Ottawa and Quebec, Eh? Twenty-First Day of Trip

Well, this is three weeks that went by pretty fast. Today is day twenty-one of our 80 days around the country. Neil was in shorts the entire trip until today as it cooled off to 68 degrees with very clean air.  We appreciate the rain and freshness, all the more since we know that back home in Oregon the air quality has been very poor.   Last night, it rained hard here at the campsite, and Neil got up to quickly take in the awning. But, as we ventured downtown, we only had a few sprinkles for our first trip into Ottawa.

We are certainly glad that we were not driving a big pickup into downtown--the streets are narrow in places and Canadian drivers are...shall we say a bit aggressive?

Supreme Court of Canada

We drove down town past a number of government buildings downtown on the river. At least one guidebook said the buildings are Greek Revival or Westminster meets Hogwarts (Harry Potter)! They are quite decorative. We drove past the Parliament, the Mint, the massive Fairmont Chateau Laurier, which is considerably larger than the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC. We hope to visit several of these tomorrow.  The hotel is a sister property to the Chateau Lake Louise and the Empress, in which we have enjoyed stays.

Canadian Mint

We found an interesting part of town called Bytown, which is what Ottawa was originally called. The historic town took its name from John By who, as a Colonel in the British Royal Engineers, was instrumental in the construction of the Rideau canal  We enjoyed walking through the streets by unique small shops, stopped at a tea store for Pamela to stock up on Assam and Jasmine tea, and had lunch at a unique place called Zac's.

We Are Not Mad...We Did Not Stop at This Tea Party

But We Did at This Tea Store

One wall of Pamela's Tea Store Choices

Zac's was an odd combination of decor and food, which reminded us of the movie "Romancing the Stone" as you could eat on the bus or next to it, which is what we chose. The music was South American and the alcoholic drinks has names of cities from below the equator as well. We enjoyed excellent tomato corn tortilla soup and BLT (on GF bread) for Pamela and hamburger with onion rings for Neil.

Indoor of Zac's

We then walked to the Notre-Dame Cathedral nearby and went inside. The Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada located in the Lower Town neighborhood. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990.

Note the Tin Clad Steeples - Very Shiny

The steeples are covered with tin, which is typical for French-Canadian churches, and house a peal of bells. The exterior is fairly reserved, but the interior is far more ornate, designed by Georges Buillon. The interior of the church is brightly painted and decorated with numerous carved features, exquisite stained glass windows depicting the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. There are 30 statues of the major figures from the Old and New Testament in the choir area, carved by Louis-Philippe Hébert.  At the head of the choir, the Holy Family is completed with saints John the Baptist and Patrick, the patron saints of French and Irish Catholics.

Notre-Dame Cathedral Interior

From right - Adam, Noah, Joseph, Moses, and Jeremiah

Before returning to the RV park, we crossed north over the Ottawa River into Quebec, so we can add it to our province "life list".   It was a short drive as we were confused by the fact that all of the road signs are in FRENCH ONLY.  We are lucky we did not end up in Montreal!   It also made up our mind as to where we will re-enter the US--it will NOT be Quebec where we can't read the road signs.

Mai Oui We Went to Quebec, Eh?

After a few extra miles on wrong highways, we found our way out of "Frenchy Town" as the RV park owner here calls it and back to the RV before the start of their rush hour, which begins by 3 pm.

Best wishes,

Neil and Pamela