Capital City

Today was a reminder that this trip has been more about the journey than the destination.  As we left Sherbrooke, we debated about whether or not we would stop in Montreal.  We had a tradition of lighting a candle in the Notre Dame cathedral in memory of Kim’s father, John Ducs.  It seemed like such a shame to drive right by Montreal and not take the time to do this symbolic lighting. I had my own candle to light this time, as my father had passed away the previous August.

 

We first stopped on Rue St. Catharines, well known for excellent shopping.  The city had painted large red polka dots along the sidewalks.  I’m sure there was a reason for this artwork, but its relevance was lost on us.  Instead, my boys freely enjoyed hopping from dot to dot, zigzagging their way through the pedestrians.  The eyes of the child truly sees what’s important.  Surrounded by expensive clothes, handbags, and other treasures, the boys only cared about the fun they were having hopping on red dots.  Thank you, Montreal, for proving that the best things in life are indeed free, even on St. Catharines.

Next stop was Notre Dame.   Levi John was old enough this time to light his own candle in memory of his Papa, whom he was named after. Theo and I lit a candle for my father, and Kim lit a candle for his mother.  I wandered away a bit to the depiction of a shepherd holding a lamb.  Struck by the innocence of the scene, I said a prayer for little Paige. There had been no word from her family since the start of this trip, and the dark cloud of worry and sorrow has never been far from my thoughts.

The boys helping to say a prayer for Paige

                                                        Notre Dame, as beautiful as always

Whose kids are these, anyway?

As we loaded back into the van, I noticed an espresso café across the street; a proper coffee shop at last!  Kim couldn’t resist snapping a photo of me coming out java laden.  Finally a picture of a coffee shop for the blog!

We continued on to our final destination for the day, Ottawa.  Our hotel was within walking distance to Parliament Hill, so after a brief rest and an oil change, (only my Kim would do this on holidays) we parked the van and headed out on foot.  While of great interest to Kim and me, the parliament buildings weren’t that stimulating  to the boys.  They did enjoy the large grassed grounds to run through.  Our itinerary was: visit Parliament Hill, have supper, take a boat ride along the canal, come back for the light show at Parliament Hill at 10pm.

The lush grass, perfect for a game of chase

                                                         Hard to tell, but they're hugging

                                              

                             Iceberg in the City, also a cover for the renovations at the National Art Gallery

The boys were interested in the locks at Rideau Canal.  Try as they might, they couldn’t budge.  We spent a bit too much time at the locks, and supper was postponed. 

The locks of the Rideau Canal

Our little friend

We were making our way underneath the tunnel by the canal when the first bolt of lightening crackled and a drop of rain fell.  Thirty seconds later, the downpour came.  Our tunnel became the perfect shelter, for those that wanted to stay dry, anyway.  Levi and Theo danced until they were soaked, but had beaming smiles.  Throughout the evening we would see many impressive buildings and homes.  None of those sights would hold a candle to watching my boys play in the rain underneath the canal bridges.

Our rain shelter

                                 

                         

The rain lessened enough for us to attempt to crawl out from our shelter to see if the boats would still be going.  On the top of the bridge, the salesman assured us that the boats would indeed run, however, once we had paid and arrived at the bottom of the stairs, the crew informed us that they were waiting to hear from head office if they would be going out.  They were not allowed to run the boats if there was lightening, and there had been lots of that in the past twenty minutes.  We lingered around playfully, though.  The sky was clearing and our hopes lifted. When I went back to see if they   had heard confirmation, they were quite snarky and said they would know at 7:30, which was our departure time.    I didn’t think the attitude was necessary, so suggested that we just cancel the boat ride and request a refund.  We went upstairs with this intention, but the salesman recommended that we take the river cruise instead of the canal.  The Ottawa River cruise was leaving right away and I had figured we would miss it, but the man called ahead and they held the boat for us.  

I think we ended up with the better of the cruises.  This was a bi-level, open aired boat.  We had an excellent guide, who pointed out all of the historic sites:  the parliament buildings, of course, the Supreme Court of Canada, the National Art Gallery, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, 24 Sussex, and others.  She also gave us additional information that we would not have discovered on our own, such as that the Hotel Fairmont Chateau Laurier's grand opening  was delayed because its furniture had been shipped on the ill-fated Titanic.  Our cruise stopped for some time in front of Rideau Falls, and we were able to watch the sunset over the city.  The captain came by and caught Theo napping, and told our poor guide to step it up a bit, she was boring the customers!

                                                                 Supreme Court of Canada

                                                                          Harper's House

                                                                          Rideau Falls

                                                                       Chateau Laurier

We also cruised by Rockcliffe Park, an exclusive neighborhood with an average price tag of 2.5 million.  Many of the ambassadors from around the world have their Canadian residences here, including the ambassador from Indonesia and the Papal representative. Both Kim and I were struck by the opulence, considering the poverty of Indonesia.  Also,  Dieppe, NB and Antigonish, NS (and probably others ) had recently  been forced to sell properties in order to help pay for the settlements for the victims of residential schools.  Interesting that this posh Papal residence was left untouched.

We disembarked back at the locks and had supper at a brew house, enjoying a sampling of six of local beers.  The boys, as tired as they were, colored happily.  We were all beat, though.  The lights of Parliament Hill were added to the list of things to see next time.  Ottawa was another city that we did not do justice to.  There were many more sites and activities that would have been great to explore.

Although this was not the evening nor the day that we had expected, it turned out far better than we could have planned for.