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.