PART ONE: OTTAWA – CANADA’S CAPITAL

We just returned on Friday from spending 3 nights in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, followed by a 12 night cruise of Northeast Canada and Bermuda ending in New York City - quite the eclectic adventure. To make my posts more manageable, I decided to break it into three parts. I’ll start with our exploration of Ottawa.

My research found a small inn located in the Byward Market area just blocks from most of the museums and attractions we planned to visit. This sign, tacky as it may be, was just blocks from our hotel. You'll notice the boot on my right foot. I broke two metatarsal bones which are taking their sweet time to heal. I wasn't about to miss this trip so decided I would do what I could do and see how it goes.

This is a typical Ottawa street in the Byward Market district.

Notre Dame Cathedral. You'll notice that it was overcast but fortunately our timing was good and there was no smoke from all the forest fires in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada. Just a day or two prior to our arrival the smoke was a real detriment.

The interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The National Gallery of Canada is literally right across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral. We had plenty of time before our Parliament Buildings tours to explore the art gallery.

My super cool mode of transportation around the gallery. They were available free of charge so I took advantage of tooling around on my scooter to save my foot. Lots of my favorite Monets and other impressionists.

Our next stop was Parliament Hill where Canada’s government is housed. We had made reservations online the night before for two timed free tours – one of the Senate of Canada and the other of the House of Commons.

The Parliament Buildings are closed for an extensive renovation which began in 2018 and will likely take another ten years to complete. There is tons of construction going on everywhere. This is the Centre Block of Parliament that is currently closed. Check out Lou's Facebook page if you want to see it with the cranes and scaffolding Photoshoped out.

This is another part of Parliament that is currently closed. I believe this is the East Block of Parliament. The Senate of Canada is normally in this building but has been in an old train station across the street since 2018 which is where we toured it.

The House of Commons was erected inside the courtyard of the West Block of Parliament. They told us none of the construction actually touches the walls of the West Block. 

After a long day of sightseeing, we stopped at an Irish pub, the Heart & Crown, on our walk back to the hotel for a cold Guiness on tap and some fish and chips.

The second full day in Ottawa began with an Uber to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. My broken foot had survived day one quite well thanks to the scooter I tooled around on at the National Gallery of Canada so I asked if the Aviation Museum had scooters. They didn’t but did offer a free wheelchair which Lou pushed me around in.

As a woman who has been to more airshows and air museums than I ever thought possible due to a son and partner who are enamored with airplanes, here was one more that I felt obliged to visit. I probably know more than most people but I have no idea what these planes are, just liked the look.

My son knows them all and Lou knows a bunch of them, too. I know they are biplanes. Maybe Sopwith Camels or Messerschmitts or Fokkers? If you talk to me sometime, ask me about the joke regarding Messerschmitts and Fokkers.

The Rideau Canal is an engineering marvel with 46 locks over 202 kilometers linking the Ottawa River with the St. Lawrence River. Since a couple museums were closed or too far away, we decided to take the 1-1/2 hour boat ride along the Rideau Canal. The tourist boat does not go through any locks since that journey takes many hours.

Some of the nearby locks on the Rideau Canal.

Our boat left from the lower right hand side of this photo.

We are standing at the spot where our boat will pick us up on the canal. The locks in the above photo are just under the bridge on the left.

Some apartment buidings along the Rideau Canal. There is a walking and biking trail that follows the canal for miles.

One of many scenic bridges that our canal cruise traveled under.

Our boat emerging from one of the historical bridges.

The Changing of the Guard is a memorial ceremony performed each hour at the National War Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The beginning of the hourly Changing of the Guard ceremony. The guards had not been present the previous several days due to unhealthy air caused by smoke from the fires. We were lucky this was the first day they resumed.

Waiting patiently for our train at the Ottawa Train Station. Once again, a kindly employee offered me a wheelchair and preboarding to make things easier with my broken foot. I don't like feeling incapable and handicapped but it is what it is so I sucked it up and forged ahead.

We had prepaid tickets with Via Rail to take the two hour train from Ottawa to Montreal where we board our Regent Seven Seas cruise ship. My hope is to have PART TWO: CRUISING NORTHEAST CANADA and PART THREE: BERMUDA  & NEW YORK ready to go in the next few days.