Ottawa Trip Report
Sep 14th, 2005 | 04:20 PM
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Ottawa Trip Report
Ottawa Trip Report
Saturday Sep 3, 2005
Flew into Ottawa from Chicago on United. Flight arrived in Ottawa on time (around noon). Info desk at the airport very helpful and sold bus tickets too. Got cash at an ATM and took the bus into town. The way in was very green, giving me an idea of what to expect.
Stayed at the Bostonian. The hotel is very convenient, clean, reasonably priced (90 CAD/night), friendly staff, great location. I stayed in a regular studio room with a kitchenette. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
Settled in and then walked over to the Parliament Hill area around 2 pm. I bought a map of Ottawa in a bookstore on Spark Street mall. Spark street mall is a touristy, pedestrian only, open-air mall that I loved. Was very impressed with the parliament buildings and loved the eternal flame. It rained on and off the whole evening and so, I bought an umbrella (with maple leaves on it of course
) and a poncho (as a substitute ground cloth) and went on my merry way.
I wandered over to Byward market looking for something to eat (I hadn't eaten the whole day). And that is when I found out that Ottawa has great Lebanese food. I'm from Chicago, I've eaten Middle Eastern food before, but even the tiny, hole in the wall Lebanese places in Ottawa were brilliant! Well, so I picked up a wrap and found my way to the Beaver tail shop for desert. Yum! Some very tempting French pastry stores, but I passed (for the moment
) and wandered around some more. I picked up some fruit for a picnic lunch the next day and went back to the Rideau Canal, via Majors Park, for a walk and to spend time till the 9pm light and sound show. It was a fun show. Nothing jaw dropping, but was nice. It was also the first time I'd heard the Canadian national anthem outside of TV and I rather liked it.
Walked back to the hotel after a rather tiring day.
Sunday Sep 4, 2005
Rented a bicycle at 9 am. The bike store had moved from the Chateau Laurier to a location by the canal bike path, under the bridge for the summer. Rode over to the Hot Air balloon festival in Hull through a couple of city parks. The balloons were already up and away but I always love a good local fair and this one was great. My favorite part was a stage where local school kids had a dance competition. All the commentary was in French, so I have no further details, but they were spectacular. This was no amateurish performance; they must have been from different dance schools and totally blew me away.
Also bought some beignets and some poutine to munch on. Poutine is Fries+Cheese+Gravy - sounds weird but tastes divine!
Also liked this little souvenir stall filled with all things 'Hot Air Balloon', run by an elderly couple. Took a picture, promised to send them a copy and biked away.
Took a long winding path to Gatineau Park. Some of the winding was intentional and a lot of it was because I missed a fork or got lost . Was fun looking around Hull in any case, I even stopped at a garage sale to gawk. Anyway, I made it to the Information Center in Gatineau Park and was told to take the road (not the bike path), to Lac Pink. I was good for a while and rode on the road, but the bike path looked very tempting and decided to continue on it. The bike path was initially paved, but then it turned into a gravel path. "No problem", I thought, "I can handle that.". Then it turned into a fairly level dirt path. "No problem", I thought, "I can handle that too.". Then,.... then it turned into this really challenging rutted steep, rocky path. I'm talking about big tree roots; 60 degree inclines and declines, rocks, mud, and the works. In other words a challenging mountain bike path. At this point I should clarify that I had a hybrid bicycle that leaned more towards a road bike than towards a mountain bike. Also, I'm a city biker, I bike regularly in Chicago but have never mountain biked and Chicago is as flat as a pancake. Seven km later, I was pretty glad that I had survived !! Sat down and ate my fruit, vowing that I would listen to the info center guy the next time around. It wasn't till that night that I realized that my palms were bruised and that my wrists were killing me - the price of having no front suspension. I got back on the road and made my rode all the way to Lac Phillip, via all the lakes in between. And I listened to all further advise and took the road or the bike path as I was told to .
