BigWeather's Blog

Woke up and headed to McDonalds for breakfast — we tried to get in at this crepe place but the line was long and slow.  They call biscuits biskits here.  Anyhow, I had promised to take Addison to a few shops so the four of us set off.

We stopped at a store that sold toy soldiers among other things.  They had some amazing dioramas set up and carried various brands like W. Britain, King & Country, and John Jenkins.  After a little deliberation he settled in on some 18th century soldiers wearing snowshoes.  Turns out that was a fantastic choice as they were from the Battle on Snowshoes (March, 1758, part of the French and Indian Wars subwar of the Seven Years’ War) and the two he chose were French-loyal Native Americans.   Even cooler is that the battle took place mere miles (kilometers, whatever!) from Fort Ticonderoga — which we’ll be visiting on Tuesday.

Art-packed alley

We stopped in several other shops, myself looking for a Canadian-theme cow.  Tall problem.  Moose?  No problem.  Beavers, bears?  Easy peasy.  But no such luck for cows.  As we walked through the town I took advantage of the gorgeous weather (upper 70s tops, with blue sky punctuated by the occasional cloud) to snap tons of pictures, many of which were re-shoots of ones taken during yesterdays terrible gray sky.  Though I can’t complain too much about yesterday — at least the rain totally held off, even through the 10p Le Moulin a images 3D presentation.

View down a street, note the white structure which Le Moulin a images 3D was projected onto as well as the gorgeous blue sky!

From the Dufferin Terrace we took this cliff side elevator called the Funiculaire down to the lower old city, Basse-Ville.  The Funiculaire was built in the late 1800s (1879, I think?) and had been upgraded and changed over the intervening years, most notably removing the covering and making it a nice glass-bedecked elevator, basically.  This afforded wonderful views of the old city.

View of the Basse-Ville from the Funiculaire

The old city contains the Place Royal, the spot where Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec on July 3, 1608.  More than even the upper old city, Haute-Ville, this area looks and feels like a European city.  Twisty, tight streets, plenty of cafes with outdoor seating, tiny charming parks, etc.  We first visited the first defensive position of the settlement (built in 1691), La Batterie Royale, where there were some cannon set up and some great views looking back at Le Chateau Frontenac and forward to the St. Lawrence.

Cannon at La Batterie Royale, Quebec City's first defensive position

View of Chateau Frontenac from La Batterie Royale

Littering the lower old city, however, were stands and stages erected for the coming Festival of New France, starting just a few days after we leave.  It was kind of a bummer because they were erected in front of many nice photo opportunities but what can you do?

Dodging the stages and other festival structures, a nice shot of Chateau Frontenac with Basse-Ville buildings in the foreground

We went to a store that sells items made in Inuit co-ops up in the new (as of 1999) territory of Nunavut.  They had the coolest map there and the proprietor was nice enough to let me photograph it.  Michelle found a really neat carved owl that just looked so happy that she had to buy it.  I finally found the inukshuk that appealed to me as well.  Altogether it wasn’t too expensive, and is one of the few souvenirs I have bought (other than our magnets, of course) on this trip.

The guy at the Inuit art store pointed us to a pizza and pasta place in the adjacent square for lunch.  We all had pizza which was quite good — though it used swiss instead of mozarella cheese!

Place Royal courtyard with our lunch eatery to the right

Afterwards we walked around the old lower town a bit more.  There was this incredible mural painted on the end of a multi-story building made to look like the building’s wall had been cut away, revealing a scene from the past.

Awesome mural in Basse-Ville, Quebec City

We went into a store that sold maple products.  I was this close to buying some maple cotton candy but ended up with some soft-server maple syrup icecream that was absolutely delicious.  Not only that, but they put a piece of maple syrup candy on top.  Heaven.

Once we finished eating that the rest of the family relaxed on a bench while I tried to get to the riverfront for some pictures.  I wasn’t able to, unfortunately, because that portion of the riverfront was Canadian Coast Guard land and off-limits to people like me.  I did get to check out a neat park that contained examples of several types of navigation buoys, from small river ones to larger ones used in more open waters, however so it wasn’t all a waste.

I swam the Saint Lawrence and buoy was I tired!

By this time I really had to use the bathroom but the only one we could find was a shared one — no kidding.  That’s just a little too continental for me, and we were pretty much done with the visit to the lower old city, so we headed back up via the Funiculaire ($2 per person — much better than having to walk!).

Fancy sign for shared bathroom -- on a toilet paper roll!

Once there I took some time to take many photographs of the Chateau Frontenac as well as the gorgeous river below covered with many small sailing boats and the occasional large cargo ship.  I love the age of digital photography where wasting film is no longer a concern!  As I was walking back from one end of the Dufferin Terrace Genetta met me and said that Michelle and Addison were irritated I took so long.  I felt kinda bad, but man, it was such a nice day for photography of that wonderful view.

