Here we are at day 6. Today was all about Ottawa. The capital of Canada. We headed straight to Parliament Hill. The similarities between the UK and Canadian parliaments are pretty obvious. In Canada they have a House of Commons (with green seats in the chamber) and a Senate (like the House of Lords with red seats in the chamber). They have a Governor General which represents the Monarchy and of course a Prime Minister. The main part of the houses of parliament was closed for refurbishment, with cranes and all sorts all over the place, but it was still interesting to walk around and have a look. Out the front was the Centennial Flame which is a monument commemorating 100 years of the confederation (the coming together of the various provinces and territories of Canada). It is a flame that burns within a water fountain.
We had a nice (uncomfortable) chat with some conspiracy theorist who approached us to let us know how the problems in Gaza have long been orchestrated by the deep state and then he went on to imply something about him being the chosen one or something - so we shuffled on. As we left he told us he had been banned from the UK, so I suspect we may never see him again.
When the parliament buildings are open they do free tours, however they now offer an immersive sort of virtual tour of the parliament nearby. It was a bit wacky, but actually pretty interesting. It is like a museum space in the first room and then a sort 'show' in the second room which had light projections that made it look like you were inside the various chambers. They then had snippets of iconic speeches made by Canadian politicians on all sorts of subjects (Women's suffrage, the rights of the first nation people, marriage equality). There was also a fair bit of information on offer about some of the dodgy parts of Canada's history (internment of Japanese Canadians during the war, the Chinese Head Tax policy, and the forced assimilation of first nation people at Residential Schools). Then again, we have an even longer list of things like this - perhaps we could learn a thing or two from Canada about facing up to it. Aaaannnyway, (keep it light Simon).
After Parliament Hill, we headed to Byward Market for lunch. This is a food market with restaurants and bars all around it. We did a lap of the market (and took in the sights and smells of the place - mostly cannabis) and opted for a Taco place that had excellent reviews. It didn't disappoint. Shortly after Tacos we headed for an Ottawa institution - a Beaver Tail. This is a flat fried donut in the shape of the beaver tail with various toppings available. I had the classic with cinnamon and sugar - it was pretty delicious.
We had a few options of what to do late afternoon/early evening. Having spent most of our time in cities so far, we thought we would try to do something outdoorsy, so we headed back to the apartment, grabbed the car and drove out to Gatineau Park. On the way, we crossed over the border into Quebec and all of a sudden everything turned French! I expected there to be French writing on the signs etc, but I wasn't quite expecting everything to be French! I imagine it is a good insight into what's to come in Montreal and Quebec City.
Gatineau Park is an enormous park just outside Ottawa and very popular with locals. In the autumn (or 'fall' as the Canadians call it), it becomes really popular with tourists for the 'Fall Rhapsody' which refers to the changing colours of the leaves from Green to yellow to a very vivid red. We headed into the park and found a place to stop. As we got out of the car we saw a sign saying that Bears are in the area - which almost made me get straight back in the car, but we saw a few people with kids milling about so we thought we'd go for it! We wandered around the 'Mackenzie King Estate' - which is where a former Canadian Prime Minister lived. It had very nice landscaped gardens and autumnal trees which were pretty to look at. It is just next to Lake Kingsmere - which we headed to through a patch of woodland (I was on high alert, no bears to be seen). We sat for a bit and took in the quiet and then jumped back in the car for a drive through the park. There was something fairly surreal about the colours of the trees we were surrounded by. As I said in a previous post, the photos just don't do it justice.
After leaving the park, we popped into a mall and had a little mooch around, grabbed a quick bite and headed back to the apartment.
Parliament, with the Centennial Flame in the foreground.
Centennial Flame with West Block in the background
Part of the immersive parliament tour.
It is hard to show what's going on, but this is what you're getting immersed into. Projections of the buildings all around you in a room so it looks like you're in the room it's simulating.
Outside Byward Market
Outside Byward. I imagine it would be rammed in summer.
A classic Beavertail.
Inside the market.
Advice: "Stay Calm, Make Noise, Walk Away."
Likely reality: "Soil pants, scream and run"
Mackenzie King's house
Fall Rhapsody
No bears.
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