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 it's now been replaced by one saying they have more than enough money and to please send donations to the humane society.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.
to be edited with pictures soon. ish.
i thought i would hit the ground running on this blog project since i'm still a big-time keener/nerd very motivated to start writing. the weather has been pretty dismal recently and i plan on being in kingston for about a week starting saturday, so there likely won't be any ottawa-activities for a bit. i should mention that while i could retroactively blog about things i've already done in ottawa, i'd like to take pictures, so i'll do them over again.
that being said, what the heck is an "ottawa", where does it come from, et qu'est ce que ça mange en hiver?
ot∙ta∙wa (n.pl.): Native American people formerly inhabiting the northern shore of Lake Huron,
with later settlements throughout the upper Great Lakes region. Present-day
Ottawa populations are located mainly in southern Ontario, northern Michigan,
and Oklahoma.
formerly known as bytown (until 1855), the city of ottawa was established in 1826 just as work on the rideau canal began. at that point, ottawa was pretty much just a trading post for timber which was transported from the ottawa valley to québec city (yes, that means that we were way ahead of the curve when it comes to the plaid button-up fad). colonel john by oversaw the construction of the canal as a system of locks that was meant to provide a secure route between kingston and montréal. the layout he planned for the streets in the downtown core remain today. when the rideau was completed in 1832, ottawa was home to a whopping 1,000 people.
ottawa owes much to queen victoria. if it wasn't for her, it'd probably be a less picturesque version of brockville way less awesome. in 1857, she decided that ottawa become the capital of the recently united province of canada. this made sense for many reasons; while ottawa was far less developed than toronto, montréal or even kingston, it was further removed from the u.-s. border and straddled the english-french divide.
from then on, ottawa began to boom and flourish (save for a few hiccups - mainly fires in 1900 and 1916 that destroyed half of hull and the parliament buildings, respectively). in 1940, jacques greber created the greenbelt and parkway system and during the 1960s to 1980s, the city experienced a signifcant housing boom. ottawa then became a hub for the high-tech industry. in 2001, it underwent amalgation and brought in 12 municipalities into its borders.
today, the national capital region (NCR, aka ottawa/gatineau) is home to over 1.2 million people (the population of ottawa alone is 800k+). it's largest city in canada to be officially bilingual (close to 40% of people speak both english and french). it also has the most scientists, engineers and PhDs per capita in canada.
for three years in a row, ottawa ranked first in the best places to live in canada by money sense. i guess i'll see if it lives up!
in the meantime...comment on you favourite ottawa activities i should make sure to blog about.
xo OC
(p.s. source: wikipedia. duh.)