Funiculaire entrance at Dufferin Terrace

Saint Lawrence River view from Dufferin Terrace

Chateau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace -- note the new copper plating that hasn't tarnished to green yet

Headed back to the room only to find that it hadn’t yet been cleaned.  So we headed back out, this time to the Citadelle (quick fact: citadelle comes from citadella, Italian for “small city”).  This involved walking up a pretty brutal hill running between Rue St. Jean and Rue St. Louis, making the family a might bit grumpy.  We then headed west along Rue St. Louis to this wonderful park just short of the Port St. Louis, one of the city wall’s gates.  The whole family sat on a bench enjoying the nice breeze that had picked up and even occasionally nodding off.  A wedding party drove by in a limo honking the horn repeatedly.  Many in the park gave a cheer and clapped.  Really neat.

One of the gates along the old city walls

Arising from our stupor we continued up a small road to the Citadelle.  In front there were two guards in beaver fur caps doing their absolute best to stand still.  Though the weather was nice I bet they were pretty hot and it must’ve been unpleasant at the very least.  Then entrance to the fort was a curved walkway meant to prevent cannon fire through the outer and middle walls to the center of the fort.

La Citadelle guard -- must be a very tough job to stand still wearing that hat in the (relatively) hot summer sun

There were several plaques along the walkway explaining that the French had built a defensible garrison at the east end of the current fort in 1693.  They later added some towers out in the Plains of Abramham to the west as well to help protect the easiest approach to Quebec.  The fort was steadily improved, especially after 1759 by the British in their desire to retain hold of Quebec.  Enthusiasm for fully funding the work ran low, however, until an attack by the rebel colonies in 1775 moved it up quite a bit in priority.  The current fort was largely built between 1820 and the 1840s as further threats from France and the United States concerned the British.  The fort (and upper old city) sits on a promontory of land called Cap Diamant or Cape Diamond.  It got its name because French explorers found rocks they thought were diamonds and sent them back to France — turns out they were quartz.  Oopsie!

The family wasn’t so keen on doing the guided tour nor viewing the “Ceremony of Retreat” that the guards do every night at 6p to close the fort so we headed back down to the upper old city via the Governor’s Walk.  The Governor’s Walk was opened in the late 1950s and connected Dufferin Terrace to the Plains of Abraham (site of the famous 1759 battle in which Britain captured Quebec).  What wonderful views!  Addison also saw some graffiti about “Quebec Libre” which I assume were left by separatist leaning folk.

The Plains of Abraham

View from the Governor's Walk of a marina on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River

Cargo ships on the Saint Lawrence River

Sing with me! "The seaport is a busy place..."

Looking back at La Citadelle from Dufferin Terrace

Now back in the upper old city we walked to a store that Addison had wanted to buy a wooden sword from.  That done, we headed back to the room to rest a bit.  We set out to that crepe place — still a long and slow line.  So we decided to go to a restaurant called Saint James or somesuch.  Addison had steak but the rest of us built our own pasta.  Though a bit sweeter than I think the sauce should’ve tasted my fettuccine with alfredo sauce, bacon, mushrooms, and scallions was pretty darn good.  Michelle had dessert afterwards and thought the chocolate mousse pie was a bit off.

Genetta went back to the room while Michelle, Addison, and I went to get Addison some candy we had promised the day before.  Returned to the room to sleep and blog.  Tomorrow we return to the United States after one last shot at that infernal crepe place.  Though I will miss Canada I’m sort of looking forward to being back in the old U.S.A.  Still, I have come to understand why Quebec is called “La Belle Province.”  The city alone earns it that title.  I hope to visit Montreal properly one day as well as points east towards Saguenay fjord and Gaspe.

Woke up with a dang headache.  Ugh, hate that.  Anyhow, staggered down to McDonalds to get the kids some breakfast (sausage biscuit and sausage egg McMuffin, though they didn’t call them exactly that, this being Quebec) before Michelle and I could get our breakfast at the pastry shop (Paris Croissant) down the street.  I had a twist with chocolate and a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, Michelle a cinnamon bun.  Addison even got in on the action and got himself a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, though I’m sure he offended everyone by asking for “one of those toaster strudels.”  The place is nice but they play this techno-pop or something that the night before was fine but in the morning, with a headache, far less so…

Our hotel, the Hotel Manoir Victoria

Walked the streets a bit to get oriented and did some shopping.  Quebec, more than any city I’ve been to in North America, feels like a European city.  Close together buildings, steep hills, a street layout that looks like a drunk designed, lots of old stonework and wrought iron, etc.

