parliament hill

backgrounder 
after spending two weeks gallivanting in kingston, it was time for me to get back home to start my summer job at canada post. 


my first night back, i had plans with two of my oldest friends, valérie & caroline. 

we first had dinner at caro and her fiancé justin's downtown apartment at bay & slater and then went for a stroll. we walked eastward (parallel to the river) to parliament hill. 

parliament hill
after ottawa was chosen to be the capital of canada, the parliament buildings were built between 1859 and 1927. they include the east, west and centre blocks (all aptly named) and the library at the back. the centre block is the most recognizable - it's home to the peace tower, senate and house of commons. today, the parliament is perfect for spectacular views of québec as it overlooks the ottawa river. and it's also where justin proposed to caro (cue the awwwwww).

personally, it's one of my favourite places to bring my friends (both from ottawa and from out of town). the lawn in front of parliament hill is a great place to have lunch (or even do yoga) during the summer and enjoy canada day festivities. but around the back is where the action is: not only does it offer gorgeous views but there's lots of statues of past prime minister and tons of plaques (i love plaques.... god, i'm such a geek). 

oh and there are cats! 

parliament cats
if you walk north between the west and centre blocks towards the forest and take the path towards the left (normally, there are tourists) and behind the statue of alexander mackenzie, you'll encounter the cats of parliament hill. 

they might be hard to spot at first, but slowly you'll realize there's a colony of about a dozen stray cats living on parliament hill. according to ol' wikipedia, they were first used to hunt rodents in the 1950s, until chemicals became fashionable. a lady named irène desormeaux began feeding the cats and later, rené chartrand took over and built the shelter. today, the cats are taken care of by volunteers and funded by donations. usually, when i have visited there has been a sign with information on where to send donations... it's now been replaced by one saying they have more than enough money and to please send donations to the humane society. people must luuuuuuuv cats. 

rideau canal lockstation 
after our visit with the cats, we continued to walk east behind the parliament buildings. caro and val chatted as i snapped pictures (i just got a fancy new camera!). we made it back to the front of the hill and down to wellington street. our plan was to head to the market for coffee so we decided to use the locks as a detour. 


these locks are the first of the rideau canal waterway (engineered by colonel by... him again!) that stretches all the way to kingston. any time i see boats pass through them, i'm always so impressed that they were built over 150 years ago! as you walk towards the water, there's a bike path which you can use to walk up to major hill park right near the bridge to québec. 

sigh. gorgeous. 


after coffee in the market, we walked back towards caro's apartment, this time walking along wellington in front of parliament. 

always a good way to feel patriotic. 

cornerstone | byward market

backgrounder.
soon after i decided to launch this blog, i got in touch with sarah (who was fresh off the
plane from europe) and got her on board. there was no doubt what my first post would be about: the byward market. in fact, this will likely be the first of many posts on the different things there are to do the market.

the byward market covers about four square blocks (originally laid out by the aforementioned colonel john by in 1826) in downtown ottawa. it's home to lots and lots of restaurants (108 of them), clubs, bars and stores selling books, fashion and home decor items. during the summer days, you will find buskers on nearly every street corner, and at night the bars are packed. it's also fabulously gorgeous during all seasons.

& on a warm friday afternoon, it's the perfect place to hang out with a pitcher of sangria.
free parking dt.
i picked up sarah with rhonda (the honda) and we drove from where we live in orléans to downtown. when there's no traffic, this takes about 15 mins. generally, i hate to pay for parking if i can help it. there's no way i'd go downtown as often as i do if i had to pay to park my car each time. during the week days and evenings, i like to park on st-patrick street (or go north one street to guigues) between cumberland and dalhousie. for years, i've never failed to find a spot there and it's a nice 2-3 block walk to the market from there. on weekends, you can park at the world exchange plaza on (o'connor and albert) for free.

shopping.
on the way, we stopped by milk (on dal & st-pat's). i love this store. so much. i wish i could get it together and buy more stuff there. it's so cool. i think i'll do a blog post on it's on for this place, but for now just take my word that it rocks. (i promise, they didn't pay me to say all that). oh wait, look how cute!

le sigh.

food.
then, we got to our destination (or rather we found it, because i don't think we had any set plans to start with): cornerstone (on william & clarence). this bar & grill is located in the dead-centre of the market, right in the area of all the bars. what makes it stand out of a sunny day is that it has quite a large patio... probably the largest in the market. part of it is in front, looking out onto the street, and there's a much larger section on the side parking lot. the latter might be better for a large group but personally, i prefer the front one if you're just with one other person... better view.

sarah & i quickly ordered some white wine sangria; i had had it before and new it was good. in particular, it comes with lots and lots of fruit. always a bonus. as we sipped our drinks, we chatted about sarah's trip to europe, our friend's upcoming nuptials and (of course) shared gossip on our high school classmates.

soon, i was starving. (no doubt this will become a common theme).

and craving some good old guac. sarah was kind enough to go halfsies on it with me. honestly, i was disappointed. we were served quite a small portion of guacamole and chips, and it wasn't anything to write home about. nevertheless, it hit the spot.

going inside to use the washroom, i noticed that the inside decor was real nice. i had been to cornerstone a few times, but always on the patio. i could definitely see this place being a good hang out spot for a nice night out even during the colder months.

bottom line.
including tip, our bill came up to $50.00 for a pitcher of sangria and a plate of guacamole. slightly on the pricey side, even for the market. cornerstone has great location, great service, great sangria. i'll definitely be back, but for drinks only. if my guac experience was any indicator of their food, i think i'll stay away from that.

the end.
to cap our afternoon, we took a nice stroll around the market and discovered a few new places that i'll make sure to check out and blog about. since this was the second weekend of the tulip festival, we got to see a few of these always:

love it.

that's all for now!

xo
OC