Ottawa

The CAPITAL!

I absolutely loved Ottawa, it isn't such a big city thus I was only there for two days/one night. There may not have been too much to do there, but it is beautiful. Also, we were in a group of around 20 people so of course the company made the experience much better! 

We rented 4 cars and were off to Ottawa early Friday morning. It was only a four hour drive so it wasn't that bad - considering how big Canada is, this wasn't much; even though you could probably get from one end to another in England.

The hostel we booked use to be a prison and the rooms in the hostel were actually prison cells with the black bars and everything. It may sound a bit creepy (and I admit it was) but it was still pretty cool!

So we checked in to the hostel and then went out to explore the city. One of the girls had previously lived in Ottawa for her first semester abroad so she knew the city pretty well - she lead us to the city centre where we found the market. We also found beaver tails - they were yum! Don't worry, that's just the name, of course I didn't eat actual beaver tails; it was just a pastry which looked like a beaver's tail!

We then walked over to the Canal from where we could see the Houses of Parliament across on the hill top. The Canal was really something, it was very pretty; especially at sunset. We carried on walking around the city just to look around and get the feel of the city. As I said, Ottawa isn't that big so we could pretty much walk everywhere.

We then went back to the hostel and of course, we were all tired from the travelling and sightseeing so after a few hours of rest it was dinner time! We all had a very pleasant sit-down meal at a restaurant - it was nice to get to know everyone better.

The next day we had breakfast at the hostel and then went to see the Parliament - this may sound boring but I promise from the inside they were awesome! We had a full guided tour (including the history of Canada). We went up to the bell tower and we were able to see the whole of Ottawa from there - amazing!

That pretty much took up the whole morning so we thought we would have a relaxed lunch and a heavier dinner. So, as the weather was also on our side, we all bought sandwiches etc. and had lunch at the park by the Canal. Speaking of, someone told me that in winter when the Canal freezes up (because it's THAT cold here in Canada -_-) people use it to ice-skate across town .. which I thought was a bit bizarre at first but love the idea of making the most use out of everything!

Anyway, I went to the art gallery with some others - I am not much into museums so I didn't go to any other museums. A few hours in the art gallery and it was dinner time! We had all previously decided that we would have sushi for dinner so we all met back at the hostel (as we had all split up) and then made our way to the restaurant. The sushi was really good - even though, honestly, I wasn't expecting it!

After that we, sadly, had to say goodbye to Ottawa. Until next time.. But the adventures don't end here. Next stop, Quebec City!

15/11/13 - 16/11/13