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Friday, March 23, 2007

Cruise Port Day 8 ~ Cyber Cruise

OTTAWA, CANADA

Ottawa


Well since my last attempt at a visit we were taken over by pirates on the booze crooze Cyber Cruise, I now am finally glad to be able to show you my home town, Ottawa, Canada.

Where the heck is Ottawa you ask? Well to get your bearings, click here. Can you see Ottawa? hint, it's in what is known as central Canada. North of New York between Toronto and Montreal. You found it! Good for you! Now I'm going to tell you all that's good about Ottawa, with a little dirt thrown in for good measure, or I'm not Irish Church Lady!

Ottawa Queen - Rideau Canal - Ottawa - May 2005Sunset on Ottawa River Parkway - Ottawa - Jun 2005Ottawa is the Capital City of Canada and used to be called Bytown, because it was significantly influenced by Colonel John By when he built the Rideau Canal in 1832. Originally it was home to the Algonquin First Nations Peoples (pssst, we don't say Indian anymore, as a sign of respect, it is not politically correct) and was known as Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi, meaning "Great River". It soon became a booming log town due to the rivers accessibility, now known as the Ottawa River.


Ottawa - Canada's Capital City
Prime Minister's Residence at the far left - Ottawa River - Ottawa - May 2005Please click here to see a live webcam of our Houses of Parliament (government) and you will know what kind of weather I am having here today! At the right is a picture of the Prime Minister's residence which is currently occupied by Stephen Harper, whom I think, I might add, is doing a marvelous job! (You didn't expect NOT to get editorial comments from the Church Lady did ya? I might get some flack for that one. Bite me!)

Ottawa is not as big a city as Toronto, or Montreal of Vancouver so it often gets forgotten that it is the Capital of Canada. Although at 1.2 million population, we are the fourth largest city in Canada. It is said that "with the highest-educated workforce in Canada, Ottawa has more engineers, scientists and PhDs per capita than any other city in the country." Woot!
The Rideau Canal...
Skating on the Rideau Canal, Ottawa




It is a beautiful city, full of lots of protected parkland space and lots of activities to do. I would rather not live in any other city in Canada.

Winterlude Festival in Ottawa, CanadaBeavertails ~ YUM!In the winter the Rideau Canal is frozen (almost!) solid and becomes the world's longest skating rink and is a popular tourist destination for our winter carnival known as Winterlude. (This is one way we try to make our winter here more bearable!) Have you ever heard of eating beaver tails? Well we do that here, except they are the cinnamon-sugar kind!!

Ottawa war memorial in FebThe National War Memorial became a bit of a controversy last summer when on CANADA DAY, a drunken youth peed (is that how you spell that? maybe I should say pissed?) on the memorial which contains the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (shown right at the base of the war memorial).
Ottawa - War MemorialBuried in here are the actual remains of a soldier, unknown in name or rank or face, who died in WWI in France. The repatriation of his remains only happened this century, in May 2000. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was created to honour the more than 116,000 Canadians who sacrificed their lives in the cause of peace and freedom.

Notice how the inscription on the tomb is in English and French? We are a bilingual country. The Official Languages Act was implemented in 1988. All federal institutions are obligated to operate in both languages and as a result, Ottawa is a fairly bilingual city. Mais pas moi, je parle seulement un peu du Français, mais j'essaye ! Mon epouse est francophone et mes enfants parlent français aux niveaux variables. (Not me though. I speak only a little bit of French, but I do try! My spouse is Francophone and my children speak French at varying levels.) [Hey, I actually wrote that first and then did a google translate and I did not too bad! I think I am better at writing French than speaking it. My kids couldn't understand when they were young and I used to review their homework and notice spelling mistakes. They'd say to me "Hey, how come you can't speak French but you can spell in French?!! LOL] I digress. :)


Canadian Tulip Festival, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaOttawa is known for it's Canadian Tulip Festival held every spring as well. The tulip bulbs planted originate from a gift from Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. During WWII, Queen Juliana took refuge here with her two girls. (Actually Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa) To thank Canada for their hospitality and for their role in liberating Holland, she gave the City a gift of 100,0o0 tulip bulbs.


Canada Flag Escort


CanadaDay2006 009Canada Day 2004  - Parliament Hill

In Ottawa, on Canada Day (what we call Canada's birthday - July 1), there is a big party downtown at Parliament Hill with fireworks and lots of flags! You see we Canadians are very proud of our flag not only because it is so unique and pretty, but it only became our flag in 1965 when Canada was only 98 years old. Before that we flew a flag containing the British Flag, the Union Jack ~ see all of Canada's past flags here, even before we were an independent country, including one containing the Fleur de Lis.

