SMALL BILINGUAL OTTOWA

We both liked Ottowa immediatly. It wasn't as charming as say Quebec City, but it was very compact and there was a lively atmosphere because of that street festival and on that old market disctrict.

The Parliament building is awesome. It reminded me a bit of the one in London because of the Big Ben like Freedom Tower, but it was different. It really stands out. It exists of three part of which only the back part (a round library) remains from the original site. The building is built on a hill overlooking the Ottawa river and the Quebec city of Hull/Gatineau. In the evening they have a light show talking a bit about the history and the famous people of Canada. It started out amazing. The light show that was. But bilingual presentations get really boring after a while and half an hour is way too long for the show.

Ottawa has an artifical feel though. Everything is bilingual and everywhere you go you read messsages about a united Canada. You can walk a trail with monuments that depict this unity and important people of the past. Get that brochure in the tourist office, it's really excellent. We did the walk and, compared to the one in Montreal, it really brought us to interesting side streets we would never have discovered on our own.

THe old market assembles ALL the nightlife. That means that it's quite lively there, but that the rest of the city is a bit dead. Especially the downtown area where our hotel was located. But we ate very well, twice, and the general feeling was positive.

We also visited the best museum of Canada as the books say: the museum of civilisation. it's excellent in deed. We spend three our in there. Especially the section of the First Peoples was interesting and on the second floor you really walk throught the historic stages of the nation of Canada. It felt a bit like walking in The Venetian in Las VEgas, with blue sky and recreated streets, but it worked. I was really impressed by that museum!

If you go to canada, plan at least one full day in Ottawa. I could have gone to the other museums too, so i would have stayed a day longer maybe. The museums in Ottawa looked really interesting, but we only did one.