Ottawa

I arrived in Ottawa on Wed 26 April and spent 2 days there. A nice enough city, but I didn't find it amazingly spectacular or anything. A lot of pretty, old buildings and statues (but I spose you get that in the capital city). Something that was interesting was the amount of french that was spoken out and about. However, it's not altogether surprising - all Government workers have to be bilingual and as Ottawa has a lot of Government offices, being the capital city, there is a lot of French spoken in the streets (and cafes I discovered!). It wasn't too bad, it gave me a chance to try and practice some french before I got to Quebec.

One thing that was quite cool was the hostel I stayed in - it used to be the Jailhouse and the dorms were all old jail cells - even the doors were the old bars!

The hostel - view from outside

My room! - I can assure you it's a very strange feeling to wake up to with a brick wall to the side of you and jail bars in front of you!

A look-see inside the Supreme Court

This is the best photo I seem to have taken of parliament (did I mention there were LOADS of school kids out and about - must be the season for it!)

A view from the Peace tower (the tower in the middle of parliament). Looking east I think...

Another shot of parliament, this time from some room that had some book in lying in a glass case. I know it sounds vague but there was no info anywhere about what this room was about, promise!

One of the aforementioned statues...

I snapped this on the train as I was leaving Ottawa, headed for Quebec on Thurs 27 Apr.