HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the beautiful city of Ottawa
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Cold and rainy was not on the cards
WORD OF THE DAY: Poutine (Poutsine)-yes yes yes
We were heading into the city today and from the pictures I have seen I can’t wait. It looks like a beautiful city. As we had a late night, we didn’t end up leaving home till 11am, but that was okay as we had the whole day ahead and as we got to Rockcliffe Lookout. It’s where the Rideau River joins the Ottawa River with Ottawa City Hall and the National Research Council in the background. From the look- out Ontario is on one side and Quebec is on the other. The Ottawa River for most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces. The Ottawa River drains into the Lake of Two Mountains and the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. The total length of the river is 1,271 kilometers and it drains an area of 146,300 km2, 65% in Quebec and the rest in Ontario, with a mean discharge of 1,950 m3/s. It was beautiful here. By the time we were ready to leave the weather had really started to turn and it was getting a little cold it had started to rain. Man, where is all the sunshine from yesterday gone?
It was Marc’s mum birthday today, so we then made a run to the suburb where baby Marc grew up and we stopped off at his mums work to wish her a happy birthday. She told is that she had heard all about us, all good of course and then instead of driving the car into the city, we decided to park at the shopping center where Marc worked 5 minutes away and to park and ride the public bus into town. 20 minutes later we hopped off the bus at The Rideau Centre shopping complex. We walked through the center as we were on a mission for lunch and Marc had the perfect place. Way back in Spain 12 months ago I mentioned to him that I loved poutine and he said you haven’t had poutine till you have had Smokes poutine especially the triple pork poutine. Well how much better could it be? But this is where we were headed and I will tell you now that I was not disappointed.
Smoke's Poutinerie is the first of its kind in the World offering a broad menu exclusive to Poutine. The goal of Smoke's Poutinerie is to bring the authentic Quebec classic to the rest of the World. What is poutine? Well you take piping hot fries hand tossed in Smoke's Poutinerie secret seasoning blend, add a handful of fresh curds and pour the steaming rich gravy over top. It is then up to the customer to be patient, allowing it to sit for a minute, and stir it all together. Now indulge and experience the stringy curds, the crisp and sweet potatoes, the rich sauce that smothers the dish and your ingredients and toppings of choice. Smoke's Poutinerie has taken the Traditional Poutine of fries, curd and gravy, and has added fresh toppings making unique, custom Poutine meals for everyone. Whether your preference is beef, chicken, veggies, pork or simply just a different type of sauce, Smoke's Poutinerie has the recipe for you. Choose from over 20 core Poutine. After hearing about the Triple Pork Poutine I didn’t even have to look at the menu that was the flavor I was going to have. Triple Pork was Chipotle Pulled Pork, Double-Smoked Bacon and Italian Sausage. There were 2 sizes regular and large and with the cost difference only 2 bucks, I just ‘had’ to get the large right!? We decided to eat in and it was just a like a small diner and we hoed into the poutine like we hadn’t been fed for days. The boys also got the same as me but Andy got a small whereas Marc and I pigged out. It was SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD. I gave it a good crack but couldn’t quite finish the box. But I did pretty well……
With a full, well over full bellies it was now time to walk around town and work some of it off. The rain had stopped but it was quite windy and a little on the cool side once it whipped up. Out of the wind it wasn’t so bad. So on foot we set out to see what the city had to offer. It is nearing the end if the Canadian Tulip Festival, so there are a lot of these beautiful flowers everywhere, in flower pots, flower beds and there are 1.5m high tulips out the front of all the shops throughout the city. The Tulip Festival is held annually in May. The festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, displaying over one million tulips, with attendance of over 500,000 visitors annually. Large displays of tulips are planted throughout the city, and the largest display of tulips is found in Commissioners Park on the shores of Dow's Lake, and along the Rideau Canal with 300,000 tulips planted there alone. As well as tulip displays, the festival also includes music performances, speakers and exhibits of international cuisine.
