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Hello From Ottawa A Brisk Morning Walk To Parliament Hill
ne of the interesting
features of Ottawa is its Then I marched up to Parliament
architecture and Ottawa has Hill from where you have an
many heritage sites. Parliament absolutely perfect view over to
Hill with its historical Hull and the Gatineau Hills. I
neo-Gothic buildings was an area admired the sculptures “ Women
I wanted to discover in more are Persons” (referring to women
detail. being recognized as their own
human beings), and took a number
Friday night, just after we of pictures and video clips of
arrived in town I was able to the Parliament Buildings.
snap a few pictures, just before
the sun went down. Saturday Parliament Hill is the seat of
morning I got up and out by 7:30 Canada's Government and consists
am and it was a crisp morning, of the Centre Block, the West
with perfect blue sky. It was Block and the East Block. The
definitely on the cold side, not Senate and the House of Commons
a good idea to venture out are also located here. Free tours
without a hat or a thick scarf. are generally available every
So it was going to be a bad hair day, except my own discovery was
day again, but who cares…. a little bit too early to take
the tour.
I started off with the area
immediately in front of the Lord Incidentally Canada's Parliament
Elgin Hotel, which includes the Buildings have an interesting
National Arts Center, the history. Lower Canada (today's
Government Conference Centre (the Quebec) and Upper Canada (today's
former Union Station, Ottawa's Ontario) joined together to form
main railway terminal), the War the Province of Canada in 1841.
Memorial and the Chateau Laurier. The seat of government alternated
for many years until Queen the House of Commons and the
Victoria was asked to select a Senate from the visitor
permanent capital in 1857. galleries, and free tours are
also available. A tour to the top
To the surprise of many, the of the Peace Tower rewards you
Queen selected the rough lumber with a great view all over
town of Ottawa instead of the Ottawa. Canada's war dead are
established cities of Toronto, honoured inside the Memorial
Montreal, Quebec City or Chamber.
Kingston. One of the reasons was
that Ottawa was close to both The Library of Parliament
provinces and located at a safe Building - the only part of the
distance from the American original Centre Block that
border. survived the desastrous fire of
1916 - is currently undergoing
The Parliament Buildings were restoration work to bring it back
built between 1859 and 1866 (not to its former glory.
including the Library and the
Tower). One year after they were The historic East Block has not
finished, Confederation occurred changed much since the days of
and the buildings were Confederation. The offices of
immediately selected to house the Canada's first prime minister,
government for the newly created Sir John A. Macdonald, have been
Dominion of Canada. restored and are available to
visit on a public tour.
The main building of the
government buildings is called The West Block is not accessible
Centre Block and it is instantly to the public as it houses the
recognizable with its trademark offices of the members of
Peace Tower. Visitors can watch parliament.
of the Guard takes place, and
The Peace Tower is Ottawa's this year the ceremony will be
trademark and its name is a held every day from June 24 to
commemoration of Canada’s August 26 of 2006.
commitment to peace. The Memorial
Chamber is located on the third Parliament Hill with its big open
floor of the Tower, and it square lends itself naturally as
honours Canadians who have died a meeting and entertainment
in armed conflicts since venue. The Canada Day
Confederation. The Peace Tower celebrations are held here and
also holds an observation area they include free concerts,
and the Carillon which contains spectacular fireworks, a flight
53 bells weighing anywhere from demonstration by the Snowbirds
less than 5 kg to more than 10 (Canada's precision aerobatic
tons. team), and you'll only have to
put up with short speeches by
The Centre Block was affected by Canadian politicians.
a large fire in 1916. Canada
began rebuilding it while still Another event coming up for 2006
fighting in the First World War. is a free sound and light show
The new structure, designed in called "Canada: the Spirit of a
the Modern Gothic Revival style Country", which will be performed
by John Pearson and Jean Omer on a daily basis after dark
Marchand, was completed by 1922. between July 5 and September 10,
The Peace Tower was finished 2006. Images will be projected
later in 1927. onto the Parliament Buildings.
Obviously Parliament Hill is not
In the summer Parliament Hill just a boring place for
offers up a unique ceremony: politicians, it is an
every day at 10 am the Changing entertainment venue and meeting
place for people from Ottawa, for disperse these clouds of smoke.
folks from the rest of the An interesting sight....
country and for international
tourists alike. This crisp morning walk was the
perfect introduction to Ottawa
After my discovery of the and a good way to burn off
Parliament Buildings I walked calories from last night's
further west to have a look at carlory-rich evening at Fat
the Supreme Court of Canada and Tuesday's. After a rather hearty
the other surrounding buildings. breakfast at the Lord Elgin
What really fascinated me where Hotel, we set off to begin our
the huge plumes of steam that day of skating on the Rideau
come out of the smokestacks, I Canal Skateway, the main reason
don’t recall seeing the same we had come to Ottawa.
types of formations in Toronto.
One person explained to me that This entire article including
the air in Ottawa is calmer as photos is located at
compared to Toronto where we http://www.travelandtransitions.c
always have wind blowing in from om/stories_photos/ottawa_parliame
the lake which actually would nt_hill.htm
About the Author:
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel.
Read more articles by: Susanne Pacher
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