February 15, 2006
Hello from Ottawa: My Packed Itinerary for
My 2-Day Getaway to Canada's Capital
For a while my friend Theresa and I had been planning to go back
to Ottawa and experience "Winterlude", Ottawa's winter
festival. About three years ago we went to Ottawa,
only to be rained out . Our main activity had fallen through: skating
on the Rideau Canal, and even the ice sculptures had melted.
The East Block of the Parliament Buildings
But that didn't deter us. So this past Friday we got in the car
and after a pleasant 4.5 hour drive we arrived in Ottawa. After
documenting my first impressions,
we checked into the Lord Elgin Hotel,
a historic landmark right in the heart of Ottawa.
Friday evening we explored one of Ottawa's main entertainment areas:
the ByWard Market
and we had a fabulous dinner at Fat
Tuesdays, complete with live music and delicious Cajun food.
Mardi Gras at Fat Tuesday's
Saturday morning I got up early and explored the local area and
took many photos in and around Parliament
Hill. Then we got ready to explore one of Ottawa's main winter
attractions: the Rideau Canal
Skateway, the world's longest natural ice skating surface. The
day was absolutely perfect and we were gliding effortlessly down
the ice to our next destination: the 26th
Annual Bedzz Races on Dow's Lake.
The bed race is a fabulous charity event and it's lots of fun for
the audience, the participants and the organizers alike. Then I
had to race off and see what else was going on at Confederation
Park, one of the main Winterlude sites.
The 26th Annual Bedzzz Race on Dow's Lake
After a day full of physical exercise we discovered a historic
local pub: Darcy McGee's on Sparks
Street, Ottawa's pedestrian mall, and I had a chance to see
how a perfect Guiness is poured, including the obligatory foam shamrock.
On Sunday morning I went to the Canadian
War Museum, a fabulous new multi-media museum by the banks of
the Ottawa River, and I also had a chance to visit a special exhibition
called "Weapons of Mass Dissemination - the Propaganda of War".
I wished I had had more time to spend here.
Skating on the Rideau Canal - a popular activity
My next and final stop in Ottawa was a visit to the Canadian
Museum of Contemporary Photography, a unique museum housed in
a former railroad tunnel. There I focussed on an exhibition by Sunil
Gupta, who was born in India and moved to Montreal at age 15. Gupta
explores issues of personal, sexual and cultural identity, and his
highly personal images left a deep impact.
This time I didn't have time for some of Ottawa's other main attractions,
such as the National
Gallery or the Canadian
Museum of Civilization, but I am certainly hoping to catch those
next time when I go to Ottawa, maybe even this coming May, for Ottawa's
famous Tulip Festival.
Related Articles:
Hello from Ottawa
- My 2-day packed itinerary for Winterlude
Hello from Ottawa - First
impressions and an overview
Hello from Ottawa - The Lord Elgin
Hotel: a historic landmark in the heart of Ottawa
Hello from Ottawa - Fat Tuesday's
and the Mardi Gras Experience in the ByWard Market
Hello from Ottawa - An early
morning walk to Parliament Hill
Hello from Ottawa - Skating
on the Rideau Canal, the World's Largest Skating Rink
Hello from Ottawa - Charity and
hilarity: the 26th Annual Bedzz Races on Dow's Lake
Hello from Ottawa - Confederation
Park and other Winterlude locations
Hello from Ottawa - Darcy McGee's:
a historic Irish pub on Sparks Street
Hello from Ottawa - The Canadian
War Museum and "Weapons of Mass Dissemination - The Propaganda
of War"
Hello from Ottawa - The
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography featuring Sunil Gupta
and the challenges of immigration
An interview with Tourism Ottawa
provides a great overview of this city
An interview about
the ByWard Market, a prime entertainment and shopping area
An interview
with the National Gallery of Canada
An interview
with the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Helpful websites:
Ottawa
Tourism: Ottawa's official tourism information
The ByWard
Market Business Improvement Area
The
National Capital Commission
The National
Museum of Civilization
The National Gallery
of Canada
The Canadian War
Museum
Useful books about Ottawa:
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