Monday July 17 – Ottawa

We began the day with a sightseeing tour, with guide Louis (Lou-ey) who was very knowledgeable about Ottawa.

The spider sculpture was made by an 80+yr old lady, and it represents mother - it has an egg sac underneath

This building appears to rise out of the water but it is built on land and sits out over the water very close to the surface

The Canadian War Museum is designed to look like a bunker, and is austere and dark inside apparently

The Ottawa River divides the city. One side is in the province of Ontario and the other in French-speaking Quebec. The Rideau Canal, which connects Ottawa to Lake Ontario, has  series of eight locks which is used by pleasure craft.

We also saw the Canadian Museum of History, which is shaped in curves, and appears to have an upturned canoe on its roof and upturned paddles supporting this. The paddles and canoe represent the First Nations people, and the curves represent the landscape. The front entrance, looking like a face, represents the glaciers, mountains, hills and prairies. There is even prairie grass planted in the gardens out the front.

The museum has a Japanese Zen garden outside

 For lunch we just went into a shopping centre (called ‘mall’ here) where we shared a flat-bread BLAT, then to thee markets to get a small punnet of mixed berries which we shared.

Our Scenic Free Choice was the Canadian Museum of History, which is a national museum of human history. We were the only two to choose this, and felt that the others really missed something special. We spent 3½ hrs here, learning about the history of the land from First Nations people up to the present. It was really well laid out, with one-way galleries that curved (like the exterior walls) and snaked around to fit in as much as possible and not waste space. It was also interactive, with many screens to touch, buttons to press, games to play.

The Great Hall, home of First Nations displays (in behind the structures on the right) This hall is under the upturned-canoe-roof

This Ukrainian/Canadian church is consecrated and services are still held in it, despite its new location. There is no daylight - all is artificial

There was also a special exhibition on ice hockey that we didn’t go in (it not being our interest) and a great Children’s Museum which is more like a huge multi-activity play area. Harriet and Zachy would have had a ball in here!

All up we really enjoyed this afternoon, but had sore legs and knees from slow walking and shifting weight awkwardly from foot to foot as we went around. We walked back to the hotel (about 20 minutes) to save the bus driver having to come, and to allow us to leave at our leisure rather than be tied to a specific time.

This bridge was widened, the extra lane made of metal mesh. The tyres are very noisy on it.

Dinner was supplied at the hotel. We sat with four others, and the three on one side (including both of us) had a good view of a couple at a table nearby. We surmised that she (about 30 perhaps) and well-endowed, may have been an escort, and he (about 50-60 perhaps) in need of company. Much stroking and kissing, she being extremely attentive to him, laughing at every word, and him besotted with her. When they stood up to leave, he was really short and she really tall! The three of us opposite us couldn’t work out our looks and comments and one couldn’t stand it any longer and swapped and sat next to Lesley on pretext of wanting to chat so she could observe too. The wife of another couple nearby also saw it all, and appeared quite shocked and didn’t know where to look, trying so hard not to look straight ahead (which is where the pair were sitting). The young lady and sugar daddy were a source of much amusement for us.