Day two in Ottawa

Our tour bus ticket was good for 24 hours so the next day we went to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, which is just across the river from Parliament Hill. So many museums and galleries, but we were told this is the one to see, the most visited. 

hahaha

Actually a dinner show in the pub of the opera Carmen. Was sold out unfortunately. 

Cooookies

Obama cookies

Byward Market

The bus went through an area called Byward Market, not far from Parliament Hill. Loads of restaurants, outdoor patios, farmers market, venders selling various things, lots of shops. The place to be. After the tour we walked back and found the most amazing pastry shop. The best almond croissants ever, of which I have no picture. 

Only in Canada?

We hopped off the bus at Rideau Hall, residence of the Governor General. The beautiful grounds are open to the public, people sitting under the trees relaxing, kids playing, a few cricket games going on and others walking around enjoying nature and the good weather.

Bus tour of Ottawa

Monday was a civic holiday and the downtown businesses were closed so was easy to get around, just us tourists.

Red Green was here

hahaha

I swear this is duct tape. Don't have the best zoom on my camera but spied this on one of the upper windows on the back of the centre block on Parliament Hill. Click on the picture to zoom in.

Impressed

I like the fact that the public is allowed to play frisbee on the grounds of the Parliament buildings.

Centennial Flame on Parliament Hil

Ottawa

We arrived Sunday between 6p, and 7pm and checked into our hotel, which was just a couple of blocks from the Parliament buildings.  Great location. We went for a stroll, warm and sunny and few people around. Smaller city and felt easier, like home I guess. Not crowded but some people walking about.  There was a Buskers festival on Sparks Street (one block from Parliament Hill)  and some people milling about watching. We are going to stay a couple of nights here but already we like Ottawa.  Lots of museums and galleries and history and lots of sites to see. Lots of french, of course but thankfully lots of English too.  My high school french isn't going to get me very far.

Where we are now

Rita remembered but I forgot

It's my BIRTHDAY today !

testing

Trying a new thing. Have too many pictures I like so here is a link to extra photos.

Click on MORE PHOTOS above.

Basketball in Almonte

AND! Wouldn't you know it is the boyhood home of the man who invented basketball, Dr. James Naismith.

How we roll

There is a TV show called Canadian Pickers about two guys who travel around Canada looking for collectables. In Last night's episode they were in Almonte, Ontario. After some research on the net, we decided to make a detour. It's about 50 km before Ottawa, off the main road and is mainly a commuter town. Was once an old mill town from the early 1800's, quaint and picturesque with falls running running through town and old brick buildings.

It was after 5pm and most things were closed so we just drove around a bit, had a short stroll and then carried on. The weather was beautiful, nice light for photos, quiet and peaceful.

Rita, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore

Leisurely Sunday drive through Toronto

On our way to Niagara we hit Toronto at rush hour. Yowzers, welcome to the big city.  I was expecting it to be similar to driving through Seattle. Not. The population of Toronto is around 2.6 million and Seattle is about 600,000, so no wonder there were 12 lanes of traffic. Okay, GPS not the big evil thing, did resort to using it on the phone to get us through. Somehow, on Sunday, we just drove and one thing led to another and oops, there it was, oops, missed it. Oh well. The only thing wanted to see was the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) anyway. Oh well. Just didn't appeal to either of us. On to Ottawa.

Contest update

We are closing the bag count contest on Aug 20th.  Mainly because it is getting harder for us to remember which are the newly acquired bags since the last post. Send me an email if unable to via the blog.

St Jacobs to London

Had a long day in St Jacobs and had no place to stay anymore so drove to London passing through Stratford.  What a pretty town, all the old brick buildings and outdoor patios and the happy people milling about. Would have liked to spent the night but the only room we found available was $190 above a bar so we are off to London to see the queen. About an hour and a bit away and hope to get an early start to Toronto. hahaha