Our home away from home

We love our location. We are a few blocks from the Byward Market in one direction and Parliament Hill in another. Turns out we have another perk we didn't plan for. The lot beside our hotel is a construction site: the location of a new multi-story Ottawa Art Gallery. Turns out it is interesting. We run to the window when we hear three whistles to watch the blasts lift the enormous tire mats off the ground. We have also learned more than we thought possible about the skills of being an excavator on a huge construction site. Btw. Bylaws insist that no noise can be made until after 7:00 am. Good thing, eh????

Probably 15 feet of bedrock has been carefully blasted and removed (about 1/3 of it while we stayed here!)

View off our patio - storm clouds gathering.

What do you do on a rainy afternoon?

The skies were threatening so we ducked into the recommended Zak's Diner for an old-fashioned milkshake!

A relaxing day in Ottawa

Our pace has slowed and we are enjoying this beautiful city and our convenient location. Our only specific goal for the day was to visit the Memorial for Commonwealth Airmen with no known graves. Dad's brother, William Hugh Molyneux, (Uncle Billy) is commemorated on the memorial.

The memorial is located on Sussex Drive across from the old city hall which is now the John D. Diefenbaker building - a controversial building redesigned by architect Moshe Safdie.

The rain stopped so we continued walking along the Ottawa River to take in the amazing views of the Parliament Buildings and the Museum of History in Gatineau. The trees are still colourful here - just beautiful. 

Oxtongue River and Whiskey Creek Rapids

Algonquin Park was clogged with traffic - the word had gone out that the leaves were at their peak and the people came in busloads. We passed a seven-kilometer lineup on our way through on Saturday but only had about a 20 minute wait today. Once we had our pass we made our way through the park looking for a hiking trail that wasn't overcrowded. We found two. One was a quiet hike along a river down to the rapids, the other a hike up to the lookout over Jack Lake. The leaves are falling, the smell of autumn was in the air and the colour and light was amazing. We've more than accomplished our goal of experiencing the colour of fall in Eastern Canada and hope we can recall some of what we saw once we are back home.
We are now back in the hotel in Ottawa. Two more days and we leave. Rain is predicted and much cooler weather in the next few days.

Thanks for the weekend!

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving weekend at Horseshoe Lake. It began with a five-hour drive from Ottawa which took us through Algonquin Park. We didn't stop but enjoyed the incredible colour and planned stops on our return trip.
We spent two days at Susan and Todd's and had so much fun with the family as well as being treated to a beautiful turkey dinner. The days included an afternoon boat ride on their pontoon boat, lots of chat, watching four cats (mis)behave as only cats can, carefully holding a harrumphing hedgehog, and cheering our way through a baseball game.
We timed our visit perfectly. The leaves were a brilliant colour coming in but were already falling as we left. Plans for putting all the outdoor toys to bed were underway when we left - boats in and tarped, trampoline down, rakes ready for the leaf-raking and snowmobiles tuned up. All must be ready for the massive drifts of snow sure to come before too long. It was a wonderful stay.

A few pictures from today.

From yesterday - Museum of Nature. I just love this ferocious feathered raptor. 

Construction everywhere in Ottawa. Looks like a new rapid transit station/line? is going in. The blocks around our hotel are crazy - detours everywhere. That along with a lot of one-ways makes for nerve-wracking drives. 

It's fall in Byward Market.

A huge hole is beside our hotel. We have spent a surprising amount of time looking out our kitchen window to watch master excavators dig out tons of soil. We both come running when the warning whistle blows. Then one sharp bang followed by a whump as the tire mats lift off the ground. First sound is at the allowed 7:00 am. First explosion at 8:00!

Governor General's. Turns out the tours are now only on weekends. We walked the beautiful grounds.

Hogs head locks on the Rideau Canal. Not sure this machinery is still used. Beautiful in its own way.

Hogs Head locks. It was raining today but that fact was lost in the mist of the falls. The Rideau canal is gorgeous right now. We'll walk it when the weather improves. 

Yesterday's Ottawa in pictures

Extra seating in foyer of Supreme Court

Dramatic entrance to Supreme Court

Renovation of the West Block continues - the replaced copper roof glows in the sun.

Museum of Nature with "Queen's Lantern" replacing unstable tower.