We hung around the house for the afternoon, logging a bit of
computer time before we were to meet up with friends at the Royal Oak pub
on Bank Street. We were a bit early but most of the others were late. They
arrived though and it was great to see my mates again and share a drink.
It was warm in the pub however, and there was a crowd there to watch the
hockey game on the big screen telly. We took off to Laura's but they had
already left to meet us so it was back downtown and meet them back up at
the Royal Oak for a nightcap, this time on the non-smoking side of the
pub, no crowd, (no tv!)
After lunch we walked down to St. Anthony's church for a look. They were setting up an outdoor stage for the festival events. We went inside where several people were praying at St. Anthony's statue, set up in the center aisle post-parade. The stained glass and frescos in the church were really lovely. We walked back to the car through the neighbourhood, passing by lots of mid-20th-century and earlier houses decked out in flags and streamers and a couple with little shrines set up in the front yard.
We drove around Ottawa, from Dow's Lake with it's pavilions and recreational facilities down along the Rideau Canal and around Sussex Drive, past the Prime Minister of Canada's residence (Number 24) which, while very large wasn't as big and vast as i expected. I suppose it went back farther than i could see. We drove through Rockcliffe Park, a very expensive and exclusive neighbourhood where the most expensive homes are along with most of the foreign embassies. Very leafy and green, the houses, grounds and gardens immaculately kept. We drove along a parkway, stopping at a lookoff over the Ottawa River with lovely views of Gatineau, Quebec across the way. Driving along eastward then back around to a western style restaurant called Montana's (no idea really what area of Ottawa we are now, but East of Ottawa proper i think). We decided to have coffee/tea and desert on the patio and leave a little more skin on the plastic chairs. Ahhh Summer! We picked up a few groceries but we aren't having supper because we're meeting a few of our mates before a girls night out at Barrymore's.
The little diner we ate in, New York Diner, Bank Street, was reasonably
priced, good basic food, burgers and fries and that sort. Barrymore's was
just on the next block. It used to be an old theater and is very large
inside with high ceilings and gold ornate moldings all around. There is
a bar and dance floor on the main level and a projection screen and then
several platforms up, another bar on the top level and a small dance floor
on the next level down from that. It's been a venue for music for
years and has a reputation for booking good rock bands. Sunday nights are
80's night however, with a dj and movies silently projected on the screen.
The first one was the ever-campy Planet of the Apes, Jaws 2 and the last
one we saw was Tron, an 80's computer movie. Very class seeing POTA
against music from Billy Idol, Duran Duran, Nine Inch Nails and Wham though
LOL! We knew all the music and sang along loudly and danced until the sweat
ran, Sheila, Laura, Annette, Mary Sue and Shirli and i.
I wandered over by Parliament Hill for a few photos and down into the Byward Market for lunch, sitting on the patio by the fruit, veg and flower stands. I thought i might walk across the Alexandra Bridge to the Museum of Civilization later and i need to drop into the Bay for some MAC moisturizer that i can't get at home.
I finished lunch and browsed the Market, poking about in lots of the neat little shops and stalls. One shop had very cool hats but i didn't find one that i liked enough to buy. Although after what i thought was going to be a window shopping excursion along Sussex Drive which turned out to cost me a week's wages, i might go back and see if i can find a hat to go with the new outfit i bought! Sussex Drive is an exclusive shopping area, lots of lovely boutiques one of which is called Kaliyana Artwear. I tried on a few things and nearly had decided on a flowy purple top when the clerk offered to bring out a pair of trousers from a collection they hadn't put on display yet. Lovely loose fitting draped trousers made of a textured linen/rayon mix. I was going to buy them and the top but they kept bringing out more from the same collection, and in the end i walked out with a long sleeveless black tunic, the pants and a long black jacket to match. Oooh! It looks divine and i am going to have to wear it everywhere, even to the grocery store to get my money's worth out of it LOL! I even bought a long necklace made of painted black safety pins with bits and bobs attached just to top it off. At that point what was another $75!! It cost a lot more than that map print but i guess i'll get more use out of it in the end :) I think the clerks were going to break out the champagne after i left!
I walked from there down to the National Gallery but i didn't go
in. I just sat on a bench outside for a rest because it was hot and muggy.
Many of the city's gallery workers were on strike and i talked to one of
them for a few minutes and signed their petition. I walked across the very
pretty Alexandra Bridge, which took me about a half hour as i wasn't rushing.
By the time i got to the Museum of Civilization, my feet hurt and it was
about an hour from closing time. Really not enough time to see much nor
were my feet and energy up to it. I went to the cafe and got some ice cream
and some nice hot tea and sat down to enjoy the air conditioning. That
didn't last long because everyone was ushered outside. Apparently there
was a fire alarm going off though we couldn't hear it in the cafe. The
buildings were evacuated and we waited for about 15 minutes or so before
it was determined to be a false alarm. I sat on the outside patio and wrote
in my journal for a little while longer before going to find a bus back
to downtown Ottawa and transferred to a bus back to Mary Sue's. Poor kid
was still feeling pretty miserable and we all spent the night in front
of the telly.