Typical old town Quebec street scene

It is an old city, founded on July 3, 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.  It remained in French hands until captured by the English in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War.  The British colonies to the south (soon to be the United States of America) tried unsuccessfully to capture the town under generals Montgomery and Arnold (yes, that Arnold — before he turned traitor) in 1775.  Scattered throughout the town are flags celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the founding as well as this cool “statue” of a ship found in one of the squares:

Quebec City, founded in 1608

Addison picked up a belt in a Native American store — turns out the belt is made in the U.S. — but of course he later decides it is too big.  He never tries things on in the store, so, yeah, that happens!  Also got a couple of magnets for the magnet collection.

Store selling Native American goods

One thing we’ve had to be careful of is these tiny electric buses that run a route through the old city.  They are silent as ninjas (or, at least, as silent as I imagine a ninja is).

What a ninja that can transform into a bus might look like.

I managed to take some pictures here and there but as the sky was an almost uniform gray they aren’t that great.  Man, I hate that sky — it totally kills any chance of nice looking outdoor pictures!  We wandered up to the front of the Chateau Frontenac and sat along the Dufferin Terrace, a beautiful “boardwalk” overlooking the St. Lawrence (or Saint-Laurent) river.  While I tried to kill my headache we listened to a performer belting out Sinatra lyrics.  He wasn’t bad!  The terrace has tons of seating along benches facing the river and little covered gazebo areas.  Large cargo ships, many heading to or from the Great Lakes, passed beneath us.  What a beautiful place.

Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City

This view from Dufferin Terrace would be beautiful were it not for the weather, honest!

Statue of Samuel de Champlain at Dufferin Terrace

Still feeling bad, but knowing we should probably eat a light lunch prior to our high tea at the Chateau Frontenac at 2p, we headed out in search of food.  We ended up at this place called “L’Omelette.”  It was a pretty charming place and the prices fairly reasonable, as reasonable as anything gets in Quebec that is — what an expensive town!  However the service was a bit slow, perhaps the kitchen was overwhelmed.  It was also quite hot and humid and my headache just kept pounding.  I drank an apple and strawberry smoothie that, while good, was overpriced for the serving size.  I decided to just skip lunch and have some Quebec maple syrup pie.  Holy crap, that was wonderful!  It is like pecan pie with the brown squishy filling but instead of having pecans and tasting like them it tasted like maple syrup.  Addison had a burger he didn’t like much, Genetta got a ham omelette she liked, and Michelle some bread and cheese that was so-so.

Went on to Chateau Frontenac and, despite the headache, decided to proceed with tea.  We were seated in a room with an awesome view of the river.  Stained glass heraldic crests lined the tops of the windows and wood rafters defined the space.  Our waiter was great and had us sniff all ten varieties of tea they offered, including one that technically wasn’t a tea but a South African bush (Michelle said it smelled like grass clippings, I think she was right).  I chose the Maple Maple (of course!) to which I added maple sugar cubes.

High tea room, Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City

You should’ve seen us trying to class it up.  We did a pretty good job at it (though I had no idea what this implement that looked like a strainer was for — turns out it was for pouring the tea through so no tea leaves got in the cup) and I was very proud of the kids.  We started with some seasonable fruits (watermelon, an orange cherry thing, raspberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, honey dew, etc.), then that was followed up by a three-tiered lazy susan type of contraption.

The bottom level had salty finger foods like ham and asparagus (yum) and a bunch of stuff I wouldn’t eat (and probably significantly jacked up the price — oh well) like pate, shrimp mousse, salmon, etc.  Genetta did try, and hate, the pate.  Amazing!  The middle level had ginger cookies, scones, etc. — all the cake-like stuff.  The top level had more fruit-oriented concoctions with strawberries and the like.  Still being full from lunch and nursing a (fortunately abating) headache I largely passed on the food.  I did enjoy my three cups of tea, however, and the service was great.  It was also fun just enjoying an hour or so sipping tea with the family.

My headache nearly gone, we returned to the terrace to await our turn to tour Chateau Frontenac at 4p.  It was led by a lady in a Victorian dress costume.  She stayed in character pretty well.  We learned that the Chateau opened in 1893 with over 150 rooms and had expanded several times since to have over 600 rooms.  It is nearly solidly booked in the high season of summer.  They have 12 km of halls and just over 700 staff.  Mind-boggling.  We learned that the hotel was one of six built by the Canada Pacific Railway (Chateau Laurier being another) as a way of attracting travelers to use their trains.