Well I'd like to thank you all for visiting my humble city at this port on the Cyber Cruise. To find out more about what it is and where it started and where it's going, please read the Cruise Nuise below.


http://www.trippytext.com/ - Trippy Text All about the Cyber Cruise

Do you want to hop aboard at next port? Read about Cruiser Grades.
Read more about Lifecruiser cyber cruise.
The Cyber Cruise Scheduled ports

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

ACtually I think that you already know what i'm gonna say... My favorite is the men in skirts!!!!

*giggles*

It's the same with when we go to Scotland. I love it :-P

The national war memorial is great!

I've heard about the friendship with NL before, but still think it's very niiiice and with all that bulbs. I bet the festival is wonderful.

Ah, lovely, lovely sight of Ottawa - though I don't see any hills....?

*getting worried*

Gattina said...

A wonderful post and sooooo interesting ! Congratulations ICL !! Belgians and Frenchs feel very close to the french speaking Canadians of course. We have canadian movies shown very often on TV and have always to laugh (I mean in a friendly way) about the accent ! It sounds very much like the accent they have in Normandy. A lot of Belgians also live in Canada, but of course in or around Montreal in the french speaking part, french speaking people are usually very, very lazy to learn another language especially when it comes to a germanic one like English ! Your french was good except that you have a husband and not a wife, lol ! husband = mari and wife = épouse.
Thanks very much for this nice tour ! I really appreciated !
This cruise idea is great and so interesting I very much liked Sanni's Berlin and Tor and Renny's Oslo. If you do it correctly it takes quite some time doesn't it ?

Tug said...

This was cool - I have cousins in Canada, & love the country - thanks for the lesson!!

Hootin Anni said...

Actually? I didn't know Ottawa was that big!! Like you said, you never hear much about it. And I think that's odd, being that it's Canada's capital and all.

Wonderful side trip for us at the cruise.

I've made the ship's bartender set up drinks especially for us today....I'm buying.

ALL made with Canadian Whisky, of course!!!

Anonymous said...

Hubby is a first generation American. All of his relatives are Canadian, centered in the Maritimes, but so many are now spread across Canada.
I am so pleased we are stopping in Ottawa, as I think this is one of the prettiest cities in all of Canada. The gardens are so beautiful int he summer.
Skating in the winter? Well of course! Think of all the hockey greats that have come from Canada!!!
Thanks for this wonderful tour of one of my favorite cities ICL!!!

Melli said...

Okay... now I'm REALLY wondering! With the river frozen over (in MARCH) how the heck did LC get that big butt boat up in here? Dang if I didn't sleep through it!

Ottowa is GORGEOUS! Oh I can't wait to try a Beaver Tail -- they are low calorie and fat free, right? It's probably best that the tulips are not in bloom while I'm here... I have a reputation for plucking the heads off of them! Alllllllllll of them.... that's probably another blog post! LOL! But I could easily see that behavior getting me tossed out of Canada permanently! Well... I'm behaving now -- but Anni's hounding me to get back over to the bar!

Heather said...

I had no idea really anything about Ottawa and I enjoyed learning more and seeing some pictures :)

Hootin Anni said...

I'm Here!!! *hiccup*

Drinking my electrifying Canadian Whiskey.

Irish Church Lady :) said...

Aye Aye Cap'n Lifecruiser ~ we have the Gatineau Hills on the North side of Ottawa in the province of Quebec, you can see them from Ottawa, but they are not mountains of any sort. You have to go elsewhere in Canada for that.

Gattina ~ I'm on the lookout for Belgians! I haven't met any yet so I can honestly say "I haven't met a Belgian I didn't like!" lol I agree, it takes time, but it's also lots of fun to meet like minded bloggers and see all kinds of different spots and the thrill of being able to brag a bit about your own area is fun. It's like being a tourist in your own city!

Tug ~ ya I know your cousins. Nice people.

Hootin' Anni ~ I'm glad that I was able to enlighten you about Ottawa. BTW, yer tarbender is wonderful and so are you to fix me all dese drinks and satisfy all my thirsty visitors to Otwwaaawwawaa. We are a dry city ya know (NOT!!)

Maribeth ~ hubby's relatives are Canadian, you don't say? Glad you mentioned hockey! We love it but our national sport in Canada is actually Lacrosse. Ottawa is a great city and we get the full benefit of the four seasons! Do you believe it, our snow is mostly all melted as of yesterday. Rains and a mild day really took it away. It doesnt' usually go that fast.

Melli ~ Oh Mels, here's a little bit of geography for ya ... the Ottawa River is a natural free flowing river that we traveled in on from the St. Lawrence River that goes out to the Atlantic Ocean. The Rideau Canal, the one we skate on, is a man made canal connecting the Ottawa river to Kingston and Lake Ontario. It is 202 kms (126 miles)long with 22 locks. We also have a lot of lakes in the region, so we are surrounded by water, even though we are no where near the ocean!

GG ~ did you click on the live webcam of our Parliament Buildings? See the weather we're having. It's beautiful at night too!

Gattina said...

