Final Thoughts

A reflection on Ottawa

Wow. At first we were a bit skeptic to come to one of Canada's smaller cities, even though it was the Capital. We've heard of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, yet we still decided to visit Ottawa first.

Touring Ottawa has been a wonderful experience. As tourists coming from another country, Ottawa did an excellent job of showcasing Canada's culture and history while providing excellent cuisine, art, and entertainment. It was nice to come to a smaller city than say Toronto but the experience was still effective and enjoyable.

Ottawa brings a cultural, historical and international dynamic to the scene by hosting festivals and being the home to great buildings like Parliament and the Supreme Court of Canada.

If I were to respond to the question where to go to learn and explore Canada, I would hands-down say Ottawa. The city provides endless opportunities to experience the culture of Canadians and with four seasons, Ottawa does not fail to keep its activities assorted (like Winterlude and Tulip Festival).

It has been a fun and safe journey exploring Ottawa. Until next time, we are off to Toronto! Let's see how that compares.

Rideau Hall and Supreme Court

Final Day (Tuesday May 21, 2013): Rideau Hall and Supreme Court

On our last day in Ottawa, Sohi and I went to visit a few more political and judicial institutions. Rideau Hall was our first stop.

Outside of Rideau Hall

Rideau Hall is the official residence and working place of Canada's Governor General, David Johnston, and has housed all the previous governor generals as well. We thought we'd take a tour to view the largest residential mansion and its heritage gardens. The Hall is located right across 24 Sussex Drive, which is the Prime Minister's home. Seeing the PM's house was a bonus too. It is a classified federal heritage building and going through the tour, we learned a great history related to this building. One of the most spectacular views in Rideau Hall was its recently installed Painting of Her Majesty.

Beautiful gardens and we even saw an inukshuk!

Rideau Hall encompasses a history of governor generals as well as a history of Canada that can be seen and learned by the public. The Hall was a really interesting touristic site that gives the opportunity to foreigners to learn a bit of Canada's political system and representatives.

Our next stop was the Supreme Court of Canada. We were lucky that regular tours started in May. The Supreme Court is Canada's highest judicial court as well as an Ottawa landmark, located on Wellington Street. As a high institution, the Court symbolizes the strong and independent judiciary guarantees of the government in accordance with Canada's constitution. The Court hears appeals from both the federal court system and provincial court system. What's interesting is that the Supreme Court of Canada functions as a national court, whereas in the United States, the courts function merely at the federal level.

The outside. It's massive!

In our tour, we got to see several rooms such as the Main Courtroom, Judges' Conference Room and Judges' Gallery. The building is enormous and gives off a powerful air. Overall, this building represents and encompasses Canada's prevailing judicial system.

Main Courtroom

In the evening, we packed our bags, paid our hotel fee and headed back to the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport. We were happy to have spent our last day touring some of Ottawa's most influential sites.

Rideau Centre and Rideau Canal!!!

Day 7 (Monday, May 20, 2013): Rideau Centre and Rideau Canal

Being in downtown, we looked no further than Ottawa's premiere shopping destination: Rideau Centre.  Apart from having some really awesome stores that operate internationally, such as Zara, American Apparel, and Aveda, it was connected to our Westin Hotel (which was a bonus!). It is located one block east from Parliament and is also connected to the Ottawa Convention Centre. We did some shopping in the morning and ate a quick lunch in the cafeteria. It had good store hours, at least on the holiday (Victoria Day), from 10:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m.

Lower level of the mall

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking along the Rideau Canal neighbourhood. The Canal is both a Canadian Heritage Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It winds through the heart of downtown and is connected to the Ottawa River. In the summer time, it is a lovely place for walking right next to it, which we did, and taking a boat down the canal. There are services that can take you from Ottawa to Kingston and back! In the winter, the canal turns into the world's largest skating rink. It spans 7 kilometres and goes from the National Arts Centre to Dow's Lake Pavillion. I've heard there are several booths and snack shops along it during the winter, and we look forward to coming back to skate on it.

Walking along the canal was sensual and peaceful. There are bike and pedestrian paths, which allow for easy strolling to get a great view of several sites in downtown.

Boats are travelling through the canal frequently

Upper Canada

Only three days left in Ottawa!

Today, we decided to go to Upper Canada since the weather was very nice and warm!

Google map said it will take a hour and a half to get there but for us it only took 50 minutes! 

map of Upper Canada from downtown

Finally arrived at Upper Canada Village!

It was so beautiful inside!!

We saw many old small houses between the trees.

and some horses!

We even got a chance to talk to Canadian grandma who have been quilting at Upper Canada Village for 40 years!

We found this out later but there are a lot of events at Upper Canada Village, so if you're planning to go, check the website below and don't miss out on the cool programs held in Upper Canada!

http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/index.cfm/en/home/

Tulip Festival and Byward Market

 

Day 5 (Saturday May 18, 2013): Tulip Festival and Byward Market

Our time of arrival to Ottawa proved special because Sohi and I had the chance to visit one of Ottawa's largest festivals: the Tulip Festival. It is the world's largest tulip festival and houses 300,000 tulips in 60 different varieties across downtown Ottawa. It is celebrated each May as a heritage of Canada's role in liberating the Dutch during World War 2.

Sohi and the beautiful tulips!

We enjoyed walking around downtown to view all the colourful and assorted tulips.

To keep ourselves engaged in fun and brightness, we went to Byward Market in the afternoon, which is right behind  Rideau Centre. It is one of Canada's oldest markets. Within four blocks of area, the Market houses local restaurants, galleries, pubs, museums, and much more. Upon our arrival, we noticed how vibrant and diverse the people and Market was. It felt like a tiny village, yet provided a variety of things to see. We walked past agri-food vendors as well as arts and crafts vendors. We can see why it is Ottawa's number one tourist destination!

We stopped for some famous Beavertails. A tasty souvenir!

What's really cool are the hidden stone courts!

After eating at a local restaurant, we went back at night to the Tulip Festival. The festival is not only eye-catching but provides several entertainment each day. To give a bang to Canada's long weekend celebrating Victoria Day, there were fireworks at 9 p.m. Located at Dow's Lake, families gathered and joined to watch what they called the Lake of Fire.

Today felt like a festive and vibrant day, where we got see a bit of Canada's history through it's largest festival and oldest market.

National Arts Centre and Little Italy

Day 4 (Friday May 17, 2013): National Arts Centre and Little Italy

We were very excited to hear about Ottawa's National Arts Centre upon our arrival into the capital city. It is known as Canada's premiere showcase for English theatre, French theatre, dance, and opera. The Centre also hosts Broadway and special festivals. 

Outside the NAC

An interesting fact is that the NAC Orchestra's Music Director, Pinchas Zuckerman, has earned 21 Grammy nominations and and 2 Grammies. Quite impressive! 

From May 14- 25, a play called Miss Caledonia was premiering. Tickets were cheap, roughly $30 each, and the seating was fabulous. The NAC has an exquisite vibe to it and houses a variety of shows. The Centre not only shows Canadian art, but welcomes orchestras and productions from other countries. We went for the 2 p.m. show and it was a really well written and thought out play. 

Brochure for the show

The story revolves around a girl trying to escape the country side in Ontario and makes her way into fame through a beauty pageant. It was overall a heart-whelming story and excellent fiddle playing by the main actress!

Really authentic look!

 

After the show, we headed down towards Little Italy. Preston Street is known as Corso Italia - or the heart of Ottawa's Little Italy. That day, we wanted to experience a different vibe of culture. The area is not only home to the Irish and French, but also the Asian community. Little Italy is not only filled with restaurants, but convenient stores, automotive services, aesthetic services and more. What I loved about the area was that it did not only house Italian food, but international food as well. We went to a restaurant titled Giovanni's, located at 362 Preston Street. The atmosphere was warm and housed specialties I have never heard before in other Italian restaurants. A very savourous location.

 

Today's day felt especially sophisticated and high class. Yesterday was a bit more relaxing while today was a bit more high-end. 

National Art Gallery and Canadian Museum of Civilization

The third day in Ottawa.

The weather wasn't too nice in the morning so we decided to look inside the National Art Gallery. Also, we were very lucky because we didn't know that it's free on Thursdays but luckily we got in without having to pay $10 for a ticket.

in front of National Art Gallery

The spider in front of the National Art Gallery is the work of Louis Bourgeois, American artist, called "Mamang". The museum displays about 800 examples of Canadian art.

map to National Art Gallery

information of National Art Gallery:
http://www.gallery.ca/en/

From National Art Gallery we came out at 12pm because we were so hungry and we wanted to eat sushi so badly. There was so many works that even 3 full days isn't enough to look at all the works inside National Art Gallery. It was worth to spend half a day there! :)

I once saw it from other blogs that Sushi Kan is a good restaurant at China Town. So we headed straight to China Town!

