Claire and Ryan and Ottawa Wed/Thur 20/21 July 2016

 20th July 2016

We finally arrived in Ottawa, Canada's capital city, to be met at the station by our dear friends Claire and Ryan. We were so happy to see them.

I first met Claire and Ryan when we were teaching together in Santiago. We especially liked Friday afternoons, when we had a gap between 2pm and 5pm, before the last class of the day began. We used to have lunch together and in summer a few beers or hit a few golf balls at the driving range before class. Of course, we'd 'never' go to class inebriated but sometimes it helped.


 
Our great friends Claire and Ryan.
We were exhausted but a few beers and a bite to eat with old friends was the best part of our long exhausting day. An hour or so later we were ready for bed.

 21st July 2017

After a good sleep we woke up and C and R had already gone off to work. We really needed the sleep. After a light breakfast, we decided to explore. We walked down Bank Street, starting near Landsdowne Park heading north along a typical main street. It was a hot day which was nice.

 I noticed that virtually every block we walked down had at least two coffee shops. Just a few yards into our walk there was a bagel shop, the best in the world apparently called Kattlemen's Bagel Shop http://www.kettlemansbagels.ca/, selling some amazing bagels and open 24 hours a day. Yes, we did had some and they were mighty fine.


The two mile walk finally brought us to Bank Street with Wellington Street, and just off to the right was Parliament Hill , where the impressive Parliament House and other government buildings are based. It sits on the bank of the Ottawa River, and on the bank we found the Trans Canada trail and the Ottawa River Pathway.






We walked all the way around the Parliament building to find the mighty Ottawa River, where there is an incredible series of locks that carry quite large yachts along the Rideau Canal. The peoples of the First Nation had been living along this river for over 6000 years when the first Europeans arrived. The Rideau Canal, seen in the photo above connects Ottawa to Kingston and in winter the canal freezes over and locals often skate on it .

Image result for rideau canal mapCourtesy of http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/index.html

After a few hours of walking we were getting very hungry and thirsty and with Ely getting ever more cranky we found a traditional Canadian restaurant - the Afghani Kebab Express - serving giant sharwarma, spinach pies, and real juices. The food was actually very good and the service amazing. The owner a refugee and his wife ( contributing positively to Canada) were a really nice to us. 

\l....,p-[In the afternoon we were invited to a picnic on the beach (Westboro Beach - if I remember rightly) with friends of Ryan and Claire. Whilst we enjoyed some lovely food, wine and beer, the local bar was playing some good live Latin music. The pleasant temperature and a fabulous sunset made it a lovely end to our first full day in Canada. 


Memorable food and drink 
Lots -sharwarma, spinach pies and all the food at the picnic. 

Thought of the day  
I've had too much to eat and drink. Good friends and new ones are to be valued always. 




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