Question: What was the weather like in Ottawa this past weekend?
Alright, so what if it was cold as a witch’s tit in Ottawa this weekend? So what if it was -38 with windchill both Friday and Saturday. So what if locales actually were complaining about the cold and – more so – the wind. So what if it took WestJet Sue not 3 hours but 15 hours to fly from
Saskatoon to Ottawa (with ironically enough, a re-routing to Toronto)…. we had FUN anyway!
5) the wonderful Ripasso from Zenta we ordered (brilliant wine!)
WestJet Sue spent a year touring Italy 4 years ago and G spent a year going to school in Rome, so we decided Saturday night we wanted real italian fare. And we weren’t disappointed with this little Trattoria in Little Italy.
Course, the reason we headed up to Ottawa was to see the new War Museum (more for the design than the actual exhibits) and skate the canal. The new museum is gorgeous, brilliantly constructed on the Lebreton flats and in perfect alignment with Parliament Hill. The interior is beautiful: lots of textured concrete walls, lots of colour, many statement-making spaces as well. The exhibits are well laid out according to 4 themes (pre-1900s; World War I; War World II and the Cold War). The exhibits are interactive and very colourful (I note this for those of you who may have visited the old War Museum). In the Regeneration Hall, they have wheeled in all sorts of military vehicles. And off the main entrance is a memorial hall dedicated to the unknown soldier which is a neat space. Here’s a few pics:
3) the Vimy Ridge statues leading down into the Regeneration Hall; 4) the textured walls (these are tin)
Skating on the canal was so much fun! … especially in the -30s and with wind blowing the whole way! We started out at Dow’s Lake and skated down into the city and back! OMG!
… and of course we stopped for:
3) me in the cutout; 4) Beavertails!!!
On Saturday morning I met up with my friend, Berkeley Louise, at Eggspectations. Louise is a Berkeley-educated economist, editor, eccentric par excellence, computer genius (and I mean Genius… she writes encryption codes for … shsss … it’s a secret), and dear friend. She and I spent many, many long hours together back in 1994-95 when I was seconded up to Ottawa to finish editing a couple manuals for XXXXX (large publishing house name and client removed). Oh the stories I could tell about that adventure and our daily meetings to review galley proofs at the Mayflower on Elgin.
1) mascot mania in the lobby; 2) lunch at Cafe Shafali in the Byward Market (yummy chicken curry)
AppsScraps 
Brrr…. I could feel the cold while looking at your nice pics.
I remember those places in Ottawa, the only difference is that I went in the Summer and it was WARM! =)
Wow…Ottawa is very nice…..I should go with my honey one day.!! Thanks for share your pictures with us….
definitely hotter
but i seriously plan on traveling there within before i graduate from college
Colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bikini! That’s how cold it was in Minneapolis the other day…check out my blog. At least it is good to know that great minds think alike. Hope you find someone to keep you warm.
I hope you are not wearing shorts like the profile pic. :) I stayed Chateau Laurier couple times, very old rooms. :)