Our Canadian Road Trip: Ottawa

Ottawa is within French Canada and as such, most people speak French as their first language. The signs of course are also mostly in French, which is interesting. We stayed in a motel in Gatineau area. It was a very old motel judging by the furniture but at least it serves breakfast for free and when on a budget vacation, we were not really picky about where we  are staying. 

On our first night, we had dinner at a bistro not far from the motel. Upon our arrival, the waitress approached us by giving us the menu book and started speaking French. We were advised by some of our Canadian friends to say, "je ne parle pas français" which means I don't speak French as a polite response so they will speak English instead to us. It actually felt like we were in a city somewhere in France instead of Canada.

The next morning we visited Rideau Hall. Since 1867, Rideau Hall was the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and his or her representative, the Governor General of Canada. It was kind of hard to tell where the gate was. Lucky for us, on that day there was a tour bus visiting the Hall at the same time, so we parked on a nearby street in the surrounding neighborhood. Depending when you are planning to visit, you might require a reservation. They have a free of charge 60-minute tour accompanied by a guide to explore the rooms. You don't need reservations if you're coming on weekends. We didn't know this and we were there on a Monday so we couldn't enter the hall, but we enjoyed sightseeing from the outside and surrounding property.

After knowing that we couldn't enter the building, we took off to the next destination, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. We love visiting basilicas and admiring the architectures. It was very easy to find a free parking spot in Ottawa. That way we could really enjoy our time to visit a place as long as we want. This basilica is so beautiful inside and out. It is the largest and oldest standing church in the nation's capital.

Right across the street is National Gallery of Canada. We were saving money so we didn't buy the tickets to get inside. Here's another spider we found in Canada called "Maman" by the artist Louise Bourgeois.

Next destination, we decided to check out Rideau Canal. We had trouble finding it as our map took us to a neighborhood of the same name, but nothing we found was as the same canal that we would like to visit based on the pictures on Google. We guessed the canal was probably dried up or we are just bad navigators. Feeling a little defeated, we visited the last destination that day, Parliament Hill.

Parliament Hill, as one of the city's prime attraction, was under renovation when we were there. And we read that it will take at least 10 years to finish it, or maybe 15 years. Free guided tours are available daily, including a chance to head up to the Peace Tower for an incredible view of the city which we skipped because we were not sure where to go (again). 

Tired and hungry, one of our Canadian friends recommended for us to eat at Island Flava. It is a small Carribbean restaurant in downtown Ottawa but the food compensates for that. It did not disappoint! We ordered lamb and chicken curry. We even ordered extra fried plantains because they were so good.

The following day before heading to our next destination, we drove to Gatineau Park and hiked the King Mountain Trail. We hiked for almost two hours, 3.7 miles on a mountain but it was worth it. Great trails, beautiful scenery, easy access and it's even hard for us to select the pictures to represent the park. The pictures don't do it justice.

Ottawa treated us great!