Postcards from Ottawa

Back for some more photos from our recent trip! As well as going to Montreal for 3 nights, we came home via Ottawa, staying with Josh and Elli who have been there about as long as we've been in Hamilton. They kindly put us up in their basement apartment. I was extremely jealous of their new kitchen and bathroom fittings - but less jealous of the bathroom rail that came so easily out of the wall when Josh reached up to close the window...

Here is a picture of Josh making flash-steps in his kitchen. Elli looks on, impressed.


We arrived mid-Saturday, and J+E packed us a picnic lunch which we took to the big park area in town. Picnic blanket shenanigans ensued, with a hapless Josh finding himself tied up by a one-handed Forgi (the other hand occupied with a nectarine).

The main area of Ottawa is set around a lake, a little like Canberra. Unlike Canberra, many of the buildings are much older. The main parliament building is set right on the edge. This is, in fact, the building where Stephen Harper recently pulled Canada out of the Kyoto agreement. Go Steve! :-P

Just beside are this interesting series of locks leading to the lake.

Here's an amphibious tour bus. Apparently one of these sank a few years ago and a few grannies got killed. The bus was a bit too airtight - to the point where nobody could actually get out. I guess they must have dredged the bus as soon as the emergency services could get organised, by which time a few of the more fragile passengers had died from the various stresses involved. Oops!

Another statue of some musketeer guy who founded the city or something...

Here is a statue that's clearly of far greater historical significance. Err, actually it seems to exist only for taking silly photos...

Later that evening, we caught a taxi to go see a fireworks competition. That was pretty cool - some of the best fireworks I've seen. The taxi only had room for 3 in the back, and we had to make sure none of the police cars (there were heaps directing traffic because of the fireworks display) saw us. Forgi got the short straw...

The fireworks were cool!

Also, B(if)tek, one of my favourite Australian electronica acts are apparently really popular here!

No wait, this is just a beefsteak restaurant. Oh well. Anyway, a good time was had by all!

(Well can _you_ take a photo of the back of your own head? It takes skill!)