Made my way back to the parliament hill area to return the bike. The way back was also unintentionally circuitous. I passed this beach along the river with really imaginative primitive stone sculptures. The guy at the reception desk at my hotel said that it wasn't any organized effort. Just some people who did some stuff during low water levels on a whim. I thought that was very cool - the stuff that gives a city character. Also the whole way back was through a long park along the river. Very, very nice. The best biking I've ever had.
Returned the bike at around 8:30. Bought a sandwich in a bakery and turned in after a very tiring day - that was about 8 hours and easily 80km of biking if not more.
Monday Sep 5, 2005
Woke up early (6 ish), slightly stiff, but was feeling remarkably pain free except for my palms and wrists. I've never seen my palms purple before. Went for a short run along the Rideau Canal. Well, it started out as a short run, but the place is just so beautiful, I had to keep going. After about an hour and a half of running, I walked for a few hours. Parks with large meadows, small rapids, tiny water falls, posh residential neighborhoods, wooded areas, you name it, it was there. Got back to the hotel, all sweaty and tired around noon and soaked in a bath after having totally overdone it for a second day. Found lunch in a tiny Italian place, whose name I forget, on O'Conner a couple blocks south of MacLaren. Delicious food, very reasonably priced. Found a coffee shop to lounge in and read till the early evening. Again rented a bike (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment) and went over to the Rideau Falls area to watch the hot air balloons go up one last time. It was pretty magical. I felt like a 5 year old 'The Land of Giant Balloons'. Picked up some of that French pastry I had resisted on the first day and made my way back up to the parliament area. Took the boat ride along the river at 7:30pm. Again, it’s a beautiful city. It was even more so in the dying sunlight. Very relaxing and a great way of looking at the city.
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005
I had a business appointment this morning that lasted till noon. I then went to the museum of civilization. The building itself is this magnificent piece of art that envelopes and delights the visitor. Even from the air, it looks like something out of a science fiction novel. The exhibits are really good too. There was a Pompeii exhibit going on that thrilled me for a couple of reasons. One was that it was very, very good and secondly, I was in Pompeii about a year ago and this was a brilliant way of commemorating that trip. The museum also has a fairly nice cafeteria for lunch. I spent almost as much time looking at the building as looking at the exhibits themselves. There's just something about the scale of the building that is awe inspiring and something about its shape and design that is intimate. Anyway, that was a fun afternoon and I made my way over to the Byward Market to have dinner at the Black Tomato. A fantastic meal in the rear courtyard!
Wednesday Sep 7, 2005
My last day in Ottawa. I had leave for the airport at 5pm and I had another meeting at 3pm, so I had till 2:30 or so to play tourist. First stop, the National Gallery. Again, they had a Renaissance paintings exhibit, which besides being wonderful took me down memory lane to my trip to Italy. The National Gallery building is very interesting as well. It’s a steel and glass structure shaped into 3-d hexagons. Very futuristic. Interesting, but didn't captivate me quite as much as the museum of civilization did. I had a very enjoyable 3 hours. I needed much more, but I was budgeting my time, so I could make a quick visit to the Museum of War. The Museum of War didn't quite do it for me. I’m sure it is a lovely museum, but it's not my cup of tea and I guess I was a little too pressed for time to enjoy it + I was a little nervous about my meeting. So I skipped out and spent an hour souvenir shopping. Bought my postcards, my maple syrup and trinkets, loaded up on some food for the airport and went to my meeting.
In my book, Ottawa trumps Washington D.C. as a national capital.... at least in summer. I had a wonderful time. I had never been to Canada before my trip to Ottawa. I had heard the sentiment that Canada isn't all that different from the US. I can't talk for the rest of Canada, but nothing could be further from the truth at least for Ottawa. Its more different from the U.S than England is. I was definitely in a foreign country and a glorious one at that. Can you tell I loved it yet?
Saturday Sep 3, 2005
Flew into Ottawa from Chicago on United. Flight arrived in Ottawa on time (around noon). Info desk at the airport very helpful and sold bus tickets too. Got cash at an ATM and took the bus into town. The way in was very green, giving me an idea of what to expect.
Stayed at the Bostonian. The hotel is very convenient, clean, reasonably priced (90 CAD/night), friendly staff, great location. I stayed in a regular studio room with a kitchenette. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
Settled in and then walked over to the Parliament Hill area around 2 pm. I bought a map of Ottawa in a bookstore on Spark Street mall. Spark street mall is a touristy, pedestrian only, open-air mall that I loved. Was very impressed with the parliament buildings and loved the eternal flame. It rained on and off the whole evening and so, I bought an umbrella (with maple leaves on it of course
) and a poncho (as a substitute ground cloth) and went on my merry way.I wandered over to Byward market looking for something to eat (I hadn't eaten the whole day). And that is when I found out that Ottawa has great Lebanese food. I'm from Chicago, I've eaten Middle Eastern food before, but even the tiny, hole in the wall Lebanese places in Ottawa were brilliant! Well, so I picked up a wrap and found my way to the Beaver tail shop for desert. Yum! Some very tempting French pastry stores, but I passed (for the moment
) and wandered around some more. I picked up some fruit for a picnic lunch the next day and went back to the Rideau Canal, via Majors Park, for a walk and to spend time till the 9pm light and sound show. It was a fun show. Nothing jaw dropping, but was nice. It was also the first time I'd heard the Canadian national anthem outside of TV and I rather liked it.Walked back to the hotel after a rather tiring day.
Sunday Sep 4, 2005
Rented a bicycle at 9 am. The bike store had moved from the Chateau Laurier to a location by the canal bike path, under the bridge for the summer. Rode over to the Hot Air balloon festival in Hull through a couple of city parks. The balloons were already up and away but I always love a good local fair and this one was great. My favorite part was a stage where local school kids had a dance competition. All the commentary was in French, so I have no further details, but they were spectacular. This was no amateurish performance; they must have been from different dance schools and totally blew me away.
Also bought some beignets and some poutine to munch on. Poutine is Fries+Cheese+Gravy - sounds weird but tastes divine!
Also liked this little souvenir stall filled with all things 'Hot Air Balloon', run by an elderly couple. Took a picture, promised to send them a copy and biked away.
Took a long winding path to Gatineau Park. Some of the winding was intentional and a lot of it was because I missed a fork or got lost
. Was fun looking around Hull in any case, I even stopped at a garage sale to gawk. Anyway, I made it to the Information Center in Gatineau Park and was told to take the road (not the bike path), to Lac Pink. I was good for a while and rode on the road, but the bike path looked very tempting and decided to continue on it. The bike path was initially paved, but then it turned into a gravel path. "No problem", I thought, "I can handle that.". Then it turned into a fairly level dirt path. "No problem", I thought, "I can handle that too.". Then,.... then it turned into this really challenging rutted steep, rocky path. I'm talking about big tree roots; 60 degree inclines and declines, rocks, mud, and the works. In other words a challenging mountain bike path. At this point I should clarify that I had a hybrid bicycle that leaned more towards a road bike than towards a mountain bike. Also, I'm a city biker, I bike regularly in Chicago but have never mountain biked and Chicago is as flat as a pancake. Seven km later, I was pretty glad that I had survived !! Sat down and ate my fruit, vowing that I would listen to the info center guy the next time around. It wasn't till that night that I realized that my palms were bruised and that my wrists were killing me - the price of having no front suspension. I got back on the road and made my rode all the way to Lac Phillip, via all the lakes in between. And I listened to all further advise and took the road or the bike path as I was told to .Made my way back to the parliament hill area to return the bike. The way back was also unintentionally circuitous. I passed this beach along the river with really imaginative primitive stone sculptures. The guy at the reception desk at my hotel said that it wasn't any organized effort. Just some people who did some stuff during low water levels on a whim. I thought that was very cool - the stuff that gives a city character. Also the whole way back was through a long park along the river. Very, very nice. The best biking I've ever had.
