July 17, 2009: Another day in Ottawa with 80 plus degree temperatures and sunshine. Today we stayed at Hull Marina and went to visit Parliament Hill.
This included watching the “Changing of the Guard”, a musical presentation with soldiers in rather brightly colored red uniforms and back furry hats. Next was some visiting of the local shops and a tour of the 
Parliament itself. One of the guards suggested a excellent lunch 
stop at 
Palermo's restaurant on Sparks streets. The street itself is pedestrian only with many shops, banks, restaurants and government office buildings. We toured the University of Ottawa next. This is a rather large (35 thousand students) modern university campus in the heart of downtown Ottawa. Courses can be taken in French or English here. This is of course a bilingual city. 
Marie Bedard, a friend who lives in Gatineau, met us at the boat and then took us on a wonderful auto tour of the area including visiting the Champlain Lookout at sunset in Gatineau Park. Fist was a visit to a Marine supply store and to Canadian Tire for a new electric fuel pump for the boat. We found just what was needed at Canadian Tire including low cost bottled water. Dinner was at a fun jungle style restaurant called “Monkey Joe”s”. We then drove to the Canadian Experimental farm with beautiful flower gardens. We then headed for the hills.
The view of the sun setting over the expanse of farmland and the beautiful Ottawa river was magnificent at Champlain Lookout. Marie also knew just where to stop for ice crea
m in a small village called Chelsea. 
m in a small village called Chelsea. 
July 18, 2009: The rain returned in spades this morning. This slowed our plans considerably with the girls sleeping in. We arrived in Ottawa on our bikes at about noon. We explored the Byword Market area of town most of the afternoon. Marie joined us for both lunch and dinner. 
The Byward Market is an area of open outdoor vendors, small shops and many restaurants. President Obama visited here this summer and ate a maple leaf sugar cookie. The bakery has renamed it the Obama cookie and they are selling like crazy (they even taste good). The 
market goes on for blocks. We were also able to go to the Ottawa Cathedral. They offer Mass in English, French and Bilingual. The Masses on Saturdays are sandwiched between weddings on Saturdays. This is one of the most beautiful churches with very ornate carvings and paintings. Mare then drove us around first to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stables and the Canadian Air & Space Museum. We did see all of the beautiful black horses in the pasture. Unfortunately we only saw a few airplanes as the museum was closed. We went to a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant in Gatineau for dinner. We all enjoyed the fried bananas and ice cream for dessert.
The Byward Market is an area of open outdoor vendors, small shops and many restaurants. President Obama visited here this summer and ate a maple leaf sugar cookie. The bakery has renamed it the Obama cookie and they are selling like crazy (they even taste good). The 
market goes on for blocks. We were also able to go to the Ottawa Cathedral. They offer Mass in English, French and Bilingual. The Masses on Saturdays are sandwiched between weddings on Saturdays. This is one of the most beautiful churches with very ornate carvings and paintings. Mare then drove us around first to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stables and the Canadian Air & Space Museum. We did see all of the beautiful black horses in the pasture. Unfortunately we only saw a few airplanes as the museum was closed. We went to a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant in Gatineau for dinner. We all enjoyed the fried bananas and ice cream for dessert.
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