July 4, 2018

We haven't had cell service or WiFi for days and days. Sorry for the delay!!

Happy Fourth of July!! Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1st (observed this year on July 2) and we celebrate our independence on July 4th.  While we were taking in Ottawa with a leisurely stroll, we attempted to get near a statue and park, but were stopped by a very nice security guard.  They had their fireworks and celebration and were still tearing down from it! Tons of places were cordoned off yet! It must have been big!

Our campsite was quite big and full.  Many seasonal campers complete with full sets of outdoor furniture, lights, televisions!  We didn’t make it to the pool as it closed when we got back from dinner. They advertised a “big screen” for movies and it was a cute screen, not “big” by Kyana standards.  :) Kids had been swimming and riding their bikes and playing soccer. Adults were out on their golf carts and visiting with one another.

We found surface parking in Ottaway not too far from where we wanted to head.  It was already warm but not to unbearable. There were LOTS of people gathered just ahead of us and our first thought was, “Wow, that must be some building to tour if the lines are that long this early!” BUT, lucky us, we happened upon the changing of the guard for parliament!  I don’t think we missed much but there were bagpipes, and red uniforms and tall furry black hats and men with swords.

The entire area was blockaded off, with guards of varying uniforms keeping watch.  A small group of people were seated in chairs within the blocked off area opposite us.  I would guess the crowd was 3-4 people deep all the way around. The music was awesome (bagpipes!!)  and two men with swords met in the middle and did their magic salutes and then the entire group marched through us (they had opened a section of rope) down the street just a tiny bit and then they turned off again and were gone, except for one member of the band who had passed out and was helped up by a military police and was sitting on the ground).  It brought back memories of the Forest Park Marching Rangers back in the day--we’d march in our wool uniforms regardless of weather, complete with tall white “fur” hats!! It was hot then too but I don’t recall too many of us passing out.

There was also a really cool memorial with flames coming out of the middle of a fountain!  The parliament consists of three buildings, old and beautiful and all getting some kind of face lifts done, and they are active buildings so we couldn't actually enter any of them.  Armed guards made sure of it! We wandered around the grounds towards the back and a really large dome. One of the buildings round window placements made it look like a giant surprised face looking down onto the square and its throngs of tourists.  

We headed for said dome and much of the area was again blocked off. The dome, even thought it looked like the dome of a giant basilica, was actually the parliamentary library!!!  It was opened in 1876 and is actually all that remains of the original parliament building which burned in 1916. The interior was redone in 1956 after a fire and it provides reference, research, and information to the parliament.  That would have been really really neat to see the inside of!! The bell from the clock tower was also dug out from the 1916 fire’s ruins, apparently one of the last things to fall as the bell still tolled at midnight while the flames were raging all around it.

I wanted to see who one of the statues was dedicated to but was politely told I was entering an area tourists weren’t allowed right now due to renovations.  The statue was Thomas D’Arcy McGee, whom neither of us had heard of but was considered the father of confederation, renowned as a historian, poet, and persuasive speaker.  

From our perch at the top of the hill, we could see forever and wondered, “Who is that statue of, perched high on that knoll overlooking the river?”  He was so far away (or so we thought). The Ottawa River was so pretty and blue, with an island or two here and there.

The temperatures started out warm, and by now were nearing 90 or so.  We headed towards the river, passing signs with QR codes on them: Decoding Art.  Love it!! QR codes are those squares (usually) made up of smaller squares that you can scan with your smart phones and it brings up information, sometimes a website, or pictures, or a page of text or an audio clip.  They were strategically placed among the monuments so you could scan the code and hear more about the monument. It is the best way to learn more on the spot! Side note: Cheryl once use QR codes ironed onto t-shirts so her students could learn more about one another!  :)

On our walk towards the river we encountered the engineering marvel known as the Rideau Canal, complete with its own locks!  What we saw was just a small part of a canal built in the early 19th century designed specifically for steam-powered vessels, primarily for strategic military purposes!  Using lakes and rivers from two watersheds, it operates yet today!

