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Happy Birthday Dad !

Well we both managed a little lay in this morning, nothing to late and we were still up and about by nine but still we were not in any rush.Until arriving in Ottawa we had been in the practice of buying breakfast and the supermarket and eating it back at the hotel but there was no fridge in the room here so that was not an option so after our one cup of coffee we headed out to the nearest Starbucks right behind the hotel for our usual Yogurt Parfait (yogurt with granola seeds and fresh fruit).

Now it was also Jonathans dads birthday today so we abused the free wifi available at Starbucks and gave him a call to send him our best wishes and apologies for not being there.

The phone then played a major part of the morning as we tried to contact Jonathans mum. It took us nearly two hours but in the end we got there and all for the cost of one long distance call on a mobile so can't complain.

Duties done we headed for an early lunch and then down to buy our tickets for the RIver Cruise. We would be travelling with Paul's Tours, a local company taking the boat out onto the Ottawa River and pretty much looking back at all the things we had seen on our mammouth walking day here on our first full day. What had changed though was the weather. Gone were the overcast white clouds that had plagued us since we arrived in Ottawa to be replaced by beautiful blue skies and a heat that later on in the day actually became a bit uncomfortable.

The boat left from a mooring right in front of the Rideau Canal locks and headed out toward Parliament Hill and then past Canadas Supreme Court before turning around and heading in the other direction.

We learnt from the boat guide that the Big Ben looking tower on top of the Parliament building is actually called the Peace Tower and that the building apart from the fantastically impressive Library wing was actually a rebuild as the original had been destroyed by fire.

The Fairmont Hotel here that is located right next door to the Rideau Canal also has a story. The general manager of the hotel travelled to the UK to source all the hotels furnishings prior to it opening to the public. Unfortunately those furnishings and the general manager never made it back to the hotel and it actually caused the hotel to open late. This was because the cargo of furniture and its manager had been booked on the RMS Titanic and we all know what happened to that.

We cruised under the National Art Gallery and its external Sculpture Park. we could see the installation piece called Iceberg In The City. This was actually quote clever as all it actually was was a shroud for the building works that were taking place on the gallery but in effect it looked like a glacier coming out of the ground. There was another of a wiggly stainless steel bolt that shot up into the air and a range of all the lamposts from all over the world welded together....eclectic to say the least.

As we sailed round the corner and under the bridge we arrived back at the Rideau Falls again where we had been the other day. This time we learnt that the falls had to be reinforced and now with all this concrete they hardly look natural which of course they are.

One of the good things about being on the boat was that we actually got to see the sprawling Prime Ministers Residence that had been shrouded by trees and security devices when we had tried to walk past it the other day. It was a four story monster house build in a mixture of the chateau style with a bit of scottish lodge thrown in for good measure.

The coastline along the way was littered with the homes of the French ambassador, English, Japanese and Saudi diplomats. It seemed that all the expensive homes in Ottawa had been bought out by countries rather than individuals with one exception.....the vatican owned one for its top catholic bishop in Canada....thats what you call helping out the poor and needy apparently!

All in all we were on the boat for the best part of an hour and a half and it was a great trip out in the sun as we got to learn a lot more about the occupants of Ottawa and its history. The boat also cruised along the Quebec side called Gatineau but to be honest apart from some residential houses, a marina and a museum there did not seem to be anything else in the immediate vicinity for at least as far as the eye can see.

We left the boat back by the eight locks of the Rideau Locks and watched a small speedboat slowly make its way up to river level. Apparently it takes on average an hour for one boat to reach the top of the canal from the rivers level.

The staging was still coming down in Parliament Hill so we had still not been able to get a great un-interrupted photo yet but we stopped by to take a look and grap a picture. In some ways the Government building is more impressive than the UK's in London as it sits with the river on one side (as Londons) but it was this massive lawned area to the front which the building wraps around. In the centre of this courtyard sits a flame that celebrates all the dates and the coming together of Canada's states such as Quebec, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Labrador and Newfoundland.

With the heat getting to us we needed to freshen up so we headed off back to the hotel and both went down to the swimming pool for a proper swim. Yes you got that right, even Jonathan joined Trevor in the pool for a swim and to be honest it was not that bad at all. (For those of you that know Jonathan well you will no that he is not a fan of swimming but especially swimming in cold pools. This one just about passed the test).

Refreshed we headed out for dinner and found ourselves back at the same place that we ate at last night (the buffet). As we have said before Canada is not the cheapest place to be when it comes to drinks and food but this place has a great selection and good prices so it made sense to return and good it was to.

There was no late night drinking or pub visits tonight, we headed straight back to the hotel via the supermarket for some cold drink and the sanctuary of our own room.

It's another travel day tomorrow but with our train not leaving to around four in the afternoon we still have the best part of all day here in Ottawa so I think it's going to be chore time again and we all know what that means..........washing!!!!

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