people of Canada much like our Representatives.

The Centre Block is the area where the members Parliament meet for voting.  It also house many of the offices.

The West Wing is where the offices most of the Senate reside.  Interestingly, unlike the Senate in the United States, the Senators in Canada are appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada.

Due to the renovations in the Centre Building, there is a separate building where the Prime Minister and the Privy Councils (his cabinet) offices are housed.

The current Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau.  Unlike in the United States, the Prime Minister is NOT an elected official and there is no term limit for the office. 

Essentially, the leader of party that controls the House of Commons, remains in office as long as the favored party holds the majority.  Since the Prime Minister appoints members of the Senate, that position has a great deal of power.

We also passed the Canadian War Museum.  The point on the building shows "Lest we forget" in Morse Code.  NOTE: the dots and dashes..

 

And the Museum of Art.  The interesting Sculpture outside of the Museum was also a virtual Geocache. Of course, we needed to return to get Ed’s picture in front of it to claim the find.  Out of all the sculptures, can I ask “Why This One?”

After completing the tour we returned to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial and waited for the Changing of the Guards.  There was a Bagpipe Player that accompanied the new officers to the tomb and left with the old officers as they retired.

The soldiers have a distinctively "British" way of marching while guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier.

The city is beautiful, but there is a great deal of construction happening.  The Parliament buildings were being renovated and many streets were closed.  There was a great deal of activity because July 1 is Canada Day.  We probably could have picked a better time for our visit, but it was wonderful…

The second day, we wanted to stay away from Downtown Ottawa because of the Canadian Holiday festivities.  We were told that another place to check out was the Locks on the Rideau River.  We headed out to discover what we might find.

This first picture is of a Manual Lock.  It requires a person to crank the winch to open and close the gate.  We don’t believe it is used any longer.

The second picture is of Smith’s Falls Bascule Bridge. It is a counterweighted railroad bridge.  Also very old!!

The third is a picture of a more Modernized Lock still being used.  Please let us know if you can figure out what the sign is indicating!!

 

On the third day we returned to Ottawa to check out some of the places we viewed on our tour. We wanted to stop at the overlook of the Ottawa River.  We viewed Pointe Gatineau in Quebec. Ottawa Ontario and Gatineau Quebec are just a bridge apart.

After that we visited Rideau Hall.  This is the building where the Governor General of Canada resides.  In addition, many royals visit the site when in the country. 

The Governor General is the representative of the king in Canada. The current Governor is Mary Simon. She is an appointed by the Crown.

Rideau Hall is amazing.  Upon arriving you see 2 Guards stationed at the gates.  They look much like you might have seen at the Castle in England. 

We got pictures of us next to the guards, just as the gate person was yelling at us for being too close to them.!!
I look worried.

After going through the gate we took a short walk on the grounds to the hall. The gardens and trees along the way were impeccably maintained. There is even a totem pole!

We were able to go through many of rooms of the building and conservatory.  

We saw many interesting plants and a few surprises.  Can you find it?  We counted a total of seven but only one in our pictures.

Another great thing we found on the grounds were 2 trees among so many.  It seems trees were planted by visitors. Both Jackie and John F Kennedy planted trees on the site.  Ed is next to John Kennedy’s tree and I am next to Jackie Kennedy’s tree.  Both were planted in 1961.

Check out the great statue of Queen Elizabeth on a horse on the road leading to the hall.  Ed calls it "Queen Elizabeth Horsing Around"…  The statue is on the center of a roundabout.

Many people post pictures of what they eat on their trips.  I would expect we might do so as well…  But at this location Ed wants to post a picture of the urinal at the restaurant we ate at in Ottawa.  We always want to go someplace special.  Well, here you have this one… You must admit, it is unique!!

 

See you after Montreal!!