Ottawa, The “Traders” City

How many of you knew that the origin of the word Ottawa comes from an Indian word (Odawa) that means “traders”?

Well, up until today I didn’t know either, but since I’ve been spending the last 12 hours in this beautiful city, and as curious as I am, I really felt the need to find out.

Ottawa is a beautiful city in the Ontario province, and other than that, it is also the Capital of Canada. We had mixed weather today, but for the most part it’s been sunny, condition that gave us the opportunity to walk around the city with our friend Pierre, who’s a native of Quebec but that has been living here since the late 60’s I believe. We started with a tour of the city by car, Rue Metcalfe with his high rise buildings, Rue St. Patrick, etc., and we then proceeded on parking the car not too far from downtown (for free! LOL) and take a walk towards the city center. We stopped at Ottawa’s Cathedral to admire the architectural features of the inside and we then snapped a few shots in front of one of the weirdest but at the same time surprisingly amazing piece of art I’ve ever seen. I’m talking about a huge spider, 20 feet tall I would say, who’s probably one the most photographed things after the Canadian Parliament!

Monument to fallen heroes and peace:

After that we walked towards Parliament Hill, where the Canadian Parliament has its place. We initially thought it was going to be closed considering it was almost 6PM, but we were indeed up for a real treat. The Parliament was still open for tours, and in particular, the next one in English was going to be at 6.20PM which gave us another 20 minutes to walk around the building and take some pictures.

We went back at 6.20PM and after some routine security screening, we finally gained access into the building. Our tour guide today at the Canadian Parliament was Paul, and I only have excellent things to say about him. He was probably one of the most pleasant and enjoyable (not to mention knowledgeable) persons you could ever meet. He started right off telling us how lucky we were, because at that point we were going to be able to see the House Of Commons, the Senate, and the Library. I don’t know much of the legislative branch of Canada, nor the Constitution, or the Canadian government, but Paul made up for all of my ignorance. The tour was outstanding, and to be able to see where history in Canada is made, well, that was a real privilege for me.

A groundhog outside Parliament Hill:

The tour lasted for about 60 minutes, and after that, we walked past the Canadian Supreme Court, where I also took some pictures, and Sparks St. which is a pedestrian street fool of shops and restaurants. Apparently they had big rib contest/festival today, as the smell was unbelievably delicious, and there were people lined up for at least 300 yards in one of the best kiosks.

House Of Commons:

Library:



Senate:



I just can't get over the bilingual signs, they crack me up:



The "ribs" festival:



Supreme Court:



Monument to the fallen policemen:



Maple Leaf:



A church that certainly doesn't need any more money:

We had to go to dinner after such a food orgy on Sparks Street, and once again I feel like I can say we’ve been very lucky with our choice. We picked up a Portuguese/Italian place not too far from downtown whose name is “Café Spiga”, just like my brother-in-law (and also Godfather) in Italy; you see Alberto, I do think about you guys over there more than just once in a while…!

The food was very tasteful, I got chicken cooked with a Port wine reduction sauce, and chorizo sausage, served with perfectly cooked and seasoned oven roasted potatoes. The waitress was also very pleasant, from the Azores Islands, one more guarantee that the food was going to be authentically good, or so we hoped! I also had the chance to use their restroom, absolutely spotless! As you can see, I really liked their restaurant, but most of all I really enjoyed the company of Hap and our friend Pierre.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day I think. Plans are to start in the morning with a river cruise in downtown Ottawa, and that should take about an hour; then after we get back safe on land, plug in the GPS Dan and Ray’s home address in Toronto, and head there. It should take about 5 hours, as it is a 280 miles drive. Oh well, we’re not really in a rush, and once again I repeat, this is why I’m loving this trip so much…

“Good night / Bon nuit” as they would probably write it on a road sign here in Ottawa because of the bilinguals’ features of Canada,

Nico