Returned the bike at around 8:30. Bought a sandwich in a bakery and turned in after a very tiring day - that was about 8 hours and easily 80km of biking if not more.
Monday Sep 5, 2005
Woke up early (6 ish), slightly stiff, but was feeling remarkably pain free except for my palms and wrists. I've never seen my palms purple before. Went for a short run along the Rideau Canal. Well, it started out as a short run, but the place is just so beautiful, I had to keep going. After about an hour and a half of running, I walked for a few hours. Parks with large meadows, small rapids, tiny water falls, posh residential neighborhoods, wooded areas, you name it, it was there. Got back to the hotel, all sweaty and tired around noon and soaked in a bath after having totally overdone it for a second day. Found lunch in a tiny Italian place, whose name I forget, on O'Conner a couple blocks south of MacLaren. Delicious food, very reasonably priced. Found a coffee shop to lounge in and read till the early evening. Again rented a bike (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment) and went over to the Rideau Falls area to watch the hot air balloons go up one last time. It was pretty magical. I felt like a 5 year old 'The Land of Giant Balloons'. Picked up some of that French pastry I had resisted on the first day and made my way back up to the parliament area. Took the boat ride along the river at 7:30pm. Again, it’s a beautiful city. It was even more so in the dying sunlight. Very relaxing and a great way of looking at the city.
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005
I had a business appointment this morning that lasted till noon. I then went to the museum of civilization. The building itself is this magnificent piece of art that envelopes and delights the visitor. Even from the air, it looks like something out of a science fiction novel. The exhibits are really good too. There was a Pompeii exhibit going on that thrilled me for a couple of reasons. One was that it was very, very good and secondly, I was in Pompeii about a year ago and this was a brilliant way of commemorating that trip. The museum also has a fairly nice cafeteria for lunch. I spent almost as much time looking at the building as looking at the exhibits themselves. There's just something about the scale of the building that is awe inspiring and something about its shape and design that is intimate. Anyway, that was a fun afternoon and I made my way over to the Byward Market to have dinner at the Black Tomato. A fantastic meal in the rear courtyard!
Wednesday Sep 7, 2005
My last day in Ottawa. I had leave for the airport at 5pm and I had another meeting at 3pm, so I had till 2:30 or so to play tourist. First stop, the National Gallery. Again, they had a Renaissance paintings exhibit, which besides being wonderful took me down memory lane to my trip to Italy. The National Gallery building is very interesting as well. It’s a steel and glass structure shaped into 3-d hexagons. Very futuristic. Interesting, but didn't captivate me quite as much as the museum of civilization did. I had a very enjoyable 3 hours. I needed much more, but I was budgeting my time, so I could make a quick visit to the Museum of War. The Museum of War didn't quite do it for me. I’m sure it is a lovely museum, but it's not my cup of tea and I guess I was a little too pressed for time to enjoy it + I was a little nervous about my meeting. So I skipped out and spent an hour souvenir shopping. Bought my postcards, my maple syrup and trinkets, loaded up on some food for the airport and went to my meeting.
In my book, Ottawa trumps Washington D.C. as a national capital.... at least in summer. I had a wonderful time. I had never been to Canada before my trip to Ottawa. I had heard the sentiment that Canada isn't all that different from the US. I can't talk for the rest of Canada, but nothing could be further from the truth at least for Ottawa. Its more different from the U.S than England is. I was definitely in a foreign country and a glorious one at that. Can you tell I loved it yet?
Sep 14th, 2005 | 08:26 PM
#2
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,412
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Great trip report ssachida. You certainly managed to pack a lot into your time here, but there's still much more to see and do on your next visit.
If it's winter time, the bike paths in the Gatineau become cross-country ski trails (190 km of groomed trails), while the Rideau Canal becomes a vast skating rink, 7.8 km long.
Hope you come back soon.
If it's winter time, the bike paths in the Gatineau become cross-country ski trails (190 km of groomed trails), while the Rideau Canal becomes a vast skating rink, 7.8 km long.
Hope you come back soon.
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