Photo TR: Ottawa 12/5 - 12/9

[dandaman]

Sorry this is so late, but I haven't really had any time to post.

 

Earlier this month, I went to visit our nation's capital... Ottawa. (Washington who?) Despite it being a trip backed by the school French program, I didn't have to speak much of it. (Mercifully.)

 

Since you've likely scrolled to the pictures already and skipped all this jargon, I'll start now.

Oh, and before I forget, here's our totally awesome bus. (Forgot my camera back at the hotel, so no more pics for today. Summary: Hard Rock Cafe and a war memorial. Yep.) Day 2 coming up.

This is not a Dan-approved visitor centre!

HERSHEYPARK! ...What? No credits?! Dammit!

Our first stop was in the town named after me: Smiths Falls. (You can't prove it isn't.) Only reason we're here is...

I wonder if our air force realizes that Marvin the Martian's method of launching spacecraft won't work well with jets.

The scenery for most of the 10-hour trip, besides the occasional brewery or penguin.

Starting off the trip: Some random frosted apple. (Canadians have some weird roadside attractions.)

[trustkill22]

These pictures bring back memories because I have been to the haggard Big Apple a couple of times but the last time i was like 9 and in that picture with the jet in Bellevile I stayed in that hotel in the background with my hockey team when I was like 11.

 

Cant wait to see more pictures, I freaking love Ottawa.

[dandaman]

Day 2

 

Today, I went to the Museum of Civilization, and bowling. First, however, I went to the...

 

Wait for it...

 

...the Lafleche Caves. (Best cave name EVER!)

So, this was my first time ever at five-pin bowling. I kept getting that blasted head pin, but no strikes! Anyway, that's it for Day 2. More coming shortly.

Hey, Quebec... POUND IT!!!!!

Everyone wants to go to school in one of these babies.

"We wish you a blurry Christmas..."

Testing the camera zoom... worked better than I thought!

I'm sure all the tour buses appreciate this work of art...

Another lobby shot

The railroad's budget cuts have had some serious effects...

Cupcakes for Lou!

I think this speaks for itself.

"She gets 400 metres to the cannon, sir."

This reminded me of Harry Potter for some reason.

OMG! SHARKTUMS!

...And we all get around in these.

Canadians have so little roads, we actually use national maps to get around.

Purty

Parliament... THROUGH THE TREES!

This is featured on our $20 bill. (My interpretation: Dog bites paddle, frog licks bear, bear sucker-punches raven.)

GIVE US SOME CANDY!

That's one long, unnecessary limbo stick.

Back near Ottawa, but still in Quebec, is the Museum of Civilization. (The ceiling's supposed to look like the underside of a canoe.)

Well, minus the rocks, logs and potential death involved... that would make one hell of a toboggan run.

Ooh, aah.

...and with. (How is that supposed to be an improvement?)

Snow without snow setting...

Frozen daggers

nanananananananaFRUITBATS!

NOT a Casey-approved spelunking!

Yeah, there's hundreds of bats somewhere up there.

Just about to penetrate the Fleche Cave entrance!

Honestly, it was really beautiful... and... nature-y. (Here's a lake, where I'm sure some frozen fish are residing.)

Um... chateau?

There's a lot more pictures of white stuff where this came from.

Ha ha! Those Quebecers and their funky traffic lights.

Here we are, crossing the Ottawa River into Quebec, about to explore the Fleche Caves!

[SharkTums]

This TR has proven to be quite amusing...I guess anytime you have a reference to the 'Canadian Air Force' it's going to be funny!

[dandaman]

Day 3

 

All right, based on the pictures and my limited memory, today I went to Rockcliffe (ambassador's residences), the War Museum, and Christmas Lights Across Canada on Parliament Hill. (OK, really blurry pictures at the Hill, so forgive my photo skills and lack thereof.)

Okay, now this is just sad. (That's SUPPOSED to be the Prime Minister, with 14x digital zoom.) I had a video of the actual lighting, so I'll post that with Day 4, coming up.

As promised, I got this picture of the Christmas lighting ceremony blurry JUST for you! (They had free Beaver Tails, hot chocolate and candles on site, though.)

Screw Captain America! His lesser-known cousin's cooler! (99 Luftwaffe Balloons!)

The sole reason I took this, lies in the upper left corner.

Again with the Air Force's launching issue!

Ready or not, here I come to kick your ass!

Can someone tell me if this is a Panzer tank?

Um... yeah... this is Hitler's car.

I've had the Royal Guardsmen's Red Baron song stuck in my head since I saw this.

Jeez, I took a lot of cannon shots.

'Nother model

Another gun... with... some big explosive dildo?

Soldier Incognito

Gatling-ness

I tried putting the camera down by the model, and it worked pretty good. (I feel kind of sorry for the guy falling off the ladder.)

