Thanksgiving in Ottawa, Ontario

Sacha and Mush at Canadian Parliament Buildings

Oct 9th
Time to hit the road again moving on to Ottawa via Kingston where Martin went to Queen’s University. Nostalgia hit as Martin showed me all his old hang-outs and recounted all the stories of his time at Queen’s. The student part of town, called the ‘ghetto’, was unusually quiet and we finally remembered that it was Canadian Thanksgiving so students would be at home for the weekend.

Leaving Kingston we headed to Ottawa passed Fort Henry for great views over the city and Wolfe island, and along the Thousand Island Parkway – a lovely drive along the Lawrence river between Canada and the US. A very pretty, scenic area with a number of small islands with homes built on them… What a great idea: to own your own island and live on it! Cool!

Thanksgiving at the Singh/Wiseman's

In Ottawa we landed on Sacha, one of Martin’s high school buddies, and his wife Andie. Great to see them and their kids Rhianna and Callum, and Andie’s Mum and Dad and sister who were there for Thanksgiving. Sunday morning was bright and beautiful and we went hiking in Gatineau park across the river into Quebec to appreciate the last of the great autumn colours. It was pretty spectacular still.

We caught up with Martin’s roommate/ housemate of five years at Queen’s, Dan, also in town for Thanksgiving. Martin said ‘Same old Dan’ as they reminisced on old times, with some that they weren’t allowed to repeat! Then we hurried off to Andie’s amazing Thanksgiving dinner  - a monster sized 8lb chicken! Phew!

Monday 11th
Sacha and Andie live in a beautiful renovated townhouse in the centre of town and Sacha took us on a walking tour of Ottawa of this beautiful capital of Canada. The Rideau canal runs through the city and I discovered that in winter it freezes and people skate to work! The city maintains and keeps a short 5km stretch frozen. At the Rideau locks we watched a 70ft working boat practically fill the whole length of each lock as it slowly made its way to the Ottawa river. We walked along the river for a while and up onto parliament hill admiring its beautiful architecture. Into town and around the market area, we discovered lots of hidden alleyways and courtyards. Tin roofs of Notre Dame. The spider at National Gallery to name a few.   *Mush