Monday, October 01, 2007

Coming soon: a capital weekend

I'm going to Ottawa this weekend. As far as Ontario goes, I've been to Lake Superior, Niagra Falls and Toronto, but not Ottawa. I wonder if Stephen Harper will shake my hand when I arrive at the airport? I don't like him or anything, but I want to honour that Simpsons episode when Tony Blair greets the Simpson family at Heathrow. I wish life was like that.

Michael's high school friend Nathan Phillips is getting married in Ottawa. When I went to Toronto for my choir trip in grade 11, we went to Nathan Phillips Square. FACT: The square is named after the Nathan Phillips who was Mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962, NOT Michael's friend from Prince Albert.

I imagine that I'll take pictures of myself on Parliament Hill, but what else should I do? I'm not sure how much spare time we'll have, but we've rented a car: we're mobile. Any suggestions?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go to Montreal! Or, eat gelato in the market and drive to the Gatineau hills. I always heard people rave about the colours of the fall leaves there.

Erin Riley said...

I knew someone would say Montreal. It's not that I'm trying to avoid that city or anything, I just don't think we'll have time for it.

Gatineau Hills, on the other hand, sound fabulous! I'm all about fall colours.

sarah said...

I say you drive past 24 Sussex Drive and shake your fist out the window. I wish I could do that!

Anonymous said...

mine is boring: you could see if there's anything cool on at the national gallery.

Anonymous said...

I like Ottawa! Though not as much as Montreal, of course. I agree with Sarah - hit the National Gallery. And the Canadian Contemporary Photo Gallery; it's beside the Chateau Laurier, which is also worth a wander through the lobby. The War Museum is good too, but huge, it needs hours. Walk over the bridge to Quebec, and then walk back! There is some neat stuff on Elgin Street - the Manx Pub, a cool book store, coffeeshop, etc. The Glebe neighborhood is cute too. I could go on. You'll have fun!

Lydia said...

I was totally going to make a Nathan Phillips Square joke, but you beat me to it.

Oh, Ottawa. I vaguely miss it.

Anonymous said...

How about The Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum? It's just outside of Ottawa in the village of Carp. It goes four stories underground and was meant to house top government and military officials in the event of a nuclear attack. I understand it has ammenities like The Bank of Canada, a dentist's office, and even a CBC radio studio.

Anonymous said...

erin. hello. i don't know how else to get hold of you....
we are having another hona dinner at our house this saturday at 7:00 if you would like to come. if you could rsvp me on this as soon as possible that would be great. you can email me at kirsten_eileen@yahoo.ca
hope to see you guys there.