Ottawa Abridged

The Supreme Court of Canada: Gail's future home? Suzie's maybe?

Day 2: Ottawa

Day two was all about trying to cover Ottawa in a day. We had pared the offerings of the nation's capital down to 6 significant sights and set out at 9am, after "enjoying" a bland and skimpy breakfast at our beloved hostel. At least he got the orange juice right.

The Supreme Court of Canada was just a 15 minute walk down Kent Street, so we headed there first. Over the course of the walk, the sky turned from brilliant blue to a pillowy, overcast grey, and suddenly it didn't feel so warm anymore - good day to be inside. The Supreme Court building sits like a large stone brick about 500m west of the Parliament buildings. It doesn't seem to get much in the way of tourist traffic, as our guide, a law clerk there, lamented on our private tour. The tour was brief, with just a quick explanation of the photo showing the nine justices (the current chief justice is a woman - the first to hold the position), followed by a showing of the courtroom itself. I was a little surprised that this girl was walking around with the keys of the Supreme Court of Canada in her pocket, but that was indeed the case as she pulled them out, unlocked the doors, and led us into the empty but warmly decorated red courtroom. She then closed the doors after us to leave just the three of us in this room where a lot of the country's big decisions are made...cool experience.

Onwards to the Canadian Museum of War, which moved into its new, expanded digs just a year ago. The new museum's low, concrete design makes it look a lot like a bunker itself, and while the outside is a bit drab, the inside lobby has an equally simplistic but more polished look. It's an incredible tribute to the military history of the nation as well as all those who have served Canada in the armed forces. Unfortunately, after going through the pre-WWI exhibits in fair detail, we were well out of time and had to breeze over the Boer War and WWI exhibit, practically run through the WWII exhibit, and skip the cold war and modern exhibits altogether. The museum can't be done in two days, let alone two hours.

We broke for lunch at the Byward Market - a quiche and salad was perfect - before heading to the Royal Canadian Mint via the spectacular St. Patrick's Cathedral. However, we arrived only to find that gobs of tour groups had filled up the remaining tours for the day. So we scrapped that idea and headed to Quebec for a few short hours. Why? Well, just across the Alexandra Bridge, on the other side of the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec, sits the Canadian Museum of Civilization, purported to be the most visited museum in Canada. The wavy architecture of the building looks great sitting on manicured lawns on the shore of the river, and the inside didn't disappoint either, although once again we found ourselves hurrying through and reading little in the Canada Hall. The exhibit, it should be said, is very 3D, in that consists entirely of a path that meanders through various recreated buildings and outdoor scenes that give the visitor a very visually interactive experience in addition to the text displays and movie and audio clips.

We were bagged. It was 5PM and we had only accomplished 3 of the sites on our list. We had done a lot of walking, covered a lot of the city, and noticed that Ottawa has a lot of pubs, homeless people, and jay-walkers. Related? hmmm... Anyway, our feet were hurting and we were tired and hungry. Suzie came to the rescue again and met us for a nice Italian dinner before inviting us back to her place for frozen tiramisu and a play session with her frisky cat, Toby. And then she worked her tour guide magic and found us a great budget hotel right in the heart of Old Quebec! Thanks, Suzie!!