Ottawa

[Formerly YB-2]

Just wrapping up a 3-day stay in Ottawa. What a nice city. Staying in the beautiful Chateau Laurier. The Byward Market is great fun and a short walk from the chateau. Parliment And museums are nice. The food we've had has been excellent. Especially the seafood and pastry. Will load up on cheese and other goodies for the ride home.

[Masterlu]

Glenn... Any pics for us?

[lakesailor]

If you are into used records there is a very good used record store called the Turning Point - it's just off Bank St. on Cooper. They have lots of foreign pressings usually. Maybe a 15 minute walk from where you are staying.

Further up Bank St. are some audio stores - Audiomart and past that Planet of Sound.

Have you had a chance to tour the Parliament Buildings yet ?

[Formerly YB-2]

No time to 'music shop' this trip, which is OK. We had too good a time visiting the market, museums, Parliament and the Chateau, along with Commissioners Park for the tulips. A 'whirlwind' trip. Will be doing a more 'relaxed' version next May.

Think we are about a week late for the peak of the flowers, but we have been pleasantly amazed at the lilacs we've seen from Sackets Harbor, NY (google) all the way up to Ottawa. We did not realize that they could grow to 25' in height and 30-40' in width.

Yesterday and today were both 'work' days for the government, but the city was serene (traffic & crowds) by the standards we are used to in our national capital, to say nothing of the rest of our major cities.

As we often do in our travels, we took our bottle of vin, some pate', bread, fruit, cheese and a couple of pastries from the Moulon de Provence to the park for a picnic. We enjoy Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, but have decided the 'atmosphere' in Ottawa is our favorite. As my wife is a French Prof at the local Univ, she appreciates the bilingual city. When we dropped off some post-cards at the PO I mentioned how much we were enjoying our visit. The two employees were both native French speakers who politely thanked me. But their eyes certainly popped when my wife affirmed my thoughts in her perfect French. They do not expect that from us 'Americans'. Was quite humorous.

We did take the tour of Parliament, but we had a poor tour-guide. Am sure there is a lot more to it than she knew or showed any interest in. Too bad, as she is where 'the rubber meets the road' for many visitors. Rideau Hall next visit.

Ivan - we are luddites in our travel electronics (am thinking we need to change that) and will post pic's once we get back on the computer at home to download.

As an after-thought, I will mention that we have stayed in Le Chateau Frontenac and the Empress Hotel and feel the Chateau Laurier might be just a cut above in fit, finish and service. Most relaxing and enjoyable.