Ottawa deserves a morning, I decided. Naturally I headed for the ByWard Market in the morning.
Ah fruitland.
I stocked up on apples here.
Château Laurier, a famous hotel.
The riverways and canals are charming. Ottawa has lots of greenery and walking trails by the rivers and canals and is a jogger's dream come true. Three rivers and the Rideau Canal meet at Ottawa. I had never seen water this blue. It must be the northern latitude. It must be a wonderful city for cyclists and joggers. But I would miss nightlife.
Quebec City was within striking distance. I decided to leave Montreal for the tail end of the trip. Got to have some urban landscape to look forward to. I made the mistake of driving through the Montreal Metropolitan at 4 pm in the afternoon. That will teach me not to read every blue line on the map as a freeway.
Parking was a problem in Quebec City too. I ended up just outside the old city walls. The walls were a pleasant surprise. It was the first time I had seen anything like it in a North American city. It felt like I was in Europe again. Indeed, the street entertainers, the artistes and the lights of the restaurants preserve that impression.
Quebecers are mostly Francophones. My French served me well enough. It was late, I hadn't had dinner so I ended up eating McNuggets with D and P, two other hostellers. Later we sipped beer while listening to a two man jazz band that played like Jean-Luc Ponty. There were many pretty young lasses hanging around the local disco. I couldn't place my finger on it. Perhaps the French know how to dress.
Lake Ontario had narrowed enough that I could now see the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence.
There are many islands in the stream. I imagined it must be enchanting to cruise through those islands at night. I was reminded of the time I took the Stockholm-Helsinki ferry. Moving through the Stockholm archipelago at dusk we saw islands of all sizes and shapes. Some large enough for a house and a garden, others thickly wooded.
A bit of colour on a glum day.
I left the McDonald-Cartier Freeway and turned up 16 to Ottawa. Looking for parking was a nightmare repeated in all Canadian cities, but especially bad in Ottawa. It is invariably more expensive the closer one is to downtown. Since I didn't want to get have to get up at 7 am to move my car from the street, I chose to pay the car park.
The hostel was very interesting, located in an old gaol. It was actually warm and cozy inside. There were too many groups in the hostel. Groups are the bane of single hostellers because they are noisy. I don't get to sleep in a cell; they put me in a bed in a hallway because of the crowd. Even the shower is in a cell. It's about 1 am before the hyperactive kids quieten down.
Downtown Ottawa is deserted at night. It is pretty in the way planned cities are—cold beauty. I attended a sound and light show in the cold night (about 15C) outside Parliament House. Surprisingly it had humour and not as much hype as I had expected.
