Tripping Over Thanksgiving

No dear friends, not in the figurative sense! A whirlwind trip with M to visit E offered me my first ever trip to our Nation’s capital! Those familiar will recognize this as the National Gallery of Canada. [Or so says the accompanying photo taken purely for identification purposes!]

And although I am deathly afraid of arachnids, I could not resist the next photo….. the identifying feature of the Gallery I have been told!

I don’t think you could have asked for a more perfect day – blazing blue October sky and enough warmth in the air to encourage one to meander at a leisurely pace to take in all the sights. I admit to being surprised by the fact that this section of Ottawa was far more laid back than say downtown Toronto. It was nice not be to swamped with tourists and people scurrying on their ways to work, although, it was Thanksgiving Monday as well!

I am very much a homebody, just ask the green residents of my garden, but when M suggested a roadtrip to visit E, the simple equation of M & E = fun fun fun! immediately came to mind. How could one resist! I had never been this far east before, ever, before this trip!

Of course for me there is no such thing as a trip without plant photographs!

The bright yellow and red feathery flower-heads of the annual Celosia are a favourite of E so I simply had to include one for posterity!

The closer we got to the Parliament buildings, the more I was overcome with a sudden pride for being Canadian.

A difficult photo, as the eye finds itself swimming between the three obvious subject matters at hand: the locks of the Rideau Canal in the foreground, and in the distance the Canadian Museum of Civilization located in neighboring Quebec.

M & E had the rare opportunity to share a laugh with HM Queen Elizabeth who was visiting as part of her Jubilee! I wonder how many other tourists have used this as a perfect backdrop or perhaps  only we three musketeers had thought of it!

Our reservation at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier had inexplicably been lost when we went to check in for the night! Seriously! How could such a thing happen!

Faimont Chateau Laurier and Hotel 6 do have a similar ring to them do they not? Truth be told, it was a daytrip for us, but next time…… you better have the penthouse suite ready at my beck and call!

    The Canadian War Memorial fraught with the realistic atrocities of war, was the perfect testament to the bravery and valor of our ancestors, their courage and the inevitable sacrifices that were given to ensure our freedom. Hauntingly beautiful.

In the distance the clock tower told us it was time to take a break and seek out a cold beverage and as it tuned out a bite to tide us over until we made it back to E’s to begin the dinner preparations. As good a place as any to take a break.