Today's plan is to make the 2 hour drive to Ottawa and then spend the day walking around, seeing the sites. We came here many moons ago when the kids were young (and we were too) and saw the museums and mint. We also came not so many moons ago with our friends Teri & Ralph and froze to death. But today it was pretty warm and a little muggy but all in all a great day to tour the city on foot. We stopped to get sandwiches for lunch at the same bakery we got pastries at yesterday and the nice Google lady got us out of town and onto the highway to Ottawa. You leave the city pretty quickly and are in the forested wilds before you know it. Quick coffee stop and before we knew it we were in front of the hotel Deb found right downtown. Too early to check in but we parked the car in the town parking garage and headed out on foot.
First stop was the open air market shops where everybody was out. The contrast between Montreal and Ottawa is striking first because of the lack of French speakers here and second Montreal feels like a European city and Ottawa is more North American. In Montreal everything from the street lights to the bathroom fixtures to the shops has a Euro feel. Ottawa does not feel like the USA but it is less Euro for sure.
We bought a drink and had our lunch on Adirondack chairs in a blocked off street. We watched the kids playing hop scotch and Deb & both showed them how it's done (my knees hurt tonight!!).
Then we walked toward all the big government buildings, most of which were being worked on so big fences and lots of towering cranes, but still, they are beautiful. I am guessing that Covid shut down construction and now things are catching up. We saw very few masks today so they must have Covid under control.
We also watched the Rideau Canal locks in action. The canal was built after the War of 1812 to help protect Canada from those barbaric Americans attacking again. It connects Ottawa to Kingston Ontario and Lake Ontario. It is still operated by what looks like 4-6 summer students who use the ancient hand operated winches to open the water doors and open and close the big gates. That old tech still works after 200 years!
It was pretty warm by mid-late afternoon so we walked back to the hotel, little shower, little nap and then found a rowdy bar/pub for dinner and drinks. One more walk to get a cookie to split just as the shops closed. Another great walking tour town in good weather
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