Entry courtyard for Chateau Frontenac

We visited the Lindbergh suite, named after him but there is no evidence he actually slept there.  The copper roof of the hotel took several years to go from copper to green and lasted 100 years but is now in the process of being replaced.  Unfortunately, this continued the trend of some of the buildings I most want to photograph being obscured by scaffolding.

Chateau Frontenac with wonderful tarp and scaffolding obscuring the main tower, ugh.

There is an interior garden on the roof of one of the smaller parts of the hotel where chickens are raised (for eggs) and bees are also kept.  It was really cool to see that kind of behind-the-scenes stuff.  The tour wrapped up with a visit to one of the banquet rooms — beautiful chandeliers and painted walls and ceilings.

Garden with chicken fence, Chateau Frontenac

Banquet hall, Chateau Frontenac

I took some more photos on our walk back to the hotel.  We also stopped at a gift shop or two and bought a couple of magnets.  After relaxing an hour or so we set out to Chez AshTon for dinner.  Chez AshTon is a Quebec fast food restaurant that is practically next door to our hotel.  We went there on the concierge’s recommendation for decent poutine.  He claimed that Chez AshTon invented it (technically, it’s in dispute) and that was the best bet.

Chez AshTon, purveyors of fine poutine

What is poutine?  It is a food invented in Quebec in the late-50s or early-60s, though there are several different origin stories.  It is fries covered with gravy and cheese curds in its most basic form.  However, different regions and different restaurants do variations of it.  Chez AshTon, for example, had the basic poutine (pronounced poo-tin) as well as one covered with green peas and another covered with ground beef and thinly sliced sausage.

So, I had the basic poutine (in a very generous “mini” size) and a roast beef and cheese sandwich.  The sandwich wasn’t bad, like a better Arby’s.  The poutine, however, wasn’t entirely to my liking.  While I loved the gravy and fries (I mean, who doesn’t?!) I couldn’t get past the texture of the cheese curds.  They were kind of spongy and firm, almost like Circus Peanut candy.  Not only that, but they didn’t add a whole lot to the experience taste-wise.  I think I’ll stick with my fries with gravy and parmesan cheese concoction (from now on known as pseudo-poutine, or pseutine, to me).  Still, I’m glad I tried it.  Michelle tried it also and had a similar reaction.

Poutine -- I'll stick to my gravy fries with parmesan, thank you very much

Headed out to an adjacent street for some shopping.  In a “midieval boutique” Michelle found a pillow cover she liked and Genetta found a fancy shirt.  Some more shopping was done and we headed back to the hotel for a few minutes rest before heading out again just after 9p to see Quebec’s “Le Moulin a images 3D” down at the waterfront.

It was a lot like Ottawa’s “Mosaika” in that it was projected against a building and told the history of the region, in this case Quebec.  Rather than being narrated, however, it was instead a series of images and animations with some decent music accompaniment.  The 3D wasn’t always that effective (and it used the old-timey red and blue variety glasses) but sometimes it stood out.  It was also quite a bit longer than Ottawa’s.  Overall, I think we prefered “Mosaika” better but they’re different enough that both are worth it.

Le Moulin a images 3D, Quebec City

Headed back to the Hotel, stopping at McDonalds for some quick drinks first, and bed.

Note: This is the blog for Thursday, July 28.

Woke up after our last night’s sleep in our wonderful room overlooking Parliament Hill and set off to find a beaver tail.  A beaver tail is a fried dough pastry kneaded out to the rough shape of a beaver tail.  There are tons of toppings, but the traditional is sugar and cinnamon.  I was really looking forward to trying one out and, having read that the only place to get one in the summer was at BeaverTails in Byward Market (the same place President Obama got his on his visit to Ottawa), we set out on the short walk from the hotel on our quest.  Sadly, however, the store was closed, so we ended up at Tim Hortons again…

BeaverTails in Ottawa's Bywater Market

Returned to the room and checked out.  Drove past Parliament Hill and said goodbye to Ottawa, a town that I had really grown to like.  Hopped onto 417 through the rolling farmland of eastern Ontario.  Saw a sign for “Greyhawk golf course” — that combined with one we saw on Tuesday for “Rivendell golf course” makes Ontario either the coolest or the nerdiest place on the planet.

Eastern Ontario farmland

Crossed into Quebec where the route changed from 417 to 40.  One thing was immediately apparent — all the bilingual signs were gone, replaced with all French.  I have a very rudimentary working of French from lots of classes two decades ago and a study abroad in Lausanne, Switzerland as a high school junior so we weren’t totally messed up.  However, the change was startling.  I had assumed that since Canada is a bilingual country that all provinces would show both languages on their signage as in Ontario — turns out that is not the case.  I wonder if British Columbia and points far removed from Quebec do English-only on their road signs.