As we walked down alongside the canal, we noticed we weren’t that far from the mystery statue, so we headed in that direction.  There was a HUGE flock of geese slowly walking near the trail as well. Andrew makes friends with a little one pretending to have food.  An older one thought about getting closer but thought better of it and joined his flock and waddled away. We were stopped by a very nice security guard and told we weren’t able to go up there yet as they were still removing the fireworks set up.  He didn’t know who the statue represented or anything about the area, which we thought was a bit odd. BUT he said he only had been here for about a month. We did think it was odd that we didn’t see any people around the statue from our perch near the parliament, so now we know way.  

We backtracked a bit and saw the steeples of a nearby church (of course!).   It was the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, first planned as a parish in 1839, then transformed to cathedral in 1847, and basilica in 1879.  Although a slightly different style from the other Notre-Dames we’ve seen, it was still gorgeous, intricate carvings, gold stars painted on its blue ceiling, lovely!  We lit a candle for peace and good health.

When we were walking back so we could walk across the bridge over the Ottawa River, we noticed people by the statue from which we were turned away!  It was now open! We walked up the path and our mystery man was none other than Samuel de Champlain, discoverer of Canada

We walked across the Interprovincial bridge, constructed in 1900, the river sparkling below!  We were going to just stop and turn around but some large plant “statues” caught our eye. Hmmm.  We discovered the Jacque Cartier Park. Life-size or bigger sculptures made from plants! Some were plants that were creatively trimmed, others wire (perhaps chicken wire?) that held plants of varying sizes and color.  Ships, flowers, animals, dragons, hands---what fun! We didn’t actually go into the park itself as it was very expensive to do so, but we could see much from outside the fence. It does make a person wonder how much more there might have been inside the fence!

At this point we decided we should probably get a drink and perhaps a light light lunch.  It was warmer and warmer! We walked back across the bridge and down the streets and found a restaurant.  We settled under an umbrella on the patio. It was 95 degrees!! But it felt like 95. We checked St. Anthony and it was “only” 93 but it felt like 106. :/  Andrew had cold shrimp while Cheryl opted for their soup du jour, a gazpacho (cold) soup: cucumber mint avocado. It looked green, pale green, but was very cool and refreshing!  

I needed to get some training materials finished before we get back so we hunted for a library.  We found one only a few blocks from where we were parked and checked it out. Hahahaha! Checked it out!!  Anyway, they issued me a card to use the Internet even though I wasn’t a local. We went back to the truck to gather my Chromebook and I went in to work while Andrew explored more of Ottawa --- walked up to the front door of parliament, until guards stopped me…. Had a cold drink in an outdoor pub right across the street --- celebrated the 4th right in front of our neighbor to the north’s seat of democracy.  And took a short snooze on a bench with some of the locals.

I finished my work even though it was tricky getting to the login page and was dropped off the Internet once.  I was shhhhh-ed by a librarian while talking on the phone (I had a question and needed a quick answer.); I had chosen this spot to work as it was the teen section and there was a sign saying we could be loud there!  Not that I planned on being loud but I had thought that just in case I needed to use the phone it would be okay! There some other adults (not teens) that were studying and I guess they hadn’t read the sign.

As I was leaving the library I had to stop and let two security men finish dealing with an irate person who had come into the library.  He was yelling, cuss words and all, and I am not sure what about. Security escorted him out, and he yelled some more and I had to sneak past him (he turned around to come back in!!) so I could leave.  Yikes. Hopefully it ended peacefully. The library was literally a cool place to be today. There were many people there, sitting in chairs, with their backpacks or bags near them, not checking out books but getting a reprieve from the heat outside.  Some were napping, some just sitting.

We hopped into the car and said farewell to Ottawa.  Our next goal is Chiasabiti, a town of about 4000 where the road ends.  More on that tomorrow.

We needed to get gas (long isolated road) and supplies so drove until we reached Maniwaki.  We stopped for dinner and then did some basic grocery shopping before heading out again. Internet searches showed few campsites nearby but a paper map showed one just an hour or so up the road so that is where we headed.  

We got there and no one was home!! Or at the gate. We pulled in and just hunkered down for the night. It was late for us for setting up camp but we didn’t really need to set anything up as we’d eaten already.  We climbed into the back quickly as the mosquitoes noticed we were “fresh” meat.