Ottawa and the First Week of Winter Term

The first week back to school after the Christmas break was pretty lax. My instructors are… well, I don’t have much of a opinion yet aside from that I think they’re all pretty decent people. I’ve only seen them each once or twice so far, but things are looking good from the outset… I do have final exams in all my courses this term, however. Last term I only had two. I’ll live.

Last week, I blathered on about my time in Montreal over Christmas break and left you all with something of a promise to say a little bit about the two-day side trip to Ottawa. Here goes…

My boyfriend, as wonderful a boyfriend as he most definitely is, proclaimed that I could not possibly be Canadian until I had been to Ottawa, been to Parliament Hill and been inside the parliament buildings. I could object (am I not Canadian by birth?) but I really did want to go to Ottawa, so I kept my mouth shut save for agreeing that we should most definitely go.

We set out at about 7am, picking up the boyfriend’s best friend on the way. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Montreal to Ottawa. Lots of ‘deer and moose crossing’ signs, very few other vehicles and nary an OPP car to be seen (there was one when we stopped at a Tim Hortons a short while into our trip for breakfast – I’ll keep the ‘cop + donut’ stereotypes to myself. Cops like pizza where I come from…). All in all, a rather quiet drive. And pity, there were no hoofed animals to be seen, even with the proliferation of signs.

Our first stop upon getting into Ottawa was… well, to be completely honest, it was finding a parking spot  in close proximity to the parliament buildings. Okay, that was completely unnecessary – it was the Parliament Buildings. Upon arriving at the aforementioned buildings, we discovered that it wouldn’t be a long wait to get on a tour. The tour itself was rather informative (and slightly amusing at some points).  It’s a stop I’d recommend for most any visitor to the nation’s capital. My favourite room was the library.  It had this wonderful smell to it. It’s a beautiful place, with white pine, cherry, oak and walnut woods in its structure, as far as I know. And all those books! Lovely.

Our other stops on the first day consisted of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (very, very cool – lots of planes!), as well as the Ottawa facility of the Royal Canadian Mint (where all the shiny collector and investment coins are struck!). After our touring was done for the day, we checked in at our hotel and made plans for the evening – an evening that consisted of beer, food and friends, of course.

Day two, we visited the War Museum (that place is huge!) and the Science and Technology museum. I think my daughter would love the latter, along with the previously mentioned Aviation and Space museum. I think I’d like to take her to seem them later this year.

At the end of day two, we milled about in Ottawa before heading back to Montreal for our last day or so there.

I enjoyed every part of my two weeks on the east coast of the country and I’m always happy to return, as we no doubt will next winter.

Until next time,

Kaman

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