Morning faithful followers, once again I am blogging from the prison canteen, but I am pleased to say that I have been given a pardon for good behaviour and I am being released today!! I will be sad to go, but not as sad as Bea Smith, we had a good contraband racket going on here....
Anyhoo, I digress. Where was I yesterday when I began, oh yes right where I am now and marvelling at the massive yellow ball of fire in the sky. Yes folks, the sun had well and truly got her hat on!!!!
So, I headed out ready to marvel in the sights of Ottawa. I had my route all planned, the perfect loop of all that is important to see. It included 2 bridges, a church, lots of museums, Canada's parliament, a lock, a river, stepping back into Quebec province (and France) all be it briefly, some statues, lots of natural beauty, a bear, a bus that's also a boat, a happy smile and another sunset, not necessarily in that order. With a kebab and some poutine thrown in for good measure!
I started past the art museum and it's amazing spider, the Peace memorial, another spectacular basilica de Notre Dame, over the Alexandra bridge into Gatneau, the step back into Quebec. The main building over here was the Canadian History museum and it's curved shaped blended beautifully with the landscape and all the sculpture in the grounds added to it's appeal. The pictures will show you what it looked like but what it can't do is let you hear the sounds of the river and the birds and the smell of the beautiful flowers. I meandered on the riverbank following the Canadian discovery pathway and drank in the view of the opposite bank. That was to come.
I took the Port du Portage bridge back to the other side, and I carried on walking in the glorious sunshine past the impressive courts of justice, and the stunning parliament buildings which I was going to come back to have a better look at later. It was almost 12 so I stopped at the War Memorial again as they were just about to the hourly guard change, and as the new guard was piped in, orders given by the Corporal and the soldiers duly relieved, another tear appeared in my eye. I truly hope that all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us are always remembered in the way they are now. Lest we forget.
By now I was a tad peckish so I headed for the Byward market, full of food stalls and crafts, fruits and flowers and with a buzzing atmosphere on a gorgeous Saturday in June. I plumped for a chicken kebab (you can take the girl out of England.....) and ate it in the sunshine, people watching all the while. Now I had forgone the obligatory bus trip here, it was easy to see on foot, but I stumbled across something that I'd always wanted to do, but never got round to it. So I booked it. At 3pm I was going to board Lady Dive and take to the streets and the waterways! Otherwise known as an aqua bus! With a couple of hours to kill, I mooched some more, headed back to the beautiful basilica that was smaller but no less impressive as the last, lit candles as always, and then just sat in the sunshine and the breeze waiting for 3pm.
With the best seat on the bus bagged (we English know how to do it) we headed through the streets, some familiar some not, and the happy cheery guide did an amazing job telling us all about it not only in English, but French too. Then it was time to morph into a boat (not like Transformers I have to add) and we slipped effortlessly into the water. I was like a big kid! It really was fun, even if the bird next to me fell asleep and kept nodding her head onto my shoulder. One swift nudge sorted that out....
After a quick turn around the river taking in the sights from yet another perspective, it was back on dry land to finish the tour. Well worth it. Next on my agenda was the Parliament. I didn't go inside, the outside was impressive enough for me. But, like to many other beautiful monuments I have wanted to see (namely the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps in Rome) a lot of it was being renovated, meaning plenty of scaffolding, but it was still magnificent. A quick stop at the statue of Her Majesty to wish her Happy Official Birthday and it was time to chill. I bought a book from the what appears to be 24 hour bookshop (which the homeless take full advantage of and the staff are very kind to) and headed down to the canal to sit and wait for sunset. Now, in winter this canal becomes the largest ice rink in the world - 8km to be precise!! I'd like to see that!!
So I sat reading, taking in the evening sunshine, and just chilling, watching students from the nearby University who had obviously had their graduation today, come down in their gowns having their pictures taken by their proud families, listening to classical music flowing downstream from another festival that appeared to be happening nearby. Perfect.
Sun set, happy and tired, I took one last wander in this lovely city and headed back to jail, well before curfew and settled into my bunk in relative silence. Until the band downstairs started up again. This time is was jazz funk type scoop diddly dooop skat dat de dat kinda thing. So earplugs firmly wedged I was locked up and of to the land of nod.
And then it was today!! I woke early and headed out to shower, all was quiet. All was still. Until I wandered up the corridor and I could hear the faint sounds of music, and as I got nearer to my cell and it got louder, I recognised it as my alarm. Club Tropicana by Wham was filling the corridor. Happy days!! The mad fella in the cell next to me did his 30 mins of exercise (I found this out yesterday as I heard odd grunts and noises from outside my cell and opened the door to investigate, not a pretty sight), I packed, people began stirring and making all sorts of weird and quite frankly disgusting noises so I headed down for breakfast.
So now I'm packed, breakfast eaten, blog done and ready to leave jail and head for my next stop for a rest!!! 3 nights in the Algonquin National Park. Heaven. Time to saddle up Vera and hit the road!
So until I blog on from the lake (hopefully) it is, as ever, TTFN........xxx
Mmmmmwaaaaahhh xxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment