Ottawa!

I've been hanging out in our nation's capital this week, and falling in love with Ottawa as a city! It has the benefits of a small city (lots of green space and parks, nice neighbourhoods, easy to get around) but the attractions of a big one (great public transit, lots of people and energy, museums and galleries). I also really like how integrated the city is, and how visible the Parliament buildings are throughout.

I arrived on Saturday (May 14), by VIA train, which was fun, and since then have been steadily working my way through many of the museums in the area (Nature, Civilization, and Science & Technology) with Adri. The skeleton of the blue whale at the Canadian Museum of Nature was cool (see right), but all of the museums have been wonderful and I'm pretty much in heaven since the science-y/nature ones are my favourite kind. The architecture is pretty great too - Museum of Civilization is right on the river and gorgeous, and the Museum of Nature is a really grand castle that Parliament used from 1916-1919 after fire destroyed the Centre Block.

Right now the Tulip Festival is also on. Every year the Royal Family of the Netherlands gives Canada 10 000 bulbs (and a Dutch gardening society matches this gift) for protecting the Royal Family during WWII, and for the Canadian troops' role in liberating Holland. There were so many people out enjoying all the colours - it was really nice to see.

One last thing - we also did a tour of the grounds at Rideau Hall (the residence was closed since they were swearing in cabinet ministers that day), and I love love love the symbolism and planning that went into them. There's a rose garden representing the different cultures and heritages that make Canada what it is; an excellent view to the Parliament Buildings as a visual link of the governing bodies; and a fountain that shows the reflection not of yourself, but of your neighbours (because of a curved surface, although I didn't actually get to see it because it wasn't running for the summer yet) as reminder that we live with others as part of society.

Anyhow, that's all for now as I'll be heading off to Alma tomorrow. From then on in I'll be posting in French with English translations! I'll see you then! :)