Day 6
Ottawa, Canadian Parliament
Seem to be very lucky with the weather. Instead of the forecasted snow, its been more or less brilliant sunshine apart from a brief snow flurry or two earlier in the morning. Tini had to leave very early for the conference, leaving me to explore Ottawa by myself. I suppose I could have picked up a guide book, but then sometimes its just nice to wander and meet people.
Okay I’m English or rather a Londoner and I’m not used to thick snow or at least the type Ottawa gets so walking through the thickly covered grounds of Majors Hill Park was a novelty. What paths there were compacted ice and you weren’t aware of the actual depth until you strayed off the path to sink up to your knees. The park has some great views looking over the Rideau Canal and the Canadian Parliament buildings and library on Parliament Hill, to the south west, over the Ottawa River to Gatineau to the west and the glass tower of the National Art Gallery to the north. Walking through the park I was greeted by copper coloured Siberian Husky called Sascha almost pulling its owner, Lara, to meet me. I think Lara was as bemused as me as Sascha does not normally go up to people.
From the park you also get good views of the National Gallery of Canada with is glass tower and next door to it the silver spired Notre-Dame cathedral. Outside the National Gallery is the large strange spider like Maman (1999), by Louise Bourgeois which is worth seeing. Walking further North into the Byward area, you find a mix of old and modern buildings. While the Byward market itself has a collection of shops mainly selling different types of food, from freshly baked strawberry bagels, through to a shop selling produce from each of the different provinces of Canada. There’s a number of good restaurants in the Byward area as well.
The afternoon was spent looking around the Parliament Hill and the Canadian Parliament building. This is definitely worth a visit even if you are not Canadian. Entry and the tour is free, but expect airport style security. If you go during the holidays you may also have a chance to see the House of Commons and Senate which are off bounds to tours when in session. Both are incidentally modelled on the British government House of Commons and House of Lords including colour scheme. Refreshingly you can take pictures where you like, except for the circular library which is very photogenic and also modelled on the British Library. If you get the chance take the lift to the observation room at the top of Peace Tower which fronts the building and in addition to housing a carillon of bells affords fantastic views over Ottawa and Gatineau and the Ottawa River including the Ottawa Falls.
In addition to the restaurants around ByWard there’s a few to be recommended around the city and I ventured out to see what was on offer at Al’s steakhouse, Elgin Street. The menu offers a good range of steak and rib grills, and a selection of seafood options, in addition to a good selection of wines and cocktails. Being hungry I opted for the seafood platter which arrived with a medley of lobster, breaded shrimp, coconut scallops and orange roughy on a bed of rice. The fish was excellent, but to my mind the lobster was over done and I was unable to taste anything coconutty about the scallops, but that could be due to the spicy heat of the Bloody Ceasar cocktail which I had to start. The wine, a Vineland VQA Riesling more than made up for it.
