Doors Open Ottawa

This is the second year that I attended Doors Open in Ottawa. I ended up going on the Sunday this year and as a result, wasn't able to make it to some of the locations I had wanted to see as they were only open on Saturday.

The US Embassy participated in the event this year although interested visitors had to submit an electronic request to be pre-screened for admittence to the embassy. I happily went to the US Embassy's website only to find out that the tours were now closed as all spots for the tours were filled! It was clearly a popular location and I have no doubt that MANY people would have liked to visit this building. I later overheard two ladies chatting about this on my bus-ride into work the following week. The one lady was complaining that those who likely got to visit the embassy were diplomats or family members who were alerted to the need to apply online long before the general public were informed. I have no idea on the validity of this statement but found it quite interesting none-the-less.

Besides the US Embassy, I had wanted to stop by the French Embassy as well but also was dissapointed to find out that it was closed on Sunday.

I still managaged to make a great afternoon of it however and toured three locations: Laurier House, the Canada Post Ottwa processing plant and Watson's Mill in Manotick.

Laurier House is a national historic site located in downtown Ottawa. The house was home to two of Canada's Prime Ministers - Sir Wilfred Laurier and the Rt. Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King.

A view of Laurier House from the outside:



This is the third floor library/office where Mackenzie-King spent much of his time. It is said that he preferred his office at Laurier House to the one he had on Parliment Hill. Security of the prime minister was of course paramount and during the second world war, even more so. On the main floor of the building there is a room which housed a RMCP officer around the clock. During the Lauriers' time, it was used as a closet so you can imagine then its size!



From Laurier House I headed to the Canada Post processing plant. It was really interesting to actually see how our mail gets sorted and then delivered from all over the country. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take photos inside. I do recommend this tour if the plant participates next year, especially if you have children!

From Canada Post I headed to the town of Manotick, a very pituresque town located along the Rideau River. While it may be about 15km out of town, it is still considered part of the city of Ottawa.

Watson's Mill, a flour and seed mill located in Manitock, was built in 1860 and is celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year. The mill is still in operation today and I do recommend a visit to see not only the mill, but the town of Manitock itself. There is a cute little tea room that I spotted and some very nice little shops around the mill.



This is a photo of the inside of the mill. You are able to travel from the "basement" where you can see the turbines in action down at waters level right up to the third floor where the series of levers and spindles work to turn the grinding stone to make the flour.




The mill itself has a gift shop where you can purchase flour ground at the mill or if you prefer a little less work, whole wheat bread made from this flour. I chose the latter option and was not disappointed - YUM! :-)

Cheers,

T.

Museum of Civilization

Ever aware that my time here in Ottawa is winding down, I decided to head to visit the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau (Hull) this past week. The museum is open until 8 pm every Thursday. I was able to leave work at 4 that evening and made it to the museum by 4:30 pm.

I'd decided in advance that I was also going to partake in the IMAX experience while there (they have a deal if you purchase museum and IMAX tickets together). Imagine my surprise when I found out that entrance to the museum is FREE every Thursday from 4 to 8 pm. Score! As a result, I decided to treat myself to a double IMAX feature - Mummies and Under the Sea. Being a student, the grand total was only $12. I'd highly recommend Under the Sea. The Mummies feature was good, but palled in comparison to the visuals of Under the Sea. I suppose that Under the Sea had a bit of a leg up as it used the IMAX dome technology (a huge dome screen moves in over the audience so that the images cover even your peripheral vision. Very cool.

The museum itself is very impressive and definitely worth a visit.

One of the very large totem poles on display.


A boat in the Tsimshian exhibit (from the Pacific Coast). Really well done.

A breathtaking mural painted on the domed ceiling of the museum.

One of the special exhibits was on ancient Egypt. They had lots of interactive activities for kids (both young and old) to do. One of them involved writing your name in hieroglyphics which obviously, I had to do!

Part of the display of the Canada Hall. This is located on the third floor! The church you see on the right hand side was donated by a parish in the prairies. It was dismantled and reassembled in the museum in it's entirety!

Walking through the exhibit. This is meant to mimic the streets of Quebec City in the 18th century.

Me inside the Merchant's House on Ontario Street. This is meant to represent a parlor in the later 19th century.

Mock-up of the Vancouver airport circa late 1960's, early 1970's. This little vignette was complete with overhead announcements for boarding. The phone booths in the back worked - you could dial a number and then hear accounts of immigrants' experiences on arriving in Canada.

Part of the Mythical Creatures Exhibit.

Cheers,

T.

A Rainy Saturday Well Spent...

I knew heading into the weekend that the weather was not supposed to be great for Saturday (today). Earlier this week Jo and I made of list of things I should do before leaving Ottawa. Included on this list were a number of museums. With today's forecasted rain, I thought this would be a great opportunity to check a museum off the list. I've already made tentative plans with Jo to see the Museum of Civilization next Sunday so this left The Canadian War Museum for me to tackle today.

I took the bus to the museum (it was great - I just caught it outside the house and it pretty much dropped me off in front of the museum) and was fortunate that the rain held off until I got inside the museum. The museum itself has quite a unique design. I'm told it's meant to mimic a ship.

I got to the front doors (just out of the photo to the left) and was met by a group of about 100 or so CF soldiers being addressed by their commanding officer! At first I thought, oh crap, I've totally come in the wrong entrance, but then realized that I'd just seen people go in the doors about ten or so seconds before me. It turns out this group was there to visit the museum (being part of the forces, they lwere all lined up all nicely to get their instructions).

Anyhow, after walking past these folk (and feeling a little self conscious) I went to pay my admission ($10 for students, $12 for adults) and then made my way into the museum.

WOW. In total I spent about three hours there and the time pretty much flew by. The museum is a nice mix of artifacts, displays and personal stories all wrapped up with a good dose of multimedia to keep both young and old interested. There are four sections to the museum which take visitors from first contact with Native Americans right through to Canada's peacekeeping work and the war on terrorism. I took over 100 photos and could have easily taken many more. I've chosen just a very small selection to show to you here.

This painting is of the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April-May 25, 1915). Apparently there are no photographs from this battle as soldiers were not permitted to carry cameras into the trenches. To document the war, an official war art program was established in 1916. The museum has a number of stunning war paintings. I would estimated this photo to be at least 12x15.

This photo shows an interactive display of a First World War trench. Visitors can walk through the trench and feel what it may have been like. The flash distorts it a bit as normally it's much darker (the first shot I took without a flash was completely black). They also have sounds of guns firing to enhance the experience).

This is an actual Mercedes Benz parade car that Adolf Hitler used. It was captured by the Americans in 1945 and a few years later brought to Canada.

Example of one of the displays. This one is showing a tank from World War Two. (NB: The CF guys are not part of the display).

Lebreton Gallery houses a number of different military vehicles (both new and old).

A photograph of a Cougar armoured vehicle which was driven in Bosnia by Canadian Peacekeepers. Dents and scars on the vehicle are a result of exploding mortar shells.

Just in case there was any doubt, a photo of me in the Lebreton Gallery to prove I was actually the one taking the photographs!

If you are in Ottawa, I would definitely recommend that you take the time to go through the Canadian War Museum. It has left me with a profound respect for the sacrifices that Canadians past and present have made to ensure that we may all continue to live in freedom and safety.

I will be sure to sport my red to show my support for Canadian Forces every Friday from here on it!

T.