There were other changes as well.  The route graphics for 40 more closely resembled U.S. interstate signage with a red band on top and a blue area beneath with the route numbers in white displayed in the blue.  They also added a fleur-de-lis to the bottom.

Route 40 symbol, similar to U.S. Interstate symbol

Not only that, though, but their “watch out for deer” sign was noticeably more… happy… compared to the Ontario equivalent.

Happy deer. So very happy! Let me prance into your car!

There were also several places that warned of moose but, as is always the case with moose, despite my best efforts we saw none.  The moose is a lie!

Yeah, right. Whatever.

Drove past Montreal but just the suburbs was “fun” enough.  We stopped at a travel plaza with an Esso station and a Rotisserie Benny, which we popped into to get our grub on.  We felt like strangers in a strange land but thankfully (as we had read) many Quebeckers can speak English quite well (much better than I speak French).  They even added a $0.00 item to our bill — “Parle Anglais” so when they called our number it was “three-hundred-eighty-nine” and not “trois-cent-quatre-vign-neuf.”  I was able to understand many of the announcements, and read some of the menu, but I was just so rusty…  Addison and I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries (which tasted remarkably like Char-Grill, not a bad thing) while Michelle had a club sandwich and Genetta a open face chicken sandwich — which they covered in peas.  They sure do seem to love peas at that restaurant.

The stretch between Montreal and Quebec City was quite desolate (though it did afford some beautiful views of the Saint Lawrence river and the bluffs beyond) other than Trois Rivieres.  There were a number of Quebeckers, however, that went way, way, way faster than the speed limit and liked to weave in and out and tailgate.  I’m not sure what is up with that.  Happily, though, we later saw two of the very cars that were doing that pulled and (presumably) ticketed later on down the road.  Yay!

Driving through Quebec City (I’ll just call the city Quebec from here on out) was a little hairy — narrow lanes, not the best markings, and lots of one-way road fun.  I was able to navigate us to just past the hotel, however, and Michelle executed a perfect U-turn to get us into the hotel parking lot where the car will remain until Sunday morning’s trip to New Hampshire.

We’re staying at the Hotel Manoir Victoria.  It’s a nice hotel, with very nice staff, and a much bigger room than we expected.  It is also centrally located in the old town, which is a huge plus.  The kids are easily amused watching some of their shows in French and laughing at the overdub — shows like Zack and Cody as well as the Simpsons.

We set out for dinner and stepped immediately into a crowded street with tons of appealing restaurants and shops all about.  Interesting shops, at that!  There were at least three that would be at home at a Renaissance Faire — selling dragon statuettes, fairy pictures, and weapons.

We walked a bit past the old walls (oh, Quebec is the only walled city in Canada or the United States) then turned around and ate Chinese at Chez Soi La Chine, a decent enough Chinese eatery.  I had sliced chicken in curry sauce, Genetta her sliced chicken with bean sprouts, Michelle sweet and sour pork, and Addison chicken wings.  The curry wasn’t as good as Orient Garden but was decent — not very spicy and a bit salty.  It was a treat having bilingual fortunes in our cookies and they also served some shortbread-like cookies.  In all not a bad meal, even if it felt a bit incomplete without an accompanying sweet tea.

Walked through the streets another hour just listening to music (especially some bagpipers — wonderful), watching performers (a gentleman on a unicycle juggling fire), and getting the lay of the land.  The city is so beautiful.  Though hilly, the hills provided stunning vantage points across the city and the valley and to the rather large mountains to the north miles and miles away.  I really regret not having my camera during this walk, so many things I’d have loved to show in this blog!

Eventually stopped at a patisserie and Genetta and I had pastry twists with chocolate in them (the croissant version is called a chocaltine apparently) and Addison had a cinnamon bun.  Very tasty.  Headed back to the hotel to plan tomorrow, write the blog, and crash.

Route for July 28, 2011

Note: This blog is actually for the date of the post, Wednesday, July 27.  I have actually caught up (for now, we’ll see what Quebec brings…)

Got out a bit later than planned but still managed to get to Tim Hortons at the Rideau Centre for a couple of maple dip donuts (a recurring theme) and a Ice Capp shortly after 9a.  Didn’t care for that much, but it did grow on me a bit.  As we were under a time crunch to make the 10a changing of the guard ceremony on Parliament Hill we wolfed our food down and headed out.

We got to Parliament Hill and staked out a pretty nice spot at about 9:45a.  I ceded my spot to an old lady (and this time nobody else jumped in the gap, yay) but I could see just fine over the kids.  There were some chairs set up facing Parliament for dignitaries and a few guardsmen with their fancy furry black hats and red coats standing about.

