PARLIAMENT HILL

Parliament Hill is where Canada makes its laws. The complex has beautiful Gothic Revival architecture. We took an expertly guided tour

The Peace tower has a 53-bell Carrillon that plays a beautiful concert at 2:00 PM every day.

This is the chamber of the House of Commons.

The Queen of Canada.

Relief in the halls of Parliament

Neogothic Ceilings

The chambers of the House of Lords. The Lords come from all walks of life and are nominated by the Prome Minister and confirmed by the Queen.

This elaborate ceiling has back-lit tiles representing various aspects of the regions and laws of Canada. This particular one shows the import tarifs put on US goods entering Canada before NAFTA.
This is the chamber where the Prime Minister holds Cabinet Meetings.

OTTAWA - BYWARD MARKET

One of the streets that border the ByMarket. Saturday is the big day with the market being extremely crowded whereas on weekdays, it is only crowded. Many people who live in the city come here for their produce, meats, fish, and so forth. Some come on their bikes, others walk, and many take the bus. It is a great place.
People strolling in the market area. There are crafts and stores that sell all sorts of goods besides food. Many excellent restaurants are in the 4 block or so area. Right in the center of the marketplace, there is a building housing ethnic foods like Moroccan, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese, French, Middle Eastern, and Japanese.

Many stalls are in tents while many others, like this grocery store, are permanent in the district. As a matter of fact, the next time we visited the Market this store had a sign on it saying they "went fishing until August 22."

These are some of the tent stalls. This part of the market is only open June through September.
An Irish Pub where we had an excellent lunch and dined on second floor patio. It felt like a bit of Ireland inside.

One of many farmer's stalls selling luscious raspberries and blueberries along with tomatoes, squash, peppers, and many fruits of the region.

Flowers and plants were a big hit also, When we were on the bus out of the city, several people had a bouquet of flowers.
Grapes to the right, starfruit in the middle, and an unknown at the end.

This is at one end of the ethnic building and is the French Cafe. We resisted the first time we visited but indulged in a French lunch and pastry on our second visit.
Many creative and delicious cakes.

People were buying these pastries at a rapid rate. What a surprise!

What great looking breads.
The famous Sacher Torte from Vienna.

OTTAWA CITY - EXPLORING THE CITY

Rideau Canal flows near the Parliament building.

Many government buildings display flags from each of the Provinces.

Another look at the Parliament building.
Boats docked along the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa.

Above boats waiting to enter the locks, and below boats exiting the locks.

Interesting houseboat with patio on top and grilling equipment on back deck.
Four Winns boat - the factory is in Cadillac, Michigan

United States of America Embassy in Canada. The tower above is for the antimissile system ;)

Wedding party walking to the National Gallery of Canada for wedding pictures.

Gigantic spider sculpture in front of the Gallery.
Above the National Gallery of Canada and below is a view from the inside.

This church has the spirals and overall design of many of the Churches in the Providence of Quebec.

DOWNTOWN AND UNIVERISTY OF OTTAWA

Lunchtime in the Sparks downtown pedestrian mall.

Sparks Pedestrian Mall in downtown Ottawa--near Bank Street (banking) and Parliament.
Three musicians from Peru playing Andian music for the lunch time crowds at the mall.

The Lebanese restaurant we stopped for lunch.

The first bus behind Walter is an amphibious tourist bus while the one behind is a double decker bus.

This poster was all over the downtown area. A few days later, we saw a group gathering for picketing against Bush.

In one of the nearby downtown neighborhoods, we came across the Embassy of Iraq.

This canal runs through one part of the downtown. On both sides of the canal are pedestrian and biking paths.

See the teeny tiny Mercedes Benz. A very economical Benz, but not sold in the U.S.

One of two guards at the War Monument in Confederate Square. These two guards were standing so very still that at first we thought they were statues.
This War Monument was commissioned in 1925 by a international design competition. An Englishman Vernon March won the competition. It was originally designed to commemorate the World War I soldiers. It was finished four months before the start of World War II. The Korean War has also been added. In the front of the monument is sober tomb for the unknown soldiers.

These statues are on the top of the monument.
Here, World War I soldiers on in the front and World War II soldiers in back.

Bus transfer station at the University of Ottawa.

These posters are at the Student Union building. Apparently, Bush is going to hear the Canadian public opinion on his upcoming visit.