Sushi Kan

Sushi Kan was really delicious. Thanks to Celine's friend who has recommended this restaurant. It was pretty cheap compared to other downtown restaurants. It is only $14 + tax for lunch and $19 + tax at dinner.

After, we had to decide between Canadian Museum of Civilization and Canadian War Museum because we didn't have enough time to go to both museums. So we decided to go to the Museum of Civilization instead of War museum since it was closer from Chinatown.

map to Canadian Museum of Civilization from downtown

Canadian Museum of Civilization 

I think Ottawa really welcomes us because it was again free admission because we arrived at 4pm and it was free from 4 to 8pm on Thursdays. Hooray!

Usually it's $13 for 1 museum and $20 for 2nd museum. If you want to watch Imax film you have to pay an extra $7.

The history of the Canadian Museum of Civilization began in 1856. The Canadian Museum of Civilization presents the national narrative of the history of Canada and its people. With a renewed focus on the connections between past and present in the shaping of Canada and Canadians, the Museum explores the major themes and seminal events and people of our national experience by bringing history to life and providing the public with a strong sense of Canadian identity.

There are many programs in the Museum so if you check the website before, you will be able to obtain a lot more from it.

information of Canadian Museum of Civilization:

http://www.civilization.ca/home

If you have the chance, please go see other museums!

information of Canadian War Museum 

http://www.warmuseum.ca/home/

information of Canadian Museum of Nature

http://nature.ca/en/home

After, we came back to hotel to get some sleep! It was a tough day but we learned a lot from the National Art Gallery and Canadian Museum of Civilization! If you have a chance to visit Ottawa, I recommend you spend a day or so at the galleries and museums. I think government spends a lot of money for these because Ottawa's the capital of Canada. 

First day to explore Ottawa!

Starting off with the closest place from our hotel!

We drove through downtown.

National War Memorial

The years engraved in the three sides of the memorial are the years Canada entered the war with foreign countries.

the National Art Centre

tall building at downtown

After a few minutes, we saw Parliament Hill. So we immediately started to look for a place to park and ran out the car to feel the air of Ottawa! :)

Parliament Hill

I heard that Parliament Hill attracts approximately 3 million visitors each year. 

I think the word majestic suits this good looking architecture.

Over the Parliament Hill there is a big river which is the border of Ontario and Quebec.

the Library of Parliament Hill

The reason Ottawa became the capital of Canada was to keep a peace between Quebec, which is a city of French and British.

I thought Chateau Laurier hotel was Parliament Hill for a second, because it was so big and well structured. But I found out later that this is a hotel called Chateau Laurier. I thought to myself that we would one day come back and stay here. ;)

Chateau Laurier

Ottawa, the capital of Canada!

Ottawa is our first destination of our North America trip!

We arrived at the Ottawa Airport on May 14th at 9pm.

At first, we were at a loss about what to do but because we planned this trip for a month and prepared it so well, we were able to get to the Western Hotel safely.

the picture of Western Hotel, attached to Rideau Mall, in the morning

You might be wondering how we got to the hotel. The Ottawa Airport is well organized and if you just get out of the airport, you will see "Enterprise", which is the store you rent a car! We rented a car for $17 a day including insurance and everything else. I recommend renting a car here since you can return the car at any "Enterprise"!

the car we will be driving all over Ottawa

information of Enterprise below:
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/home.do

I was so tired from 14 hours of flight from South Korea, so I went to bed right away. But Celine told me this morning that she couldn't get any sleep because she was so excited to explore Ottawa. :)

Introducing... Sohi Kwon & Celine Thomas

Hello, Celine and I have been friends since high school. We go to McGill U and we are planning to tour around the world.
First to the capital of Canada, Ottawa which both of us have never been to. Then to Toronto and we haven't decided where to go after that.
So, we decided to make a blog about all the places we will be going in the next few months to share with you guys!
Stay tuned and see what it's like in all the best cities in the world!