The ceremony started promptly at 10a with bagpipe music from an incoming group of kilt-bedecked guards that marched down Wellington Street and into the green commons in front of the Parliament building.  Then the existing guardsmen marched in formation to our left and awaited the arrival of the new guardsmen, who marched in after an incoming (from the other direction) group of trouser-bedecked guards playing more traditional brass and drum instruments.  There were inspections, commanders marching about, color guards going to and fro, fixing of bayonets (with one guardsman heart-breakingly dropping his), presentation of arms, and exchanges of pleasantries.  I couldn’t make heads or tails of it but it was all so deliciously… British.

Changing of the Guard, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

The ceremony over, Addison posed with a guardsman who had the patience of a saint.  Then we went to the welcome tent to the right of Parliament to get tickets for a tour.  The helpers there have a great way of sussing out your language — they simply just say “bonjour” or “hello” and see what they get in response.  Anyhow, got tickets to the 12:50 tour.

Centre Block, Parliament Hill

Ooooo, gargoyle rain spouts!

It only being 11 or so we headed back to the room for a few minutes then went out to find something to eat on Sparks Street not far from Parliament.  We ate at Vie Bella, a nice little sandwich / sub shop.  I had a toasted sub with a variety of spicy Italian meats that was delicious.  We then stopped by an adjoining store selling Native American goods.  Much of it was very pricey (they even had stacked stones like on Rush’s Test for Echo album cover — apparently it is an inunnguaq, a formation used to denote food caches and the like).  However, Genetta found some earrings and Addison bought some “spirit rocks.”

Reflections in Ottawa

Headed off to the Parliament tour and, while waiting, soaked in the view of a beautiful cathedral to the east as well as the Ottawa river with Quebec beyond to the north.

Gatineau, Quebec view from Parliament Hill

Passed through security and had a wonderful tour.  We learned that though Parliament was in recess for the summer holiday and normally there weren’t caucuses going on (they normally happen on Wednesdays) that there was a special caucus being done by the opposition NDP because they needed to replace their leader who needed time off to fight cancer.  They had met that morning and had chosen an interim leader.  Hopefully Jack Layton will get better soon!

We got to see the library, built in 1876.  It was the last part of the original Parliament buildings to be finished, construction on the Hill having started in 1860 in preparation for the nation’s 1867 birth with the Canadian Confederation (whereby Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia formed Canada).  It is now, ironically, the oldest part of the Parliament buildings as most of the buildings were burnt in a great fire in 1916.  The library survived, however, because the last one out closed the door behind him and the wind was blowing from the north (the library being in the northern part of the complex).  What a gorgeous room!  Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures but it was spectacular.  It is circular, with two floors and the coat of arms of each province present on the stack-ends.  In the middle, towering above the reading tables, towers a white marble statue of Queen Victoria — the Queen at the time of Canada’s formation and the person that decided that Ottawa, being centrally located between Toronto and Montreal (both fighting to be the capital) and adjacent to French-speaking Quebec, would be the capital city.

Exterior of The Library of Parliament

Next we learned that the building was built with Alberta stone — much of which contained fossils visible today.  We visited the Senate chambers, sadly the House of Commons was not open.  The 105 senators are appointed and serve until age 75, meaning that there is very slow transition.  They mostly review legislation coming from the House of Commons, however, and rarely interfere.  You can read more about their system here.  The room is spectacular, bedecked in red carpet.  In the center sits the chair of the speaker, with two thrones behind — one for the Queen and one for her husband.  Canada is a constitutional monarchy with its head of state being the British royalty but the head of government being the Prime Minister.  To the left and right of the center three chairs were two little chairs to be used by pages — what a job that must be!

Senate chambers with comfy chairs

We then went to a chamber where the original four provinces were represented as well as portraits of many British royalty.  French royalty is also present in a room specially allocated for the Quebecois.  In the past it was used as a smoking room but now it is an area where dignitaries are often feted.

Leaving the building, and deciding that the line to climb up the Peace Tower was too long, we headed off to check out the cats on Parliament Hill.  Prior to the 1970s cats were used to control the mouse population.  After they were no longer needed, however, the friendly — but now feral — cats were allowed to stay on Parliament Hill and are looked after by a volunteer.  They have little houses they live in and can survive the harsh Ottawa winter.  We saw four of them — adorable.  It really made us miss our cats so much.  We also saw a squirrel that was almost solid black in color.

Quit eating from the Parliament Hill cats' bowls!

As we were leaving Parliament Hill a Canadian Mountie was getting geared up and I got some great pictures of her in front of Parliament.  Even though it was quite a mild day (well, by our standards, I suppose the natives would call it hot) in the low-80s I think she’d be miserable in that heavy coat, gloves, etc.  I coaxed Addison into petting the horse as well.

