Day 7

Ottawa, Downtown, Cora’s

Tini was again off early to the conference, which gave me the opportunity start the day off testing the waters of the hotels indoor pool. nice and large, and for the men accessed by an old steep wrought iron spiral staircase. Which to my mind is a little unfair as the women miss out on having to navigate this to and from their changing rooms, but then the hotel was built between 1908 and 1912 and enlarged in 1920 so maybe steep spiralling stairs would not have been so suitable for what women had to wear if they went swimming in those days.

If there’s one restaurant that stands out to me its Cora’s. This place specialises in breakfast and lunch’s (but does not do dinner) and I can see why its a favourite with those in Ottawa. If you want a good and/or healthy breakfast/lunch this is the place. Almost all portions come with handfuls of presented fresh fruit and a popular dish I noted was dinner plate sized crepes filled with fresh fruit and a type of custard or chocolate-hazlenut sauce.

Most of the shops selling Canadian souvenirs and Native Canadian craft I found to be in the pedestrianised Sparks Street. This leads past the Currency Museum itself housed in an architecturally interesting building. I must admit the rest of the day was spent following my nose and looking at the architecture of the buildings around this district and what shops took my interest.

In the evening we investigated Zak’s Diner an American style diner that’s open 24 hours. Good food and well cooked.

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