June 30 - Ottawa

June 30, 2019  - Poplar Grove – Ottawa

I’m up early, the sun is shining this morning, dew is coating the outside world, the fireflies have retired to their burrows or nests or queen-sized beds. It’s quiet except for the overhead jets. We’re between the city and the airport and on a major flight path. Oh, and the not-so-distant sound of a car alarm, trailer doors snapping open and shut, a small dog barking at a crazy chipmunk and the fellows standing outside the washroom smoking and arguing in French about the shower. Other than that, it’s a bucolic, peaceful morning.

For those wondering why there isn’t a daily blog, the Wifi in most campgrounds is inconsistent at best. Here in the prestigious (kidd’n) Poplar Grove, at $4/day Wifi fee, we struggle to connect. It’s also challenging to write when prepping The Ceilidh for the day’s journey, driving for hours, setting her up again upon sign-in and set-down at the next campsite, cleaning, cooking and conversing. Add in a small adjustment for actual sightseeing and the window for blogging is a tight one. But we soldier on…

My favourite photo from the War Museum. They’re kinda fierce look’n.

Yesterday we toured Ottawa’s more popular sights. The Canadian War Museum is massive. We spent four hours viewing exhibits from the early first nations’ battles, one exhibit dated to c. 8,000 CE, through our connections with the Scots, to current peace keeping missions and everything between.  Personal stories, letters, guns big and small, movies, dozens of tanks, planes hanging from the ceiling; truly an overwhelming experience. Walking through a realistic simulation of the muddy fields of Passchendaele, complete with a dead soldier face-down in the mud and viewing artefacts from the Holocaust were nearly too much to bear. Poignant beyond description.

It was nice to get back outside and slowly meander over to the Parliament Buildings. We passed a muskrat ambling down a grassy slope towards the rain swollen, muddy Ottawa River. He was a chubby urban version of his sleeker, country cousins. Must be the food.

Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa (so I’m told) Gothic Revival.

There are lots of interesting buildings in the downtown core. Lots of glass facades, stone and brick work, cobblestone, gargoyles, churches, and public art installations. Still, it was warm and aging legs (not mine) were somewhat fatigued from the four-hour War Museum tour. Luckily there are lots of benches along the street for weary folk. Security fences are everywhere as our nation’s capital prepares for July 1^st.