Canadian Mountie

We then went back to Sparks Street and got some Slush Puppies.  They were yummy.  We read a plaque about some Irish guy that was in the early government and felled by an assassin in 1868 — I thought the U.S. had a monopoly on that sort of business!  Continuing down Sparks Street then turning back to Wellington Street we passed many important buildings — the Supreme Court of Canada, the Library of Canada, the Bank of Canada, etc.

Turned around and headed back to the hotel.  On the way we managed to see two boats navigating the lock system of Rideau canal — fascinating stuff.  After a rest in the hotel we headed out to Zak’s Diner in Bywater to the east of the hotel.  While the cream soda, coffee shake, and nachos were delicious neither Michelle, Addison, or I particularly cared for our entrees.  And at nearly $100 it turned out to be an expensive meal.  It’s all good.

Chateau Laurier by day

Small craft navigating Ottawa's Rideau canal locks

Left Zak’s and checked out the park next to the hotel, soaking in the view of Parliament Hill and Quebec bey0nd the river.  Headed back to the hotel and the kids got ready to swim.  I didn’t feel so well so I didn’t join them in the pool but I did watch them for a bit.  Afterwards Genetta chose to go to bed but Michelle, Addison, and I headed back to Parliament Hill for the 10p light show we saw the night before — Mosaika (pronounced mosaic-a).

Parliament Hill at dusk

What a treat!  It projected the story of Canada on the front of the centre block of Parliament (the main building) and was accompanied with narration, sound effects, and fog.  It covered the Native Americans, the arrival of Europeans, Confederation, the World Wars (including a moving visualization of “In Flanders Fields”), and more modern topics.  It’s well worth the price of admission (free!).

Centre Block, Parliament Hill transformed by Mosaika sound and light show

Headed back to the room, the others to sleep, myself to write this infernal blog (and pay another $13.95 for the right to use the internet, grrr!).

Our first day in Canada was spent in Niagara Falls.  A location that, while in Canada, could pass for the United States with ease.  Our second day, that beautiful drive along the northern shore of Lake Ontario, spanned terrain that could have easily been the south shore — from the sprawl of Buffalo to the area north of Syracuse to the foothills of the Adirondacks.  It was during this, our third full day in Canada, that I finally got a glimpse of what Canada is about.  Not that I’m ready to turn in my passport or anything (sorry, the winters are just too cold…) but I have a greater appreciation for our northern neighbor and I finally understand why every schoolmate’s girlfriend back in the 80s lived in Canada — it’s darn nice here.

Note: This is the blog for Tuesday, July 26.

Tim Hortons is a chain of stores that is everywhere in Canada.  I mean McDonalds level of everywhere.  And like McDonalds it does breakfast right and has one stellar performer for the non-breakfast times.  The analog to McDonalds’ frappe (yum, yum) is the maple dip donut.  Anyhow, I’ve become addicted to them and what I once thought was a fictional restaurant on How I Met Your Mother has become terrifyingly, deliciously, real.

Anyhow, woke up and ate one last time at Mr. Coco’s.  Checked out and had to walk down the street to exchange our boring U.S. money for colorful (and, as of now, more valuable) Canadian money.  I noticed one of the pennies had a male royal on it so I knew it had to be old (Queen Elizabeth the II having become Queen of England in the early 50s).  Yep, 1950!

Hopped on to the highway and beat a quick retreat out of Niagara and to the west and north around the western edge of Lake Ontario.  We had several stunning views of the lake and crossed a bridge near Hamilton at the extreme western edge that was really neat.  We could also make out Toronto and the CN Tower across the lake miles (oops, kilometers) away as it was a very clear day.  We may have also stopped at Tim Hortons for a couple of donuts and a map of Ontario (which, despite the $2.95 price was given to me for free — I think they were helping a clueless American out).

Yay Tim Hortons! Now where did I put that maple dip donut?

As we rounded the western edge, however, traffic steadily picked up.  We were still cruising at about 100 (…kilometers, stupid metric system) an hour but more and more lanes kept getting added.  Toronto was very, very busy and a bit stressful driving-wise and honestly it reinforced my decision to have us do Ottawa instead.  Sure, we’d miss the CN Tower but we’d hopefully enjoy the slower pace more.  Yeah, we’re getting old.

One-hundred miles p... oh, never mind.

Toronto has a cool system of express and collectors.  Basically the right lanes split off constantly and “collect” (or, I suppose “disperse”) three or so streets worth of traffic.  Then the lanes combine back in with the express lanes and another set of collector lanes split off.  It worked pretty nicely, seems like something we should do more of in the states (and, no, the area near I-40 and US-64/1 near South Hills does not count).

