Ottawa

Thursday August 8, 2013



We were into the first locking at 9 AM. Black Rapids had been fine but it was time to get rolling. Withe Lyn and Tony on board (and a bit of experience) locking was going to be easy. We had only 5 locks and about 10 miles before our destination down town Ottawa. It was a brilliantly clear and sunny day.

The canal narrowed down as we approached the city proper. In many places there were parks and walking/riding paths both sides. We received a lot of attention from the passersby. In some places I had to move Tide Hiker over to avoid overhanging trees. In places the channel was quite narrow. It felt quite strange to be moving thru a city like this.

Parliament House (under exposed)

But all went well. We were downtown by Noon. There are slips right down town with power, but only for about 20 boats, and they were all occupied. So we back tracked a few hundred yards and just just tied to a wall. It was quite a practical spot, but hard for the girls to get on and off, and no power, but still right in the city and walking distance to Parliament House.

First thing was to go hunting for phone and internet service. Surely in a big city......! We found and tried two new phone stores as well as the Apple store. No good. In the Apple store they agreed that there was just no point bringing an Apple internet product to Canada from anywhere in the world. Crazy. I give up.

We explored the city. The architecture is quite amazing. They seem to have optimized "Canada Colonial Style" of architecture that is quite impressive. I hope my photos do the city justice.

We discovered that there would be a massed bands military performance that night in Parliament Square so we resolved to return. We ate on the boat and walked back over to see the concert.

Friday August 9, 2013

Great Spot!

Thursday afternoon we found an MTOA boat in the slip area. They were leaving in the AM so we made a deal to swap spots in the AM. We moved the boat to its new berth first thing in the AM as planned. We now had a "prime" spot with 30 amp power. Very cool, like being moored in Circular Key.

At precisely 10 AM the bands were back, this time for the changing of the guard. Their route took them right alongside the canal and Tide Hiker. Great way to start the day, very stirring.

We then headed off to ride the double-decker tourist bus for a two hour tour of the city. The city is very impressive. Tony and I spent the best part of the afternoon at the "History of Canadian Civilization" museum. (They did not have a telephone and internet section) and the girls went shopping. Back at the boat we ran into some NZ friends from Waterford (NY) and ended up all going out to dinner, followed by a light show back at Parliament.

Looking for dinner

It seems to me that the Canadians are really want-to-be  Brits. They are really into pomp and ceremony and seem to bring out the military bands and pipers at the drop of a hat.  The day starts with the changing of the parliament house guard (not too sure who they are guarding it from, but it has been burned down three times). The red coated  band marches alongside the canal for ¼ mile or so, right past where Tide Hiker was moored (There is a video) There  are two soldiers standing guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier and that guard id changed every two hours, accompanied by a couple of pipers and stamping of boots. Plus Friday night there was a military

performance in front of parliament House, complete with the firing of muskets and cannons.

Here is the video of the "Changing of the guard" passing the boat: