The Gnomes Visit the Nation's Capital

Sandy and I met up at the Central Experimental Farm Arboretum this morning to start the Ottawa leg of their journey. The weather liars had promised us 60% chance of rain, but we decided to go ahead anyway and we're glad we did. No rain! Quite a bit of sun and fairly mild. By comparison, we may have several inches of snow tomorrow or Wednesday.

If you'd like to go back and see what the lads did with Sandy in White Lake, you'll find their adventures here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/916445/


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This message was edited Oct 30, 2008 10:56 PM

Here I am after Sandy turned the lads over to me.

Well, HERE I am.

While it's late in October, we still have a bit of colour in the trees. This is overlooking part of the Rideau Canal. The Rideau Canal was built between Lake Ontario in Kingston and the Ottawa River to provide an alternative route to the Gulf of St. Lawrence following the War of 1812 when the American invaded Canada a few times. Much of the St. Lawrence River forms the boundary between Canada and the US.

The Canal has never been used as a military route, however, but it's fair to say that Ottawa would not be much more than a lumber town if it had not been built because until it was built, most of the development was on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Today it is used primarily for tourism. And in the winter, 8 km of it are groomed for ice skating making it the longest skating rink in the world.

Here are the lads having their first look at the Canal from the Arboretum.

They also liked other areas of the Arboretum. Bullwinkle, ever the problem child, got stuck in the bushes near the entrance to the Hosta garden. Sandy and I are both big Hosta gardeners, but we didn't spend much time looking at their tattered remains this time.

The lads really liked the scenery and found it almost as peaceful as the countryside around Sandy's house.

They love the Autumn colours.

And they found this carpet of leaves a lot of fun to play in. Can you find them?
Can you also see where the leaves change colour? One large Maple was red and the one behind it was yellow.

After spending awhile at the Arboretum, we visited Hogs Back Park. At this location, the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River separate through the city of Ottawa. On the river side, there is a water level control dam and after heavy rain on Saturday, the water was really rushing over it and into the rapids below.

We had to restrain Bullwinkle to prevent him from trying to take a swim.

There was, however, a large rocky area on which we could view the rapids. In the spring, this is a VERY popular area with students from the nearby Carleton University.

And the sun came out a bit as the lads viewed the water.

From here we went to a lookout on the OTTAWA River. It looks across to where the Gatineau River in Quebec province flows into the Ottawa. First they decided to survey the area from the back of my car.

In this direction, they are looking straight at the residence of the US Ambassador.

But they needed to get a bit closer to the Ottawa River.

The next stop on our tour was Rideau Hall - the residence of the governor General of Canada. The grounds are usually open to the public and the lads REALLY enjoyed the view of the pathway in to the house. In fact, Bullwinkle seems to be taking a bit of a sun bath.

Here are the lads as they first viewed the house.

And - more water! They enjoyed the fountain in front of the house.

The security guard turned a bit red when we asked him to hold the lads, but he did it for us.

On the way out though, they couldn't restrain themselves from climbing up this Inuksuk.

The next stop was across the street at the residence of the prime minister - 24 Sussex Drive.

But Bullwinkle got a bit carried away and tried to climb the fence. Good thing we were able to restrain him before the RCMP found out.

Just down the road, next to the French Embassy is the Rideau Falls. This is where the Rideau River comes into the Ottawa River. This time the other lads were able to keep Bullwinkle from leaping.

There is also a nice view up the Ottawa river from here.

There is a bridge across the top of the falls and it was here that Bullwinkle made his leap. Good thing for the harness.

We were getting hungry and the plan was to eat at a lovely Café which is located in the Great Hall of the National Gallery. Imagine our disappointment.

But the sign made a good vantage point to look around. Maman - the huge spider near the Gallery is the most expensive work of art there. It cost 3.2 Million $ a few years ago. for more information about it, look at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2005/05/11/ot-maman20050511.html

Behind the trees at the left, you see some of the American Embassy. Under the belly of the spider, you see the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel and to the right, you see just a bit of the Parliament buildings.

This message was edited Oct 27, 2008 10:16 PM

To the east - right across Sussex Drive from the Gallery is the Notre Dame Basilica. It is a magnificent church and is very highly sought after for weddings. When the lads heard that, they decided to stay away.

Since the gallery failed us for lunch, we headed to a restaurant in the nearby Byward Market. This market has daily stalls during the main season and in the winter, one can purchase Christmas trees there. Bullwinkle was quite excited by the display of pumpkins for sale.

So after lunch, we went to see them. The young man selling the pumpkins said gnomes get luckier the farther they travel and he was very happy to have them visit his stall.

From there, we walked in the direction of the Parliament buildings. This shows the lads
on the Wellington St. bridge over the canal. To the right is the Chateau Laurier hotel and one can look down on a series of locks that take the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River. They were wide open as most of the water has been drained from the Canal for the winter.

And in the distance you see the Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge connecting Ottawa and Gatineau. This steel truss cantilever bridge was the first bridge built across the Ottawa River at Ottawa and was finished at the end of 1900.

The lads were awed at the sight of the Parliament buildings but they also enjoyed warming up by the Centennial or Eternal flame.

We also visited the "Women are People too" monument on Parliament Hill. The lads invited themselves right in for tea, but Bullwinkle seems to be in trouble again.

After that experience, we decided to take the lads into the elegant lobby of the Chateau Laurier Hotel to warm up.

We were fast running out of time, but we did wander into Major's Hill Park behind the Chateau Laurier. There they found this lovely stand of ornamental grasses within sight of the Parliament buildings.

And a really good view of the National Gallery.

But shortly afterwards, we had more trouble with Bullwinkle trying to scale the fence that protects people from the dangerous drop-off below the park. It was obviously time to take him and the other lads home for a rest.

My oh my, those are three lucky fellas. Visiting the Nations's Capital. Wonderful tour, Ladies. I have always wanted to visit Ottawa, and maybe will some day, but if I don't your lovely pictures have made me believe I've been there. My favorite has to be the first photo of the Rideau Canal. Beautiful shot! Lots of impressive foliage color in your pictures too. Fingers crossed here, that you don't get any S_ _ _! :(

Thanks Don. But they promise us we will have between 10 and 15 cm this evening. I guess it's time to find a pair of boots.

Love the pics Ann and Sandy .. these 'Virtual Tours' are wonderful !!
The colours are so lovely (leaves) .. and .. I was unable to find the Boys in that carpet of leaves at the Arboretum .. they are certainly PERFECTLY coloured for Cammoflage at this time of year !!

I certainly hope the 'Weather Liars' struck again re your accumulation of snow !! We seem to have those folks here in TBay as well LoL

Enjoy your day

~M~