Ottawa

After Toronto, I made a brief one-night stop in Canada's federal capital Ottawa en route to Montreal. Ottawa, like Canberra, is a compromise capital - it was chosen by Queen Victoria largely because it's right on the border between English-speaking Ontario and French-speaking Quebec. However today it's a city of over 800,000 people - bigger than Washington DC and a lot more like a real city too.

It's a bilingual city, where shop staff will greet you "Hello, bonjour" or (slightly amusingly to my ears) "Bonjour, hi". However a French Canadian friend later told me that there is a strong element of keeping up appearances here - the Canadian government is very keen to make its capital look bilingual so this has filtered through into a requirement for tourist-facing jobs, but apparently a lot of the population that tourists won't see barely speak a word of French. There is a substantial French-speaking population, but they mostly don't technically live in Ottawa - if you cross one of the bridges over the river literally 10 or 15 minutes from Downtown, you are into Quebec and the town of Gatineau, which is effectively a suburb of Ottawa (which houses the Museum of Civilisation) but definitely French-speaking.

My accommodation here was unusual to say the least - the Hostelling International premises here are a converted, er, jail, known as the "Jail Hostel". It was a working jail until the early 1970s and reopened as a hostel within a couple of years of the last inmates moving out. My dorm was a cell now housing 6 beds. If that sounds like it might be cramped and uncomfortable, to be honest it is a little bit - lighting, air conditioning and availability of power points all leave a bit to be desired. But for my one-night stay it was a fairly memorable, and bearable, curiosity.

One of the more interesting places I stayed...

My day exploring the city had to start on Parliament Hill. Frankly, one look at the Canadian Parliament building and you're reminded that you're in a former British colony, because the architectural similarities to the Palace of Westminster are considerable - not least the clock tower and the clock face itself. As you might therefore expect it's a pleasant and impressive building, with a very nice large lawn to the front, and with very low-key security you can wander all around the outside of the building which is a nice touch. The contrast with Capitol Hill in the US is quite considerable in terms of architecture and atmosphere. The building is not quite on the overall scale of Westminster (presumably deliberately on the part of the colonial powers?) but it's well worth a lingering look and wander. To the front of the lawn is a fountain marking 100 years of Canada as an united entity, with, er, a flame burning literally in the middle of the water fountain (thanks to very high-powered shots of gas emitted from a pipeline at the surface of the water) - a clever and striking effect I don't think I've ever seen before. With a bit more time in the city I'd probably have taken up the opportunity to go inside the Parliament building for one of the frequent tours.

Parliament Hill

However I was there for the daily 10am changing of the guard, which mostly made me think "how very British"! An extraordinarily large number of soldiers, decked out in red tunics and furry black busbies, march around the (slightly muddy) front lawn to familiar military music from the brass band, and then a lot of them stand around for a long time, occasionally taking peculiar rapid little sidesteps. The whole process was a bit incomprehensible and delightfully absurd, and lasted nearly half an hour, in front of quite a large crowd of tourists.

Ottawa or London??

There are bits and pieces of pleasant enough architecture around the remainder of the city, but the most interesting other man-made structure I found was the Notre-Dame Cathedral, an 1841 structure which catches the eye mainly for its twin spires which are plated with tin and therefore gleam in an unusual and striking way.  

There are numerous national museums in Ottawa; you could spend several days just immersing yourself in them. The one I made time to visit with my single day was the Museum of Civilisation which is a very interesting showcase for the aboriginal population of Canada, complete with information and exhibits relating to the many different peoples that live in various parts of this huge country (including the story of at least one substantial civilisation that tragically died out due to an inability to coexist with European settlers plus vulnerability to deadly European illnesses), huge and rather beautiful wood carvings, and audio examples of the charming folk stories that have been passed down by oral tradition among peoples who've never used writing. Very educative and occasionally moving, and well worth a visit for sure.

At the Museum of Civilisation

In Ottawa I had my first encounter with poutine, which is a staple fast food in Quebec and further afield in Canada. It's simply chips (oh sorry, "French fries") topped with cheese curd and covered with gravy - but it's apparently something that many Canadians abroad get homesick for. Knowing I had to try it at some point, I found an outlet of a rapidly expanding fast-food chain which sells nothing but poutine, with a menu offering various different extra toppings. It's, er, different, a bit messy, and I'm not sure it's something I'd ever start craving however much time I might spend in Canada in future - but it was pretty good.

To be honest, I didn't really manage to take to Ottawa like I have done to Vancouver and Toronto - away from the Parliament Hill area it felt a tad provincial and often not especially attractive, and it was missing that 'je ne sais quoi' vibe for me. I wouldn't advise making this a core stop in a tour round Canada. But if you do have time, especially if you're hungry for some museum action, this might still be a decent place to spend a night or two. For me it was onwards to Montreal.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2393697&id=61207375&l=813df9d3ff