LOL! Hidden Mickey!

"The gun's jammed. Look down the barrel and find the problem, would you?"

 

Wait... is that...?

OK, so I'm still getting the hang of my camera. Anyway, this is the main lobby of the museum, if you can make anything of it.

Here's the first relatively decent shot of the Hill, en route to the War Museum.

...And his chaffeur lives here. Spiffy digs! (Between pics, we played "Rockcliffopoly" and sold off houses for trivia questions. I was the only one to buy a house

24 Sussex Drive, i.e. the Canadian equivalent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Prime Minister lives here...

The French embassy. (Yay?)

Some government laboratory. This was built during WWII, and is a 2/3 replica of Buckingham Palace.

The Royal Canadian Mint. Most of our currency is made here. (Plus there's 6 gold bars worth $1 million CDN, or $815 US, in here.)

Another shot of Parliament. (NEXT!)

The National Gallery. (With some weird giant spider.)

The Peacekeeping Monument.

The embassy of the United States of America. It's supposed to look like an aircraft carrier from one side. (Apparently, not this one.)

The Chateau Laurier. This was scheduled to open in late April 1912, but the hotel owner, along with some furniture, sank on a certain ship in the North Atlantic earlier that month.

Um... witty? (I had pancakes here.)

OMG! It's Makeover Joe's hair salon!

Crossing the Rideau Canal. (Windchill out here was around 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Oy.) This is the world's longest skating rink in the winter. People actually go to work by skating!

[dandaman]

Day 4

 

As promised:

 

 

And now for something completely different.

 

(By the way, I got to sit in question period at the House of Commons, which is like the Senate, only green. Government leaders yelling at each other, and a short and angry Frenchman, made this the highlight of my trip! No pics, though, as cameras weren't allowed.)

That wraps it up! Thanks for reading, guys, and Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Festivus or whatever!

...And one for all the TPR guys. (This picture made me a popular man at dinner.

Okay, final two pictures. One for Elissa...

Now THAT would be a good toboggan run.

Some wrecked bicycles...

Monet

Van Gogh

Bernini... (No angels pointing to the Church of Illumination? Bah!)

Jackson Pollock, and his "crappy chocolate sundae"...

They had a lot of original works. Picasso...

KidTums has one big head...

This flag gets sent out to a Canadian every day.

More Christmas?

Artsy.

The National Gallery, and its funky water roof thing.

The Notre Dame Basilica.

Here's the war memorial from the background.

...And proof.

The American embassy...

Le Chateau

East Side!

This is what it would be like if God wore a watch.

Museum of Civilization

The Library of Parliament. Also the only part of the original building to have survived some massive fire in the late 1800s.

And here I thought I was on ground level!

Looking to the western sky.

West Side!!! (i.e. West Block of Parliament)

Sorry to jump around, but I'm already at the top of the Peace Tower. This is looking out towards downtown Ottawa.

This is what happens when you look up. Yeah...

The Senate. This is where most of the bills get passed.

Christmas-y

Purty ceiling

Where the hell are we?

We must have the most phallic central government building in the world...

This would be the highest office in the land, where government people mill about and do stuff. Yep.

[Masked_Maverick]

Dude that second to last picture loved it . Great TR I love Canada never have had a bad time there.

[USRoadTripper]

Awesome trip report! Really enjoyed it!

 

-Julie

[BeemerBoy]

Nice TR, and funny captions. Great pics of America Jr.

[dandaman]

These pictures bring back memories because I have been to the haggard Big Apple a couple of times but the last time i was like 9 and in that picture with the jet in Bellevile I stayed in that hotel in the background with my hockey team when I was like 11.

 

Cant wait to see more pictures, I freaking love Ottawa.

 

I'm about 5 hours away from the Big Apple... so... never been there.

 

This TR has proven to be quite amusing...I guess anytime you have a reference to the 'Canadian Air Force' it's going to be funny!

 

If you like that, you should see our Seakings (government helicopters).

 

Dude that second to last picture loved it . Great TR I love Canada never have had a bad time there.

 

For some reason, I was the only one to get that shot of her in the window, despite everyone walking by.

 

My camera got passed around to every table at dinner that night.

 

Nice TR, and funny captions. Great pics of America Jr.

 

Other suggestion: "America's Toque".

 

Thanks for all the comments, guys! I hadn't had a chance to post much for a few weeks now. (Not bad for doing this TR in about 2 hours, eh?)

 

...My fingers hurt.

[trustkill22]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I want to go back there and definately have stayed in Chateau Laurier with the most ballin' pool ever. I felt like king swimming in a pool with chandeliers hanging over and fake oil burning lamps on the wall.

[dandaman]

What's the minimum one-night rate for that, somewhere in the thousands? Forget it.

 

Dan "View from the outside in is free, though!" Smith