Thanks for telling me, I have no excuse, I didn't even realize that I missed to mention you ! I have the very first schedule which I saved on my PC and wondered that nobody was booked for today and you I had for the 20th ! Sorry about that, I will correct it immediately, your post is so nice ! (How is your wife ?? *grin*)

Unknown said...

An amazing adventure, ICL! Wow - your commentary and photos compliment each other so well. Excellent stuff. Sorry I'm not participating in the Cyber Cruise, but us landlubbers just have too much going on at the home port. LOL.

Thanks as always for stopping by. Your visits always make me smile!

:>))

Cheers, Internets!!

ALRO said...

Yip.. I was born and raise here in Ottawa ... Pretty much know it like the back of my hand... (hey what's the freckle doing there?!)

love the city.. it's just getting bigger now. We're also known as Silicon Valley North -- lots of high-tech here (including yours truely here)..

Good post ICL.

Anonymous said...

You’ll have to wait for a while, well five seconds or so, until I’ve swallowed my drinks to caught up with you and get rid of my headache, eh? ;-)

I've ordered something from the tarbender that's strong enough to kill a bear, to take away my head, eh?

*giggles*

Cheers for Friday's dear cruise mates!

TorAa said...

Let me start what I learned at School, in the 50'ies.
Ottawa was choosen as Capital of Canada, as a compromize between the English an French population. It's a small town; only for Canadian Government epmployees. Like Canberra in Australia.

I've never been there. You tell me otherwise. I'm coming. Next time I will visit my son in Michigan.

Coming back after this Fridays Cruise Dinner: Cod Tongues with fennel and cream souce. And White Wine.

PS. The Great Lakes and working there as young boys, that was a dream for all my fellow primary school pals in the 1950'ies. (Oslo as a main merchandise "capital" of the world).

Join you later;))

hugs from Anna and Tor

Anonymous said...

WOO HOO! Men in kilts! Home from home for me! I love, love Canada!

Anonymous said...

Now, filled up with dinner, I want some more chatting with my cruisers. I love ya'll when you're starting to talk silly - as usually :-)

Hey where are the stripping mounties...??? *giggles*

Unknown said...

Sorry for joining the party so late to day. I´ve been arrested at the lovely parade... because I tried to check the first guy´s beaver tail underneath his kilt. I couldn´t resist *LOL*

Ottawa is simply gorgeous - Thanks so much for inviting us, ICL. =)

Anonymous said...

WTG Sanni, that sounds like a real A-Team Cruiser! As I could have done it myself! To take things in your own hands ;-) *LMAO*

Anonymous said...

Here I am! I was waiting all the day this moment! Ottawa seems to be a very nice place! You can see I don't speek english very well! And if you could ear me speaking in english with my french accent...As Gattina said french people like canada and particulary many singers as Charlebois and Garou! We adore their accent! I will come back later! Now I have to go on the beach where my daughters are with friends .I have to drive them back home!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Claudie! *smooch on both cheeks*

Oh, how nice it its with all those cruisers, sooo cheerful and positive about everything. I love being with all of you!

Cheers for our most charming day hostess: ICL and thank you for taking us in like this :-)

Irish Church Lady :) said...

Hey Internets!

I'm back from working in the High Tech sector of Ottawa, as Alro correctly pointed out, we have a pretty large commercial sector here. It's not all government!

Gattina ~ I joined the Cyber Cruise late so my post for today was a later addition, which is probably why you missed it on the schedule. Thanks for updating your blog! You're a real sweetheart!!

Carol ~ lovely to see you stop by with all your busy moving and packing going on! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Alro ~ ha ha ha ~ Internets, Alro is one of my first blogger buddies and when I met him and found out he was from the same city I told him that if we met in real life I might have to kill him. LOL I've grown, bloggically speaking, since then!

Cap'n ~ hope your head is better. You are our fearless leader but if you need a first mate to jump in just say the word. I'm off now for the weekend! hehe And the stripping mounties ... I'm sure they can be arranged!

Tor (and Anna) ~ Wow! You even taught me something I didn't know about my city. I did know that Kingston on the St. Lawrence River was also up for the designation of the Capital City of Canada at one point. I hope that you do come to Ottawa some time and if you do you'd better be giving the church lady a call!

Caledonia ~ Woo Hoo to You! Thanks for visiting. I'm glad you love Men in kilts and Canada too!

Sanni ~ that tail was no beaver!! LOL Capn LC already made sure of that!! Glad you could come by.

Oh oh ... go and check out the live webcam to the Parliament buildings now. It's just getting dark and it is very pretty. Link is above and on the post!

Cheers all!

RennyBA said...

To my surprice I can tell my comment haven't come through on this wonderful post - Sorry!
I so much enjoy the stay in Ottawa - your such a wonderful guide!
I've so much wanted to go to Canada and have good old friends in Vancouver. Canada and Norway has a lot in common, including the climate I think.
I would love to skate on the canal with you! and of course watch the tulip festival!