Ottawa, ON

Lorali very kindly picked me up from the train station and, after a short trip on the Queensway to her house, we rapidly fell back into our usual ways. For those who don’t know how we know each other: we met on the Gecko’s tour around Central America. Us Canadians (have I been there long enough to claim honourary citizenship?) tend to stick together, tied by our anti-Americanism and wicked black humour. Can I interest anyone in a small Guatemalan child? Some Pringles maybe?!

Thursday
Lorali had to work on Thursday, so I had the day to myself to go exploring Ottawa. Lorali, being the awesome host that she was/is, had gathered some promotional material on the sights and events, and I spent some time this morning reading through them. To be honest, I had no idea Canada’s capital could be so interesting. There’s definitely something about capital cities that makes them targets for awesome museums and events. Must have something to do with national pride, I guess.

I had decided to do the ‘Big-4’ today: Canadian War Museum, Museum of Civilisation, the Petra exhibit and an IMAX film. Surprisingly enough, I managed to do all 4 in the one day, although I did rely quite substantially on the late-night closing of the Museum of Civilisation to do so.

The newly-opened Canadian War Museum (CWM) lives up to all its hype. Well, in my mind at least. It’s housed in an architecturally interesting building, reminding me somewhat of a bunker. I’m not convinced that was the intention, but regardless, that’s what I see. The exhibits focus on all conflicts Canada has ever been involved in – starting with First Nations civil conflicts, moving through to the omnipresent Franco-English skirmishes, to more organized warfare like WW1 & 2, and then the post-WW2 conflicts of Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and UN Peacekeeping. After being bombarded (bad word choice, I know) with WW1 & 2 information in high school and University, I found the exhibits a bit repetitive. But that can hardly be blamed on the museum. What most interested me was the Peacekeeping exhibit, and of the two and a half hours I spent there, almost half was in this final section. If anything, it strengthened my resolve to work in that field at some point in the future, possibly right out of college. Who knows where such a decision will take me, but that is largely the point!

What also struck me the most about the CWM was the similarities with our own (Australian) Armed Forces. In WW1, for example, our involvement was almost identical. The battles of Hill 70, Vimy Ridge, Beaumont-Hamel and Passchendale are as important to Canadian military identity as there are to the Aussies. It brought back memories of our 2001 Battlefields tour and generally made me more aware of the similarities between our two nations.

This afternoon was spent almost exclusively in the Museum of Civilisation (CMC). This place is huge and deserves a few hours to do it justice. My first stop was the special exhibit, currently on the Stone City of Petra, in Jordan. You know the one, in Indiana Jones, carved out of the rock face. Given my knowledge on the region was pretty much limited to Mr Jones, it was really interesting to see/hear and read about the city’s extensive influence and power. It was built in an easily fortified location at trading crossroads, and survived for many decades before finally a series of earthquakes rendered it unliveable. Like so many ancient cities, it managed to maintain an ample supply of water using a complex array of pumps, aqueducts and tunnels. It was only after the earthquakes destroyed much of the infrastructure that the city couldn’t continue to exist. Knowing this makes me feel quite sad that we are no longer able to think outside the box to best maintain our environment.

Following my visit to Petra, I continued around the museum, visiting the First Nations Hall (which is awesome btw, with loads of artifacts. Uber-PC though, which gets a bit tedious at times) and the Canadian history exhibit. Both exhibits go step-by-step, exploring themes and issues in Canada’s history, from traditions to inventions, people and places. Although much of it I had heard before (the importance of the railroad for example), it was still really well presented.

My final stop in the CMC was the IMAX Theatre to watch the film Fighter Pilot. I had actually originally planned to see this at the Air & Space Museum near Dulles airport, but circumstances denied me from doing so. As it turns out, it was more convenient and cheaper to do so here! The film itself follows one pilot and his crew in training sessions conducted near Las Vegas, Nevada. The shots are awesome, and do what IMAX does best: show us a world we would otherwise never see. At times stomach-churning, this film was well worth going to see.

By now it was well past night-fall, and I made my way (losing my Greyhound bus ticket on the way, and losing my direction majorly twice!) to Tim Hortons to see Jana & Laurie. I had ‘worked’ with Jana & Laurie on Ko Phi Phi, Thailand in July 2005 and it was only through a bizarre twist of fate (and Facebook) that we had stayed in touch and were able to meet in Ottawa. It was awesome reminiscing about the good ol’ (warm) times in Thailand, and it looks like I’ll see them again at Winterlude! Yay!

