Ottawa 2010 Day 2: Parliament and Mosaika

Day 2 in Ottawa was great. I headed to the Parliament buildings and went on a tour inside, seeing both the House of Commons and the Senate which was super awesome. The architecture was really impressive. When the tour finished I headed outside just in time to see the changing of the guard. Then a wander through ByWard Market for a beaver tail (don't worry my American friends, it's not an *actual* beaver tail) :) and then to the Royal Canadian Mint.

In the afternoon I went to the National Gallery of Canada, they had an awesome pop art exhibit which had a few Andy Warhol paintings but was mostly about all the pop art that was influenced by Andy Warhol. There was some cool stuff by Keith Haring too.

In the evening we went to see Mosaika, a light and sound show projected onto the Parliament Buildings themselves. It was soooooo cool.

Norm along the Rideau Canal

Terry Fox statue and the Parliament buildings

Parliament

Entrance

Cool roof

Wall sculptures describing Canada's history

The "Prime Minister's Stairs" right outside of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons!! Whoooaa!!!!!! Pretty crazy to be there.

Beautiful stained glass windows

Weird roof that rocked

More cool arches

Another interesting tiled situation

Royal paintings

Coat of arms of provinces

The Senate

Cool archways

Changing of the guard 1

Changing of the guard 2

Changing of the guard 3

Haha, "tail + drink". I didn't know you could get all these crazy flavours. I went with the standard cinammon + sugar, but with added lemon juice. It was FREAKIN' AMAZING.

This was so good

Inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

Stained glass and silhouette

Royal Canadian Mint

I got to hold a gold bar worth $500,000! It was really heavy and there was a guy right near me guarding it. It was so heavy I pulled it up very quickly and the chain made a loud noise! I am laughing because I made a joke about trying to run off with it right in front of the guard. :)

Fairmont Château Laurier

Laura excited for the Mosaika show

More Parliament buildings

Test patterns

Landscape

Whale

Butterflies

Snow

Native Canadian history

Maple Leaf

Amazing!!

Crazy!!!!!!!

Oh, Canada :)

Ottawa 2010 Day 1 Video: Biking along the Rideau Canal

Biking along the Rideau Canal, Ottawa and trying to take a video at the same time :)

Ottawa 2010 Day 1: Obama Cookies and Biking

I was in Ottawa last month... for the FIRST TIME EVER. It was getting to be a bit embarrassing calling myself a true Canuck here in the USA and never having been to "Our Nation's Capital", so it was about time! It was a really awesome city and my sister and I ventured out around the city a whole bunch. It was 42+ degrees C with super high humidity, and every day like clockwork it would rain at about 4pm just as I was walking back to my sister's place. :) Part of the fun :)

Lamps along the Rideau Canal

Building season downtown

Windy stairs

Mmm... PB&J

Cool tunnel under the main road near Parliament

Locks

Fairmont Château Laurier hotel

Chains for the locks

Steps for boats

Another photo of the locks

Fairmont Château Laurier hotel

One of the Parliament buildings

The bakery where Obama visited and bought Canada cookies!! They have renamed them "Obama Cookies" and Obama's visit has made this place very popular.

Photos of Obama with the Governor General of Canada

Just like being in France :)

Mmm

We bought a Maple Eclair and lots of other awesome stuff

Norm and our feast: maple eclair, almond croissant, tartlette framboise

Anyone want some blueberries?

Sooo gooooooooood

Corn, or as you might say, Mais Sucre :)

Veggies

Smiling turnovers

This fruit was amazing

Carrots

River along our bike ride

Me and the touring bike I was riding, it was fun

The beach

More locks

Boats waiting for the lock gates

Sweet bridge

Amazing houses in The Glebe

Out with Laura in the evening