Day 18, July 2, 2008
Beautiful City! Warm and sunny morning as we head out to downtown Ottawa to see what we can see. Find out that the tour tickets for the Parliament buildings (tours are free, but you need a ticket\pass) are all gone – apparently (this info is not on the web site) you have to get your tickets at an information tent, and be there really early in the morning ( 8:30) to get the tickets for the tours as they go fast. We decide to get there early tomorrow to get our tour tickets. We toured the grounds of the Parliament Buildings, looked at the views and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
We had lunch in a mall/office complex and then promptly got ourselves mixed up as to which parkade we parked the car in. After touring the same block for about a half an hour, we found our building and then the car. Thank goodness I wrote the building name and parking level and street down – all the tall buildings start to look the same. Its easy to get turned around in these big cities! (Fill in your own country bumpkin joke here.) However we were able to find a Starbucks while lost which, ironically, was the one we couldn’t find earlier when we knew where we were.
We were then off to the National Gallery of Canada – (Art Gallery). Took a wrong turn and ended up in Gatineau, but accidently found the Museum of Civilization so at least we might be able to find it again tomorrow. Its a beautiful building, great to tour the art on display. Our favorites were the Group of Seven section, and the European section. Cool to see some paintings dating back to 500 years ago and a gorgeous table that is 450 years old! (Not sure our dining room table will make it that long.) There were Renoirs, Monets, Cezannes and Van Goghs. Some of the other art – well I guess you have to develop a taste for it, or at least convince yourself it is art. There was one piece I could not believe. It was a bunch of white letters stuffed like pillows with a saying and a Canadian Flag underneath - it said something about the moon. The only thing I thought about was “ I should have entered my grade 9 pillow, or patchwork blanket – maybe it would be hanging in the National Gallery of Canada too!!!! There was also one Picasso there which looked exactly like something Phil would draw if he got a Pictionary card that said “Draw a Face.”
Laundry night tonight, and an early start tomorrow……...
Cool Facts we learned:
1) Most abstract art is as mystifying and lost on us in real life, as it is when we see it in books, magazines and TV.
2)William Van Horn, who was instrumental in building the Canadian Pacific Railway that connected eastern and western Canada in the 1870’s was also an accomplished painter with several impressive pictures in the gallery.
Lucas’ Statement: Did you know that… the library at the parliament buildings is the only original building as the others all burnt down in 1916.
Beautiful City! Warm and sunny morning as we head out to downtown Ottawa to see what we can see. Find out that the tour tickets for the Parliament buildings (tours are free, but you need a ticket\pass) are all gone – apparently (this info is not on the web site) you have to get your tickets at an information tent, and be there really early in the morning ( 8:30) to get the tickets for the tours as they go fast. We decide to get there early tomorrow to get our tour tickets. We toured the grounds of the Parliament Buildings, looked at the views and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
We had lunch in a mall/office complex and then promptly got ourselves mixed up as to which parkade we parked the car in. After touring the same block for about a half an hour, we found our building and then the car. Thank goodness I wrote the building name and parking level and street down – all the tall buildings start to look the same. Its easy to get turned around in these big cities! (Fill in your own country bumpkin joke here.) However we were able to find a Starbucks while lost which, ironically, was the one we couldn’t find earlier when we knew where we were.
We were then off to the National Gallery of Canada – (Art Gallery). Took a wrong turn and ended up in Gatineau, but accidently found the Museum of Civilization so at least we might be able to find it again tomorrow. Its a beautiful building, great to tour the art on display. Our favorites were the Group of Seven section, and the European section. Cool to see some paintings dating back to 500 years ago and a gorgeous table that is 450 years old! (Not sure our dining room table will make it that long.) There were Renoirs, Monets, Cezannes and Van Goghs. Some of the other art – well I guess you have to develop a taste for it, or at least convince yourself it is art. There was one piece I could not believe. It was a bunch of white letters stuffed like pillows with a saying and a Canadian Flag underneath - it said something about the moon. The only thing I thought about was “ I should have entered my grade 9 pillow, or patchwork blanket – maybe it would be hanging in the National Gallery of Canada too!!!! There was also one Picasso there which looked exactly like something Phil would draw if he got a Pictionary card that said “Draw a Face.”
Laundry night tonight, and an early start tomorrow……...
Cool Facts we learned:
1) Most abstract art is as mystifying and lost on us in real life, as it is when we see it in books, magazines and TV.
2)William Van Horn, who was instrumental in building the Canadian Pacific Railway that connected eastern and western Canada in the 1870’s was also an accomplished painter with several impressive pictures in the gallery.
Lucas’ Statement: Did you know that… the library at the parliament buildings is the only original building as the others all burnt down in 1916.
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