Ottawa Aug. 4/12

This weekend is not only busker fest, but also Riedeau fest.  Lots of stuff is going on at the 8 locks and at Dows Lake.

A fellow was building this clay oven, drying it out.  On Monday he plans to bake bread and hand out samples.

This wedding party even came for photos.

We took a double decker bus tour, where you could hop off and on.  One of the stops was by this statue of Maurice "Rocket" Richard.

My favorite place to stop was at the Stables where the horses of the RCMP Musical Ride are kept.  Of course they are touring Canada right now, but there are lots of "trainees" in the barns.  All of the horses must be black - they can have a LITTLE bit of white on their faces or feet.  They must be within a few inches of the same height, and a few hundred pounds of the same weight.  They must also be quiet, etc.  The riders can volunteer after 2 years of regular work - most of them have never been on a horse.  It was facinating to hear all of this stuff!  And I loved seeing the horses!

This is the indoor arena where they train.  There are mirrors all around, to get the horses used to movement, and for the riders to check their own and the horse's posture.

An outdoor arena.

As we waited for the bus, this squirrel entertained us.  He had the most beautiful tail, and I swear he knew it!  He kept posing and flicking his tail all around.

24 Sussex Dr., home of the Right Honorable Stephen Harper.  You couldn't really see the house for all the trees etc around it.

This, on the other hand, was right there for all to see - the home of his personal body guard.

This is a floating marina on the Ottawa River that we stayed at several years ago.

And THIS, my friends is an example of where your tax dollars go.  3 1/2 million dollars for this beautiful creature!

And speaking of your tax dollars, this is the building where they go to be dispersed.  I forget what it is called.

We visited the Ornamental Gardens by the Experimental Farm - didn't have time to visit that.

It was SUCH a hot day - Paul cooled his feet in the pond.

I'm always chasing bees, beetles, or whatever.

Back at Sparks St Mall, where the buskers were at work, and where we caught the bus.

The tomb of "The Unknown Soldier" beside the War Memorial.

We love this wolf painting on the stairs........

.....and another one as well.

"The girls" having tea.

.....and yet some more entertainment.

Ottawa Aug. 3/12

Left Burritts Rapids this morning at 7:30, travelled a lot of miles on the Rideau River, through 8 locks, arrived downtown Ottawa about 1:15.  Found, to our great surprise and delight that since the last time we were here, they have installed power outlets on the canal wall above the 8 locks going down to the Ottawa River.  There are several changes, including wooden docks, a walkway with no benches for loiterering teens and the homeless.  Now, if they would just add water outlets as well.....      Saw this "pirate ship" in the small lake in Ottawa.

Our view coming down the canal, with the Chateau Laurier in the background.

I love how this reflection shows the old and the new in this amazing city!

There were several buskers on Sparks St. today, but this guy was the best!  He made amazing sounds come from these plastic buckets!  And he was very entertaining as well.

The post office building at the end of Sparks St. is more than 100 years old.

Thw War Memorial, with the Chateau Laurier in the background.

Our boat is about the 3rd one after the tour boats.  We thought it would be so busy here this long weekend that we would never get a spot.  We were pleasantly surprised!

Believe it or not, these are some stairs leading down to the canal - amazing, isn't it?

There is an underpass which used to be a real problem with kids hanging out, drinking, doing drugs, sleeping, begging, etc., and now it is quite nice, with people selling art etc, performers, and even these 3 statues entitled "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity".

This was kind of cool - a bridal party all riding in these rickshaws, some of which said Alberta Travel on them.

Sunset over the Gatineau Hills.

There is an area on the hill where someone feeds and cares for feral cats.  There used to be a lot of them, but tonight we only saw 2.

Every night there is a sound/light show in front of the parliament buildings, and this year it is called MosAika.  We always go to see it when we are here, but this year's show is amazing!  It shows all aspects and provinces/territories of Canada from historic til now, in French and English, in 30 minutes!  It was awesome!  30 minutes never went so fast.  But it was really hard to get decent pictures.

Tomorrow we are going to ride a hop on/hop off bus and see as much as we can, since I can't bike this year.  Should be good.

Burritts Rapids Aug 2/12

When we got up today, it was very foggy, and the spiders had been at work in the night - they really are amazing creatures, aren't they?  As the sun got hotter, the fog burned away and it was a very hot day.

When we just got through the last locks in Smiths Falls, we came upon a 36 foot trawler from Topeko, Kansas, which had run aground.  The captain waved us down to ask for help - pretty funny when you think about it.  They had been there since yesterday sometime, and had no doubt asked a lot of people for help.  We tried, but of course, we couldn't budge him.  Later today, when we were stopped for the night, the boat came through the lock.  They found someone who helped - put ropes over the top, pulled it over on its side, and floated it off!

There are several old wooden bridges on the Rideau that cross right at the locks.  The lock workers swing them manually.  These are all back roads with little traffic.  Most of the locks on this system are in the middle of nowhere, so you have to be careful about fuel.

One of the beautiful scenes we passed today - oh, the lovely smell of horses!

Holleyhocks blooming at one of the lock stations.  Now THERE'S an old flower you don't see much anymore!

After going through 13 locks today, we stopped at the bottom of Burritts Rapids (one of the locks that has power!), and right across the river from us there is a polo field.  Apparently they only play on Sundays, but they were training some horses there tonight.

Smiths Falls

We had a pretty easy day today - only 2 locks and a few miles of some lovely countryside.

We saw this fellow along the way and at first thought he was a vulture because of the way he was sitting, but I've never seen a vulture with these colourings.  I think it is an osprey, but I've never seen one sit like this!

We wanted to stay in the basin - between the locks - in Smiths Falls, but discovered that 2 of the docks had been damaged in a big wind storm, so we managed to find space on the wall.  We were ON one of these docks last year when if came apart in another big storm, and I think it was just a Mickey Mouse kind of fix, so had come apart again.  We enjoy power, water, showers, wifi, good swimming, picnic tables, etc. here, so like to be here.  We also needed to stock up on groceries - which Paul went on the bike to get!

There used to be 3 consecutive locks at this location, but has now been changed to one big one.  I love what they do in the 3 old locks.  You sure wouldn't have to water the plants!

This is the new one - very deep!

The water tower USED to say Hershey on it when they had the Hershey Factory - which we LOVED to visit every time we passed through town!  Then they sent the factory to Mexico, and we understand they use powdered milk, and you know what Mexico's water is like.  Are you ready to give up on Hershey yet?

The old mill at this location (you can see the raceway in the foreground) - a gorgeous stone building - now houses the offices for Parks Canada and a museum of the Rideau Canal.

Well tomorrow, it's on our way toward Ottawa.  It's supposed to be very hot in Ottawa this weekend, so I don't know how that will go.....