It was then on to Ottawa, a visit we were looking forward to. We left at 9 a.m. and cruised along the pastoral Ottawa River on a sunny and warm day. As we saw more development and yacht clubs we passed a beautiful set of twin waterfalls from which the Rideau gets its name. When Samuel Champlain first encountered them he thought they looked like curtains and named them Rideau which is French for curtains.
Immediately after that we came to the rigorous eight lock staircase where there were six boats waiting to go through.
We were very lucky to get in because we were small enough to fit in with three others. Two larger boats were ahead of us but they had to wait for the next opening because they were too large to fit with the smaller ones. They had already been waiting for over an hour and now they were going to have to wait even longer! Going through eight successive locks is quite an experience, especially in hot weather. It wasn’t difficult for us, but it’s definitely a workout for the lock tenders and their staff who went from one lock to the next to crank them open and shut. The eight locks brought us up a total of 80 feet rising from the Ottawa to the Rideau River.
Looking up from the lock walls we could see the imposing architecture of Ottawa’s Parliament Hill.
Upon exiting we tied up at the lock wall located in the center of the city and behind Amazing Grace and its owners Dick and Sandy and their sweet granddaughter Maddy.. We met them in St. Anne-de-Bellevue and have been tracking with them since then. Sandy and Maddy kindly helped us tie up.
That evening we explored our neighborhood which included Canada’s Parliament, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the Supreme Court and many other important edifices.
We could see all of these from Zendo. The setting was outstanding! On our walk we learned of a nightly light display on the walls of the Parliament building, so at 10 p.m. (to guarantee that it would be dark) we walked back to watch this interesting lesson and accompanying light show on the history of Canada. There must have been a thousand people sitting on the lawn watching appreciatively.
On Friday we went off thinking we would do one of those on-again off-again bus tours to get an overview of the city. But after consulting with the helpful staff at the visitors center we were convinced that armed with their numerous brochures and guides we could do it on our own with most of the highlights within walking distance. We were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the changing of the guard in front of Parliament so we could check that one off our list.
From there we walked through lovely parkland where interesting art work and displays of historical and environmental information were featured.
Crossing a bridge to Gatineau, a town just across the river from Ottawa, we visited a special topiary display in a riverside park. We had seen some of this work when we were in Atlanta a few years ago and we were eager to see more of it. The displays were quite amazing but then it started getting so hot that an ice cream cone was required - yum!
Afterwards we walked to the ByWard Market, a cool open area filled with restaurants and shops where we had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant called Play, Food and Wine. It was definitely one of our best meals so far.
There was a great farmer’s market there as well so of course we stocked up on more fresh vegetables and fruit. It was getting time to recover from our busy day so we walked back to Zendo for a rest.
Later on that evening (we skipped dinner), we decided to venture out for a stroll to see Sparks Street near Parliament where there was more interesting statuary.
From there we trekked to the nearby well-appointed mall for Jonny to buy some sneakers. We made one last stop for the day, this time for a cold beer at what happened to tout itself as one of the oldest bars in Ottawa. On our way out, we passed this bakery/restaurant that Barack Obama visited when he came to Canada as President. Clearly the Canadians liked him much more than Donald Trump who seems to be widely disdained by 99% of the Canadians we met.
This was our last day in Ottawa. We feel like we made the most of our short stay and we’ll save what we missed for our next trip!
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