Ottawa

Another short transfer and I’m in the federal capital. This move had to be short and sharp as I’m only staying the day and one night.

Screen Shot 2016-07-26 at 22.30.43 — Short ride today.

I get into the hostel, dump the stuff and go straight out exploring. The objective for the capital is to do a tour of the parliament and, ideally meet the prime minister and get a photo with him. I really admire the guy and, the fact that I met Pepe Mujica in Uruguay might have just gone to my head a bit.

I manage to get a place for two tours, one of the East Block and one of the main House of Parliament, unfortunately by the time I get to the front of the queue there are only tours available in French, well, why not.

Before the tours I have a couple of hours to kill so I go for a walk around toown and tail it with a beer and some chips.

DSCN4265 — There appears to be a Scottish pub 🙂

DSCN4267 — And they are brits really, they queue

DSCN4268 — Curious and endearing to see how a little more than one hundred years old is seen as historical document.

DSCN4269 — Impressive church from the outside

DSCN4270 — Even more impressive on the inside.

DSCN4274 — No prizes for guessing where all the Ottawa lightening end up.

DSCN4277 — At one point this was the longest cantilever bridge in North America. The place on the other side was called Hull, now they have renamed it.

DSCN4278 — Stunning view from the top of the hill towards the river.

DSCN4279 — An island in the river that grabbed my attention.

DSCN4280 — From all these signs one might think that: either cliffs are frailer in Canada than everywhere else or that Canadians have a propensity for falling off them.

DSCN4282 — Parliament and the dome of the library.

DSCN4283 — Stunning set of locks in operation.

DSCN4285 — And they go all the way up there.

DSCN4286 — Water of a funny colour, but then again it’s a river.

The time comes, 14:30 to get to the meeting point and meet my francophone guides. As it turned out my french was more than sufficient to understand 80% of what was said. This was part to do with the fact that the guy was particularly good and that now from the hight of three languages and one half I seem to have developed skills I did not even know I had.

All super interesting but I did not get to meet Justin Trudeau, maybe my luck is running out, perhaps I should try again in the USA with Donald?

DSCN4290 — The office of the Governor General

DSCN4293 — The office of the first Prime Minister (Sir McDonald)

DSCN4295 — And a statue to Sir John just in between the East Block and the House of Parliament.

DSCN4288 — The House in all it sunlit glory.

DSCN4297 — They do have a proper whip here, not just a figurative one

DSCN4299 — And so the decor of the Commons

DSCN4304 — Beautiful decor in the library.

DSCN4302 — Wow, that old chestnut, seems every country is dealing with this.

DSCN4305 — More impressive corridors of power.

DSCN4306 — The queen that gave them a nation.

DSCN4307 — The one they have now, painted by a Canadian.

DSCN4308 — The Senate is so House of Lords

DSCN4313 — A fountain with fire, a rather novel concept.

After all this i was knackered so it was time to get back to my cell. By the way the hostel was located in the site of an old jail and the room were actual cells. Really something else.

While resting my bones I also managed to get in touch with an old friend of my dad that emigrated to Canada in 1968 and made this his country. I track him down and arange to go and see him on the way south tomorrow. Really looking forward to meet another person who started from the same little village of less than one thousand people in the mountains of north Italy from where I started and ended up on the other side of the world.

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