moi aussi: My somewhat dull description of my trip to Ottawa with my mom

My mom never knows what to get me for my birthday, and since she doesn’t actually shop, the choices are limited. This year, I knew just what I wanted. I wanted her to agree to come with me to Ottawa. Why Ottawa? Well, for one, it’s there and I haven’t seen it, and if that’s not enough reason, well then it’s also only 4 hours from her house, making it an easy car trip. But honestly, it’s Canada and I’ve had a love affair with that nation since around 1982 when I first read Anne of Green Gables.

Crossing the St. Lawrence

When we first arrived

The birthday present had numerous delays including waiting out Victoria Day (which some Canadians call “two-four” and is the summer season kick off) and the US Memorial Day. We finally left June 2 and headed north. We made great time and before we knew it we’re crossing the 1,000 Island Bridge. Customs was, well the typical, except, then it wasn’t. We’re going through, all normal and all and the agent hands me a little yellow paper and says something that I think was: “We’re conducting a blitz”. So we had to go to the building, and there’s a bunch of people milling about confused and unorganized. After briefly asking one guy if he was in line and hearing no, I got lucky and caught the eye of the agent. I think I may have gone to the head of the line, but hey! He who hesitates is lost.

Always Fresh!

Mom in front of the Post Office Building, Wellington St.

Don’t ask me? Was it a drill or a targeted sweep? Beats me. All I know if that the agent disappeared for like 5 minutes and returned and asked the same stupid questions they had asked at the booth. Then we were on our way.

About 30 minutes in and we decided to find an ATM. Of course, we also found our first Tim Horton’s. Ahhhh, real Tim Horton’s coffee. We were in Kemptville, just off Rt. 416. I really pictured the Canadian Highways south of Ottawa to be crowded expressways.

They were more like the Interstates you find in areas that are more geographically spread out, like western New York or maybe western Virginia. In fact, traffic was no issue at any point that weekend. Ottawa, itself was no more confusing than driving in Albany. In fact, all of it was pretty rural. The area between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa River is not all that developed and still contains a plethora of farmland. Yes, there were some created communities sprouting up, but not to the extent I would have guessed.

It seemed more populated east of Ottawa where we headed first. Yes, we had to stop at a Gas Up for gas in litres, lottery tickets, snacks, and general gawking at the bilingual packaging. But what caught our eyes was MILK IN A BAG! Seems in Ontario and Quebec, 4 litres of milk is sold in a bag. Within the bag are three smaller sacks that you place into a pitcher so you are able to pour it easily.

$5.72 for four litres~ WOW !

We drove around a lot, not really knowing exactly where we were going (east of Ottawa for the view). Finally, we got turned around, went to our hotel and then out site seeing on foot. The hotel we stayed at was Hotel Indigo on Metcalfe. Very clean, very modern, and the most perfect location for walking. It has underground parking. When we pulled up and the door opened, you could no longer see the driveway. It was like a leap of faith to drive the car down into this abyss, but once inside it was fantastically safe. In fact, the whole time we were in Ottawa we never heard sirens! Why, I do not know?

We went to the Parliament buildings first thing. They are impressively designed and built. The stone and iron work is detailed and my photos do it no justice. Here, there were crowds, but not any major amount of people. The view from Parliament Hill is enjoyable. We could see across the river to Quebec. From there we walked to the touristy Byward Market. Lots of little shops. We had dinner at a diner called Zaks. It had that 1950’s look. For desert we had the best piece of pie ever. Yes, it was apple, but it was all fruit and not sweet at all.

View of the Cathedral

Library of Parliament

Clock Tower with weird gargoyles

Had beautiful iron work

England

France

View of the River

Everything closed at 6PM so we were forced to meander back towards our hotel which was good because our feet were tired.

Sunday was all rainy, but it was the car day anyhow. We checked out the Cathedral de Nortre Dame, but they were having Mass so we didn’t enter. Then we drove into Quebec where all the signs are in French. I was in my glory being able to read them. My favorite was at the roundabout. “Vous n’avez pas le droit de passage”. At the Loblaws I missed my great chance to speak French, because frankly there are two things that scare me to death: customs agents and speaking French to a native speaker. So when the cashier asked: “Vous voulez un sac?” I spoke in English! I’m such a chicken!!!!

Gas was $1.22 a litre, in translation that’s about 80 cents more than in NY.

Finally we headed to the border, but we had fruit from the Loblaws. Could we cross with fruit? We did not know. So we decide to eat it. Then there is just a little left in the container and the container is on the backseat floor when I pound on the brakes and it slides under the seat. We stop to retrieve it and have a total Lucille Ball moment when my mom is sticking her butt up trying to reach this forbidden fruit under the seat while we are parked in someone’s driveway (well it was a large driveway, like at a business).

We crossed at Ogdensburg. There was no line. Goodbye to Ontario! Hope to see you soon. I was so happy to have made those memoires with my mom and she had a wonderful time too.