Reunion part I

At the end of May I got together with my friend Carla for a week, after not spending any real substantial time together since 1983, when she visited me at my parent's house near Montreal. We used to write letters back in the day when the mailman had job security. At first we wrote a lot, there was a lot to say about the immigration, graduating schools and that sort of events, but as we both got busier, and our lives changed, sometimes there were some pauses. Later we connected again, and communicated via e-mail which made it easier to send smaller letters faster and more often.

There was lots of catching up to be done over 28 years and two continents, and the end of May is a nice time to come to this area. Usually that is. Shortly before she arrived it had been raining already for about two weeks, and I was convinced that it was about to stop. It just had to, because it is weird for this kind of weather to persist this time of year. Sure enough two days before her arrival we had sunshine and 27 degrees, and she was told: "definitely bring shorts!" We're good now! Spring rain has stopped.The photographer and I carried the oleander outside, convinced that frost was behind us.  At least as far as that is concerned we were right.

She arrived in the evening on Saturday May 21st, when it was already dark, and there was little to really see except to get a basic silhouetted impression of the area. She immediately recognized the house from pictures, and after unloading the luggage and unwinding with something to drink, we called it a night.

On Sunday it was the before last day of the tulip festival, and a trip into Ottawa was on the menu. We picked to scenic route and stopped at Hog's Back Falls. (Previously also described here and here.) The river was pretty swollen from the recent rains and there was a fair volume of water passing over and between the rocks. While it does not have anywhere near the impact of Niagara Falls, it is nevertheless a little oasis of semi-tamed rough nature in the city, and the churning water fascinates the same as a fire does.

  Hog's back falls. Photo credit: Carla

We continue on and explain that we are passing by the Central Experimental Farm, and what it's purpose is. The gardens are still very bare, and it is not worth it to stop there at this time. We stop at the nearby Hartwell locks. While the locks look very rustic with all their hand operated equipment, they are in itself nothing special to a Dutch person, and Carla is surprised to notice on the explanation boards that the Rideau Canal and its locks constitute a UNESCO World Heritage site. The canal is actually two rivers that start at Big Rideau Lake and one half flows to the Ottawa River, while the other half flows to the St-Lawrence river. Panasonic makes sure that the text and diagrams on the interpretive board are forever available in JPG format with the click of a single button.

On we go to the park on the shore of Dow's Lake and immediately get stuck in a mini traffic jam. At Preston Street a fair has been set up with a Ferris wheel, and everyone is trying to park as close to it as possible. We take the opposite approach and drive to the northern end of the park's tulip beds and park in a residential side street. Although this is the end of the festival, there were still plenty of tulips to be admired, although many were clearly past their peak beauty. The place was pretty packed with people and a good number of hobby photographers. We walked the length of the park to the point where every year interpretive boards are set up for the duration of the festival, explaining the situation in Holland during WWII and the origin of the festival. Carla is surprised at the amount of people admiring the flowers, and we explain that this is both the first and possibly the most important festival of the season. You have to really have lived through our winters to understand how obsessive we can be about spring.

Tulip beds in Commissioner's Park. Photo credit: Carla

We saunter back to the car along the same route, and then drive via the rest of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to Elgin Street, past the National War Memorial and the Chateau Laurier Hotel and move on to the Byward Market.

Once in "the market" it is time to have a bite to eat, and we settle on the Blue Cactus. Delicious salads and club sandwiches are served, and we spend some time talking and resting our feet before going for a walk around the market itself. Produce stalls are mixed with maple syrup, jewelery, scarves and sweaters. We come across a basket of fiddleheads, something that is considered (perhaps erroneously) very Canadian.

Couple in the Byward market with stalls in background.

On a corner is an EQ3 store where we admire furniture that is priced more like second hand cars. We're in love, until we look at the price tags. Carla informs us that "copies" of this furniture can be purchased for a far more reasonable price if you know where to find it. This is being kept in mind for future research.  The website is quite reasonably priced, but the items we saw in the store are not there............

"Maman" sculpture on Sussex Drive. Photo credit: Carla

We move on to take a drive along Sussex and point out 24 Sussex and the entrance to the park surrounding Rideau Hall. In my snotty opinion neither the park nor the exterior of the limestone block house itself are anything special to see, so we don't stop there. We continue along the Rockcliffe Parkway and the river to Rockcliffe Park, the poshest neighbourhood in Ottawa, where many an ambassadorial residence is located. We pass by Stornoway, now the official home of the leader of the opposition in Parliament, and in WWII the residence in exile of Princess Juliana and her children. Carla begins to notice that everywhere in people's gardens large amounts of tulips are planted, rather more than she expected.

We double back and make our way over Wellington Street and past the Parliament buildings and the Supreme Court of Canada. We follow the Ottawa River Parkway, and take a drive through Westboro Village, an area undergoing a metamorphosis into a more European style shopping street, and also not to far from "the house we almost bought", which now when we show her, looks positively like a dollhouse.

We then make our way back to Manotick, and drop by Nichol Island Road, pointing out my favourite abandoned house subject, and stopped at the locks to have a look. Carla thought it was a pity that no boat was transitioning through the locks, and I thought it funny that there were also no Parks Canada employees on site. Later that evening I read on the internet that the locks and canal have been temporarily closed to deal with water level issues created by the persistent heavy rain.

As a final nugget we take a tour through the Rideau Forest neighbourhood nearby to gawk at what people build when they have more money than they know what to do with. All very impressive but very isolated and devoid of people. Later in the evening we look these properties up on real estate web sites and discover that the two million and up pricetags get you more bathrooms, offices, and home theatres or playrooms, but not necessarily more bedrooms.

At home we order Chinese food.