Monday, July 27 
Today’s plan was to see downtown Ottawa as tourists. Ottawa is the national capital of Canada and has an impressive Parliament complex on a hill overlooking the Ottawa River. Every
morning they have an elaborate changing of the guard ceremony in front of the parliament building.
We were up and making plans to catch a bus downtown shortly after 8:00, when a heavy rain cell moved in. We checked the radar and it looked like it wouldn’t last. By 8:30 it had quit an
d we headed for the bus stop. It was a quick easy twenty minute ride, and the bus dropped us off about three blocks from the main entrance to parliament grounds.
By now the sky was clearing and it looked like a nice morning, unfortunately the sign on the la
wn said the changing of the guard ceremony was cancelled.
The parliament complex has three buildings as you approach, the center main building and an east and west building. We admired the grounds and took some photos.
Then we headed for an information tent. They conduct regular guided tours of the parliament
building, at no charge. The next was in about fifteen minutes. We relaxed and studied the literature. Soon it was time for the tour and our friendly knowledgeable guide, Natalie, lead us off to start the tour. Unfortunately all visitors to parliament must go through security, just like an airport. It delayed the start for another ten or fifteen minutes.
The tour lasted almost an hour and gave us a chance to see much of this beautiful building plus some insight into the workings of the Canadian government. Afterward we walked around the lovely grounds the view is of the Ottawa River looking across into Quebec.
The parliament library is in a separate connected building behind the main parliament building, it is very ornate and is actually older then the main building. The original parliament building burned in the early 1900s but the library was saved.
When we reached the far end of the parliament grounds we were looking across the Rideau Lock
Chambers at the beautiful Chateau Laurier Hotel.
From the bridge to the hotel Diana took a picture looking done the flight of locks, then another
from down beside the locks looking back up at the hotel.
It had been a long morning of walking; we went
on past the hotel and found what appeared to be a nice restaurant for lunch. They offered an outdoor patio, but we choose to go inside, it was rather humid outside. About the time our lunch came it rained hard again.
By the time we were ready to leave the rain had moved on and we walked another few blocks to the National Art Gallery. This is a newer grand building with a giant spider sculpture out front.
We spent about two hours at the gallery, most of it in the Canadian Gallery, Diana enjoyed immensely. I think a series art lover could spend a week but we didn’t have the time and old feet were getting tired.
We walked back and found a bus stop, in ten minutes we were on the bus and another fifteen we were back to the boat. It was a fine day in a very interesting and lovely city.
Today’s plan was to see downtown Ottawa as tourists. Ottawa is the national capital of Canada and has an impressive Parliament complex on a hill overlooking the Ottawa River. Every
morning they have an elaborate changing of the guard ceremony in front of the parliament building.
We were up and making plans to catch a bus downtown shortly after 8:00, when a heavy rain cell moved in. We checked the radar and it looked like it wouldn’t last. By 8:30 it had quit an
d we headed for the bus stop. It was a quick easy twenty minute ride, and the bus dropped us off about three blocks from the main entrance to parliament grounds.By now the sky was clearing and it looked like a nice morning, unfortunately the sign on the la
wn said the changing of the guard ceremony was cancelled.The parliament complex has three buildings as you approach, the center main building and an east and west building. We admired the grounds and took some photos.
Then we headed for an information tent. They conduct regular guided tours of the parliament
building, at no charge. The next was in about fifteen minutes. We relaxed and studied the literature. Soon it was time for the tour and our friendly knowledgeable guide, Natalie, lead us off to start the tour. Unfortunately all visitors to parliament must go through security, just like an airport. It delayed the start for another ten or fifteen minutes.
The tour lasted almost an hour and gave us a chance to see much of this beautiful building plus some insight into the workings of the Canadian government. Afterward we walked around the lovely grounds the view is of the Ottawa River looking across into Quebec.
The parliament library is in a separate connected building behind the main parliament building, it is very ornate and is actually older then the main building. The original parliament building burned in the early 1900s but the library was saved.
When we reached the far end of the parliament grounds we were looking across the Rideau Lock
Chambers at the beautiful Chateau Laurier Hotel.From the bridge to the hotel Diana took a picture looking done the flight of locks, then another
from down beside the locks looking back up at the hotel.It had been a long morning of walking; we went
on past the hotel and found what appeared to be a nice restaurant for lunch. They offered an outdoor patio, but we choose to go inside, it was rather humid outside. About the time our lunch came it rained hard again.By the time we were ready to leave the rain had moved on and we walked another few blocks to the National Art Gallery. This is a newer grand building with a giant spider sculpture out front.
We spent about two hours at the gallery, most of it in the Canadian Gallery, Diana enjoyed immensely. I think a series art lover could spend a week but we didn’t have the time and old feet were getting tired.We walked back and found a bus stop, in ten minutes we were on the bus and another fifteen we were back to the boat. It was a fine day in a very interesting and lovely city.
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