Friday
After a late start, Lorali and I made tracks for Cora’s. Cora’s is an institution in Ottawa, known for its substantial breakfasts served all-day. I had a fruit custard crepe, and it was huge and oh-so-good. I’m not entirely convinced by its supposed nutritional value, but mmmm…. Custard has a tendency to make me forget silly mundane things like eating properly!

After a brief visit to the police station (it was going to happen at least once on this trip, eh?) to report my lost Greyhound ticket, we headed to Chapters to buy a book that Lorali had been raving about for the past few days. I haven’t really looked at it much since, given time constraints, but it concerns the Canadian general (Romeo Delaire) who led the UN Peacekeeping force in Rwanda and his (in)ability to act when it was most needed. Should make for interesting (and disturbing) reading.

From there we made the trip downtown to visit Parliament Hill and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We took a tour of Parliament Hill just after 3pm and both found it fascinating. No matter how many parliamentary buildings I visit this trip, I don’t think I’ll ever become bored – they all differ so much in their style, substance and supposed power. Ottawa’s Parliament Hill is very traditional, modeled substantially on traditional English buildings.

Unfortunately the Photo museum was closed, so we made our way to By Ward Market to sample Ottawa’s most famous export – Beavertails. Now I’ll leave it up to you to work out whether I mean actual beavers tails or something different (the photos should tell you the answer!), but suffice to say they were awesome. Everything I’d expected and more. Truth be told I’d eaten one in Montreal a few days ago, but this time I changed toppings to Maple Butter and Nutella. It went EVERYWHERE and was soooo good!

A quick trip through the Rideau Centre reignited our travel plans as we stopped to grab brochures on the Trans-Mongolian railway and started to look at just how feasible the whole idea was. To our surprise, it looks like we could fit everything into 4 months. It will be a pretty intense four months, but definitely worth it. So far the plan entails flying to Germany, taking the train from Moscow to Beijing, heading south through China to Tibet, India and Sri Lanka, then onwards to South East Asia. It’s predicted to take about 4 months (throughout the northern summer) and cost about A$10,000. So far I have no money at all, nor any idea of really where I’ll be in 2009, but it’s a plan, and that’s a start. Something to look forward to in any case.

After a brief dinner of pesto pasta (my first one in months, and very much needed!), Lorali and I left the house for her friend Shari’s place. After a few pre-drinks, an attempt to fix their broken computer and some awkward comments made in front of Shari’s 12-yr old son (not by me!), we left for an even-more-bizarre cab ride downtown. Let’s just say I’ll never think of partitions in taxis the same way again! It was a pretty good night, all told, although I’m torn between the Anchor & Crown’s attitude and Bar 101’s fights for most interesting ‘scene’! It all ended well with pizza and laughing over slightly tipsy people falling over on the ice outside.

Saturday
After picking up Shari and her son Steven, Lorali and I drove downtown to Winterlude – Ottawa’s winter festival. As I’ve said before, winter festivals such as this bring cities alive. It makes winter worth looking forward to, and gives people purpose in the bitterly cold months.

Unfortunately the Rideau Canal was packed (today was the first day the whole thing had been open – a product of a particularly mild winter), so I never got a chance to skate on it. I did, however walk on it, so that’s part of the way there, isn’t it??

My particular highlight was eating poutine (chips, gravy, cheese – heart attack in a cup) then Taffy on snow (maple syrup frozen on ice) whilst watching all the ice sculptures being, well, sculpted. Some of them were simply amazing, and the photos don’t really do them justice (clear ice on white isn’t the best combination!). I will never cease to be amazed by chainsaws used to carve intricate details on ice.

We spent the afternoon re-visiting the Parliament for its open day. We walked all through the buildings and up to the Peace Tower, with its unparalleled view of downtown Ottawa and Gatineau. After a fire destroyed most of the building in 1916, only the library remained. The photos I’ve posted show the difference in architecture and explain why there are so many statues relating to WW1 throughout the building. Definitely worth a visit.

Following that, Lorali, Shari and Steven headed back, and I met up with Jana for a leisurely stroll through the Crystal Garden (with the ice sculptures). All too soon it was time to head back and continue my adventure through Eastern Canada. But not before Lorali and I had dinner at Baan Thai. This place was pretty authentic and served a mean duck curry. Lorali and I, both of whom have been to Thailand, were very impressed, and it was an excellent way to end an awesome few days.