5am Amber Alert
You know that alert system we have for warning people about earthquakes and tsunamis that fires a loud alert on your mobile? They have that here in Canada too, but they use it for other things as well. For example the police can use it for Amber alerts. For those that don't know, amber alerts are alerts issued when a child goes missing, originally named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996. So at 5am this morning my phone started making a horrendous screech, all I saw was child abduction before I hit the "make this noise go away" button. I looked into it further to work out what was going on and found the Amber alert. The good news is the 3 year old child was later found. It was quite a shock at the time though.
At a more reasonable time we got up for breakfast. If you ever want to confuse a bed and breakfast owner ask for nothing other than toast at breakfast. I've done it in two different places in my life and both times they've looked dumbfounded. After breakfast we went to try and do laundry, but both laundromats in walking distance were unexpectedly closed. I think this city is conspiring against us. Instead we kitted up and went for the walk our host had recommended up the river to the falls. It was cold and drizzly, but the rain never got too bad so it was manageable. We've been pretty lucky weather wise, it hasn't been great in Ottawa but it's been better than predicted. The falls were a dam at the point the river's met. There were signs saying no swimming. Personally I feel they should have left that one to Darwin.
For lunch we hit up Byward markets which were interesting, though probably would have been better in the weekend. If you lived here they would be great though, lots of flowers, fresh bread and fresh veges.
After lunch we tried the Bytown museum but it was closed (damn conspiring city) so opted instead to walk around Parliament hill. Large parts of it are fenced off for construction work but you can still walk around the fence line and get a look at the view. We had also intended to go on one of the free tours of the building but stupidly didn't check beforehand and when we got to the city discovered you of course need to book and it was all booked out.
So instead of Parliament we went for a tour of the Supreme Court which is a block over, also free, and it turns out doesn't require booking a head. We were led around by a law student and shown the federal appeals court and the supreme court room and given a brief rundown of the Canadian justice system (quite like ours though more provincial variations it seems) and of the history of the Supreme court and the building. The building was designed by a guy called Ernest Cormier who was obsessed with symmetry - to the point where there are a whole lot of things in the building never used just so it looks symmetrical, e.g two witness boxes in the federal appeals court. Another interesting fact, Supreme court justices have to retire at 75. I think the Americans could learn from that.
At a more reasonable time we got up for breakfast. If you ever want to confuse a bed and breakfast owner ask for nothing other than toast at breakfast. I've done it in two different places in my life and both times they've looked dumbfounded. After breakfast we went to try and do laundry, but both laundromats in walking distance were unexpectedly closed. I think this city is conspiring against us. Instead we kitted up and went for the walk our host had recommended up the river to the falls. It was cold and drizzly, but the rain never got too bad so it was manageable. We've been pretty lucky weather wise, it hasn't been great in Ottawa but it's been better than predicted. The falls were a dam at the point the river's met. There were signs saying no swimming. Personally I feel they should have left that one to Darwin.
Cold weather city problems.
Canadian geese ducklings! Mum's photo is better
Frank not staying still long enough for a good photo.
Ceder Waxwing
Centennial Eternal Flame (cue Atomic kittens)
So instead of Parliament we went for a tour of the Supreme Court which is a block over, also free, and it turns out doesn't require booking a head. We were led around by a law student and shown the federal appeals court and the supreme court room and given a brief rundown of the Canadian justice system (quite like ours though more provincial variations it seems) and of the history of the Supreme court and the building. The building was designed by a guy called Ernest Cormier who was obsessed with symmetry - to the point where there are a whole lot of things in the building never used just so it looks symmetrical, e.g two witness boxes in the federal appeals court. Another interesting fact, Supreme court justices have to retire at 75. I think the Americans could learn from that.
Supreme court building - note the symmetry.
Allwood - this guy pops up all over. Two of his statues are out front.
Corner stone laid by Queen Mum - it has the wrong date because their ship got delayed and they turned up a day late and the stone was already engraved.
After a quick look around the Royal Bank of Canada museum (warm, dry and free) we found a drink and then dinner at a posher than expected fish restaurant before legging it home with another beaver tail in hand. I'm going to need to go on a serious diet when I get home. Still, 25, 337 steps today so that's pretty good.
One other thing, the part of town we're staying in is surrounded by embassies, but they're also just all over this city (of course). So far we've seen the American, Russian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Kenyan (High Com), Australian (High Com), Croatian, Spanish, Japanese and Brunei. Here's me looking like an idiot outside the Russian embassy which is just around the corner from where we're staying.
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