Day 258 - July 10, 2013: Visiting the city of Ottawa, ON

I grew up in Michigan near Canada and do not remember my family ever visiting there. I perceived Canada as thinly populated, cold in climate, a mix of English and French, and a country not wanting to get involved in world affairs, especially a war. Today was a great chance to update that perspective.

Despite cloudiness and a forecast of rain, we started out the day walking up to Parliament Hill, the home of Canada's democracy and a proud national symbol. The Center Block of buildings is home to the Senate, the House of Commons, the Library of Parliament (round structure), and the Peace Tower. They are all visible on top of the hill in the picture I took from across the river later in the day.

The Center Block on Parliament Hill

Our first stop was to witness the Changing of the Guard, performed on the parade ground every day at 10:00 a.m. There were bagpipes, a full marching band, several units of soldiers, security details, and special seating for dignitaries. The ceremony was elaborately played out in high precision in front of hundreds of onlookers. The troops sported high hats, that hung down over their eyes, and Anne was convinced they could not see directly ahead of them. I was amused that the number of participants and cost of this daily event must be why Canada typically does not send troops on overseas missions... (:-).

The Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill

Honor Guard with eye-covering hats

We followed this pageantry with a guided tour of the Center Block, and the timing was good as it was raining. Built in the Gothic Revival style in the 1860s, all but the Library burned down in 1916 and was subsequently rebuilt to the original design and materials. It is a massive stone structure, with elaborately carved interior stone walls, arches, and marble floors. The guide was excellent, very informed and excited to tell us all about the history and people involved.

House of Commons

Senate Chambers

Library of Parliament

Typical hallway ceilings

In the afternoon, we rode the bikes across the river into Quebec to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which is Canada's national museum of social and human history. This very large and very modern building of four floors has a broad range of detailed exhibitions, exploring the culture and peoples of this region from the earliest inhabitants to the present. This could easily take a couple of days to fully appreciate, and we had to be disciplined to appreciate it all.

Canadian Museum of Civilization

Our final stop on this busy day was to go back to Parliament Hill and see the first summer showing of the Mosaika, a light show which tells Canada's history by turning the Centre Block into a giant screen, using vivid images and colors that interact with the building and bring it to life. There were several thousand people gathered for what turned out to be a beautiful and artistic chronology of Canada done in full motion video and hifi sound.

Sailing ship on the ocean with sea life

The provinces in Canada by 1867