In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War. The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet to Princess Juliana at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of international territory, so that she would be born in no country and would inherit only her Dutch citizenship from her mother. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year. In the years following Queen Juliana's original donation, Ottawa became famous for its tulips and in 1953 the Ottawa Board of Trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first "Canadian Tulip Festival". Queen Juliana returned to celebrate the festival in 1967, and Princess Margriet returned in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival.
Our sightseeing included:
ByWard Market (sometimes called By Ward Market, Byward Market or simply The Market, Marche By in French) is a district in Lower Town located east of the government & business district, surrounding the market buildings and open-air market on George, York, ByWard and William Streets. The name refers to the old 'By Ward' of the City of Ottawa ('By' deriving from the surname of the engineer, Colonel John By, who was the area's original surveyor). The district comprises the main commercial part of the historic Lower Town area of Ottawa. The market itself is Canada's oldest continuously operating farmers' market, regulated by the City of Ottawa's Markets Management group, which also operates the smaller west-end Parkdale Market. The market building is open year-round, and open-air stalls are operated in the warmer months offering fresh produce and flowers.
The Rideau Canal. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The canal connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its original structures intact. The canal system uses sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. It is operated today by Parks Canada as a recreational waterway. The locks on the system open for navigation in mid-May and close in mid-October. The construction of the Rideau Canal was a preventive military measure undertaken after a report that during the War of 1812 the United States had intended to invade the British colony of Upper Canada via the St. Lawrence, which would have severed the lifeline between Montreal and Kingston. The British built a number of other canals (Grenville, Chute-à-Blondeau and Carillon Canals, all along the Ottawa River) as well as a number of forts (Citadel Hill, La Citadelle, and Fort Henry) to impede and deter any future American invasions of Canadian territory.
The Centre Block is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill containing the Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of Members of Parliament and Senators, as well as senior administration for both legislative houses. It is also the location of several ceremonial spaces, such as the Hall of Honor, the Memorial Chamber, and Confederation Hall. Built in the Gothic Revival style, the present Centre Block is the second iteration of the building, after the first was destroyed by fire in 1916; all that remains of the original building is the Library of Parliament, at the rear of the Centre Block. Though construction began immediately after the blaze, sculpting work on the interior continued through the 1970s. One of the most recognizable buildings in Canada, the Centre Block is depicted on the Canadian $10 bill (the Library of Parliament), $20 bill (the main entrance), and the $50 bill (the Peace Tower).
The Library of Parliament is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block, on Parliament Hill and is the last untouched part of that larger building's original incarnation, after it burned down in 1916. The library has been augmented and renovated a number of times since its construction in 1876, the last between 2002 and 2006, though the form and decor remain essentially authentic. The building today serves as a Canadian icon, and appears on the obverse of the Canadian ten-dollar bill.
The Peace Tower (officially the Tower of Victory and Peace; is a focal bell and clock tower, sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament buildings. The present incarnation replaced the 55-metre Victoria Tower after the latter burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block; only the Library of Parliament survived. It today serves as a Canadian icon, and appears on the obverse of both the Canadian fifty-dollar and twenty-dollar bill.
Located at the back of Parliament Hill was a magnificent view of the Ottawa River and also located there is the Canadian Police And Peace Officer's Memorial. The murder of Ottawa rookie Cst. David Kirkwood, on July 11, 1977, launched a response that, today, has become the nationally recognized ceremony honoring police and peace officers killed in the line of duty. Ottawa police officers vowed to keep his memory alive and to ensure that the magnitude of his sacrifice, and that of others like him, would never be forgotten by Canadians. Accordingly, on Sunday, September 24, 1978, a special service and tribute was held. The site selected was Parliament Hill, the place where laws are made that directly impact on police officer safety and, ultimately, the quality of life for us all. Following that first ceremony, a number of features have become tradition and, at the same time, some modifications to the event have occurred as well. The ceremony was expanded to honor other police officers murdered in the line of duty and this criterion of inclusion was itself modified years later to include all officers killed in the line of duty. This current criterion has been applied retroactively, and names of officers killed in the line of duty, from years gone by, are now being added to the Memorial stone. The original ceremonies were limited to police and correctional officers killed but that criterion was expanded, in 1995, to include all peace officers so that all areas of law enforcement are now included in one single ceremony. On March 22, 1994, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien joined the more than 700 police officers and relatives of slain officers at a site behind the Parliament buildings. When the granite stone was unveiled in 1994, it displayed the names of 227 police officers killed in the line of duty since 1879. Two other stones were also erected; one for peace officers who died in the line of duty and another explaining the pavilion’s history. In 1995, the memorial honor roll was expanded to include the names of slain officers from other Canadian law enforcement agencies, including, Ministry of Natural Resources, Customs and Excise, Fisheries and Oceans, and Conservation.