I saw some shops that were blasts from the past: EB Games and Chuck E. Cheese.  Chuck E. Cheese, are you kidding me?!  Is Canada the place where all the haunts of my youth went to pasture?  Also saw a “Hockey Life” store dedicated to selling, I suppose, hockey stuff that I just had to take a picture of.  I also tried to snap pictures of signs that kept referring to “O.P.P.” — Ontario Provincial Police.  But I couldn’t help thinking “yeah, you know me.”

Canadian Hockey Life -- Stanley Cup on back-order since 1993

We also stopped at a McDonalds for a sweet tea and frappe.  Here’s the blow by blow:

Do you have a frappe?
A what?
Ok, never mind, we’ll take a sweet tea.
A green tea, got it.
No, a sweet tea.
Yes, we have iced tea.
Never mind, we’ll just take a bottled water.

Michelle didn’t even want the bottled water, but we couldn’t just admit total defeat.

As we drove further east along the north shore of Lake Ontario the land transformed from mostly flat with tons of suburbs and commercial buildings to beautiful rolling hills with farms.  Further east near the Thousand Islands area the terrain became noticeably rockier and reminded me a bit more of the Adirondacks.  Oh, and birch trees!  Yay!  I also started stupidly looking for moose.  It’s a bit of a running joke in my family since the failures to see a single one in 2007 in Maine and 2010 out West.  This year is my year, though!

Beautiful Ontario farm

Leaving route 401 behind we turned on to 416 towards Ottawa.  The land here was also quite beautiful, hilly at first then becoming flatter and more boggy.  I was sure I’d see a moose now, but to no avail.  We arrived in Ottawa around 7p or so and somehow made it to our hotel (amid lanes dedicated to buses and taxis only, one way streets, and the like) — the Chateau Laurier.  I’d do that fancy French accent thingie but I a) don’t know how and b) am lazy.

Our hotel, the Chateau Laurier

Anyhow, we pulled our Town & Country up to the hotel entrance.  I’ve been watching lots of that show “Lie to Me” (recently canceled — FOX, you sure don’t know how to support the good shows!) and I zoned in right away at the micro-expression of disgust that flashed across the valet’s face.  While the car ahead of us, a Porsche, was encouraged to do valet parking (with the valet eying it greedily and calling to mind the wonderful scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), it wasn’t even offered to us.  So we slunk off to the parking deck and checked out our room.

Turns out they upgraded us to a nice room — and assured us that our view would not change.  WOW.  What a room.  I’m typing these blogs literally staring at the illuminated Parliament building.  And the beds are so soft…  All for less than $200 a night.

View from our hotel room

We reluctantly left our rooms to go to a bookstore, Chapters, that Michelle saw on the drive in so she could pick up the latest Harry Dresden book.  Addison picked up some Fighting Fantasy books (but he’s finishing The Hobbit first, only a hundred more pages to go!) — now that’s a blast from the past.  Genetta re-bought the first Ranger’s Apprentice and I got… a French – English dictionary.  Weeee.  Nice store, though, and it’s funny — they have their own version of the Nook / Kindle called the Kobo.  I just looked it up and it is an anagram for “book.”  Kinda shocked the Quebecois didn’t want it called the Liver or some crap.  Canada, eh?

It getting late and us not knowing where the heck we were (turns out we were a block away from much better dining) we went to the food court of the Rideau Centre, a mall in downtown Ottawa.  They had some fancy stores and even a Sony Style store, but we didn’t bother — we needed to get our respective grubs on.  The kids ate KFC (yay globalization!) and Michelle had some Chinese and I ate at some place called “Teriyaki Experience.”  It was OK, but I’d stop short of “experience.”

Returned to our room and I took Addison down to the pool for a quick swim.  Wow, the pool (in the lower lobby) is nice!  All tiled and Biltmore-y (though the one in the Biltmore was cooler) and deep — none of this modern wimpy shallow pool nonsense.  Addison swam several laps in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, etc.  He refused to do butterfly, however — he always hated that stroke.  He also did a couple of cannonball dives which echoed loudly about the room.

Pool at the Chateau Laurier

Outside they had an article from Construction magazine in 1908 about how proud Canada was that the plans for the hotel were from a Canadian firm that beat out a New York firm.  To the right of that was another article, from later in 1908, comparing the New York firms rejected plans with the Canadian firm’s — nearly identical.  Oops.  The article rightly pointed out that while it was right that work on such an important structure be given to a Canadian firm that it should not violate professional ethics.  A fascinating read.

Went up to the room and noticed that the center bloc of Parliament had some kind of projected images playing across it.  It was spectacular but we had no idea what it was.  We’d find out the next day…

Route for July 26, 2011