You can’t miss it, there’s a big lighthouse, followed by a big steam engine before you get to the museum building. If you go the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum on the same day, you can use a whole day parking ticket for both Ottawa museums so you don’t have Read more
The Laurentians are a low range of mountains in southern Quebec that resemble the shape of pre-alpine Bavaria. The lightly powdered peaks and gently curving roads meandering around a hundred lakes remind me of the scenery around Schloß Neuschwanstein – better known as the Disney castle. The long valley below Read more
The Canadian Air and Space Museum is Canada’s answer to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the American National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Located on the edge of Rockcliffe, an auxiliary airport on the eastern end of Ottawa. The museum is really more air than space. The Read more
The official residence of the Queen’s representative in Canada, the Governor General, is Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The grounds of the residence are free to visit most days of the year except when special events or state matters prohibit public access. The residence of the Prime Minister is just across Read more
Chaudière Island and Victoria Island are two of the more well-known islands on the Ottawa River. They are undergoing heavy construction in 2020 so they don’t make the best picnic destinations. Fortunately, locations such as Bate Island, Lemieux Island, and Petrie Island are all great green locations. Located on a Read more
I visited the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario on the week of Remembrance Day. The museum is operated by lovely elderly gentlemen who are former members of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Ottawa is home to the Canadian War Museum that has exhibits on more than Read more
On the Ottawa side of the Ottawa River, the Canadian War Museum is run by the Canadian Museum of History, located on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River. The striking architecture was designed by Raymond Moriyama to bring peace and hope into a museum dedicated to the history of Read more
Brockville was renamed from Elizabethtown after Major General Sir Isaac Brock, who helped win the war of 1812 against the Americans. Fitting with the naming of the town, it was also one of the first Loyalist settlements in Upper Canada back in 1784. Its courthouse was built in 1843 and Read more
Merrickville is one of the most charming villages in the Ottawa valley. Its locks on the Rideau River resemble the ones installed at the Rideau Canal in Ottawa by Carleton University’s campus. On one side of the river stands the lock station and a blockhouse. The old blockhouse has been Read more
Pascal and I have known each other since we were 13 and in Hong Kong. When you know someone for a dozen years, you’re not really worried about embarrassing yourself in front of them anymore. He moved to Montreal a couple of years ago and I moved to Ottawa last Read more