From here we made our way past The Supreme Court of Canada which is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions are stare decisis, binding upon all lower courts of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada is composed of nine judges: the Chief Justice of Canada and eight Puisne Justices. The creation of the Court was provided for by the British North America Act, 1867, renamed in 1982 the Constitution Act, 1867. The first bills for the creation of a federal supreme court introduced in the Parliament of Canada in 1869 and in 1870, were withdrawn. It was not until 8 April 1875, that a bill was finally passed providing for the creation of a Supreme Court of Canada.
We them looped back up Sparks Street in downtown. It was a converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1966, making it the earliest such street or mall in North America. Sparks runs from Elgin Street in the east to Bronson Avenue. The Sparks Street Mall, that contains a number of outdoor restaurants and also a number of works of art and fountains, only runs from Elgin to Bank Street. The pedestrian only portion continues for another two blocks westward, with the final two blocks west of Lyon Street being a regular road.
We then turned left onto Elgin Street located in the Golden Triangle of Ottawa. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after Lord Elgin. In the center of Elgin Street for the first two blocks is Confederation Square, home of Canada's National War Memorial. To the south of this on the east of Elgin is the National Arts Centre; to the west is the British High Commission. Continuing south the street becomes mainly a business area, home to a number of stores, restaurants, and bars and then steadily becomes more residential, home to low rise apartment buildings. Elgin ends at the Queensway, where it turns into Hawthorne Avenue before turning east and going over the Rideau Canal.
We walked this route all the way to the River and then followed that for around 30 minutes that got us back to the bus station for our trip back to the car. The weather had miraculously turned to rays of sunshine as we left Sparks Street, which is bloody typical after I had taken all my photos earlier in the day. It was peak hour in regards to the bus, so we had to stand the 20 minutes back to the car, but it was worth it cause if we had of driven ourselves we would be stuck in the traffic where the busses here have dedicated bus lanes.
We were in a quandary on what to do for dinner and after going through all our options we decided to head to Chinatown to a place that Marc knew did great Vietnamese. I haven’t thought about Vietnamese food since leaving home. There was a great little place back home where we got a good feed for 10 bucks, I miss that place. But we went for Pho and I ordered the medium shrimp (prawn) and pork and the bowl was HUGE and Marc ordered the large which was MASSIVE!!! Seriously I haven’t seen such a big bowl of soup ever in my life! No exaggeration. It was good if not a little spicy for my liking, I have to say Andy’s bowl of chicken noodle looked amazing. After such a Big lunch and a Big dinner you could have rolled the 3 of us home after all that.
Once back home, for good times sake we cracked open the bottles of pre-made sangria that we had bought from the bottle shop. You know in celebration of our Spanish Reunion. We had also bought bottles of coke and red wine to make the Kalimoto which is a drink consisting of approximately 50% red wine and 50% cola-based soft drink originating from the Basque Country in Spain. Now it sounds disgusting, but don’t knock it until you try it. It is delicious. This is the back-up if we drink all 3 bottles of sangria tonight. We watched movies and talked and drank our sangria till 2am when Marc had to call it a day as he had to be at work at 9am. Unlike the bums, um I mean, holiday makers that we are, Andy and I get to sleep in tomorrow…. Sorry Marc…… Another great day in Ottawa.
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