Today is
our day out in Montreal, about a 2 hour drive from Ottawa. Shirli grew
up there so knows it well and we are picking up Caroline who lives
there. Yet another even hotter and more humid day than yesterday. We stopped
en route for gas and a coffee fill up and arrived in Montreal at Caroline's
about 12:30. Caroline lives in a deep narrow flat on Rue St. Denis, one
of the many older streets, the houses characterized by long sweeping and
twisting outdoor staircases. R. St. Denis, mostly residential at Caroline's
end, is a buzzing community of pubs and clubs and shops downtown farther.
We met Caroline's two enormous cats before setting off downtown. First
stop was to be Schwartz's deli for smoked meat! Schwartz's has been in
business 70 years and is a tourist attraction. Rue St. Laurent was closed
off to traffic and was lined with outdoor market stalls.
The deli is a narrow deep place with tables lining a mirrored wall on the left and a counter displaying the deli products along the right. We were lucky to find a table and shared it with two other gentlemen. The hot smoked meat on rye with mustard was thick and filling and came with chips (fries) and we ordered black cherry soda, the traditional meal so it seems. The waiter was jolly and congenial, didn't mind us taking his photo and even took ours as well! I guess it's pretty common there !
We browsed the outdoor stalls on the way back to the car and then drove down to the river where the oldest part of Montreal is. Montreal is a very old city. I'm not really sure how old the buildings are in this area but they must be several hundred years old, some of them, at least on Rue St. Paul and that area. We kept ducking into the souvenir shops to get cool in the air conditioning for a bit of relief from the heat. We then arrived in a huge square lined with more lovely old buidings housing mostly restaurants and a few tourist shops. We were to meet up with Shirli's sister and niece at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop and while we waited, Phil and i noticed a stone sort of cistern bubbling with cold water. It wasn't a fountain but a lot of people were using it to splash cold water on their arms and faces and it looked pretty inviting to us too! Sure felt good! Neither Phil nor i am used to that kind of heat. We found out later it was nearly 40 degrees with the humidity. We had our ice cream which really hit the spot at that point.
Leaving there, we headed down back toward the river (St. Lawrence). The buildings around this area are taller and newer, 19th and 20'th century with an elegant art deco building across from the basilica. I was hoping we could sit at a cafe for a cold drink but everyone wanted to go back to the main Square to a restaurant there so i trudged a little farther. We sat down under a canopied patio and ordered drinks. Shirli's sister and niece wanted food but most of us weren't hungry. The heat really drags the appetite out of me. Phil and i went for another "dip" in the cistern which felt even better than it did the first time around. The cold drinks and water revived me. We went back to the car which was parked in a lot on the waterfront.
Next stop was a drive up Mont Royale through Westmount and Upper Westmount which is the very exclusive residential neighbourhood of Montreal. Beautiful estates and grounds here. We stopped for a look out over the west part of the city. We drove down past the huge domed St. Joseph's Oratory where they say miracles have been performed. We stopped at Mont Royale park for a drink where there is a man mande small boating lake and lots of shady trees. We drove back up the other side of the moutain to another lookoff spot where we had great views over the downtown area including the huge domed Olympic stadium where the Expos play baseball.
It's nearly 8 and we haven't eaten yet. But first we had to stop
for bagels, hot toasty fresh bagels in the Jewish quarter
on St. Viateur. I bought a couple, to save one for breakfast at the hotel
in the morning. We ended up far west near where Shirli's sister, Nikki,
lives to go to a Greek restaurant, Caraveli's. Might be as far west as
Sherbrooke, i'm not sure but apparently the food is great. I say "apparently"
because i was too tired and drawn out from the heat to really eat and the
bagel i had was enough. Phil just had a plate of fries and Shirli and Caroline
shared a Greek entree, Nikki came and met us there.
One last stop took us to an oversized round orange structure called Orange Julep, another Montreal Institution where you buy these drinks made of fresh squeezed orange juice and milk. Very tasty. There was an enormous crowd out front , people milling around the parking lot, traffic being directed in and out of the lot. We parked a little way away and headed for the lineups which weren't as long as you would expect with all those people around.
We dropped Caroline back home and headed back to Ottawa, arriving at the hotel, Capitol Hill Hotel on Albert street at about 1:30. I was shattered from the heat and all the walking. I checked in and wasn't long to fall asleep in the gloriously cold air conditioned room. We had heard earlier that Mary Sue was going to be on the mend which was good news and we also got a call that Canada 3000 had located Phil's luggage and we would pick it up at the airport tomorrow morning when Shirli took me to pick up Tracey who was flying up for the Kingston weekend.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Web page by Tvor (tvordj @ gmail.com ) Last updated on August 25, 2001 |
View
My Guestbook|
|
| Number of visitors since 01/30/2000 |