Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Part II

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Part II

Gray Line Tour of Ottawa

There's Jack about to enter the tour bus that gave us a wild and windy tour of Ottawa since the tour guide sweet talked us into sitting on the upper deck so we could see more and get better pictures.To make a long story short we saw almost every main tourist attraction from at least two angles while we were clutching onto our hats. This tour went on and on and on for over an hour and half.

Here we go. I'll pretend I'm the tour guide and give brief snipets of what we are seeing in each pic.

The former main train station in Ottawa which now is a busy downtown government building.

This corner hotel had a big Canadian black bear in front ot it. Notice the folks on cell phones and carrying Ipods. Just like in the U.S.

Statue of a famous Canadian hockey player. I didn't catch the name.

Ottawa's most elaborate hotel:
Chateau Laurier


Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa
In summer the canal is used for boating and water fun.
In winter the canal is used for ice skating and winter fun.

Rideau Hall

Guards standing guard to the entrance of Rideau Hall which is somewhat like our American White House in our capital city, Washington D.C. And just like in the U.S. tourists clamor to see it and pose outside of it.

The Byward Shopping Market
This I thought was similar to Pike's Place Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington.

BeaverTails are a local sweet crepe pastry that you find here at this stand. Later in the day we found the shop and ordered the server's favorite type which was a freshly toasted long crepe with maple sugar sprinkles, cinnamon and fresh squeezed lemon juice on top. Server said the fresh squeezed lemon juice cuts the sweetness of the maple sugar sprinkles

We crossed the Ottawa River several times.

We crossed once to see the Canadian Museum of Natural History that reminded us of the new

Native American Museum in Washington D.C. in it architecture.

This is the headquarters and training facility for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
And here are some of the mounties horses in the pasture field.
This is Canada's answer to our Pentagon Building: the new War Ministry Building that is low to the ground and almost invisible from the air.

And this is Canada's version of our National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. It is their National Air Museum housing their most famous war planes like the Avro Arrow Spitfire which was used in World War II.
I loved this sculpture of a huge black spider by the side of the very modern Canadian National Museum of Art! Charlotte, I didn't know your great grandchildren grew so big.

Our tour bus flew down Ottawa's embassy row. Embassy row. Yes, just like in the U.S. This building above is the second most expensive embassy in Ottawa. The tour guide pointed out that it is the embassy of Saudi Arabia. It cost $150 million to build it. The most expensive embassy in Ottawa is .................
.....the U.S. embassy in Ottawa that cost over $250 million to build. It has every anti-terrorist device in its structure.

This is one of many tall skyscrapers to house all the Canadian federal office workers. More than 10,000 federal workers work in downtown Ottawa.


You can view the changing of the guards at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Yes, just like in the U.S.

Another view of the Canadian capitol buildings on Parliment Hill

Our Grey Line Tour Bus picked us up and finally dropped us off in front of this building that had the nicest Irish Pub. Jack and I hopped down off the Grey Line Tour Bus and made a beeline inside where.............

......we sat down near a window with a view of the Parliment Hill buildings and .........

........rewarded ourselves for having survived that long windy tour by having an Irish beer with shepherd's pie with roasted veggies. Yummy! Yummy!