Ottowa, a capital city.

The Palace of Westminster with a French touch. That's how I would describe the Canadian Houses of Parliament in Ottowa. We arrived here yesterday in glorious sunshine, and promptly decided to take a bus trip round the city. Our guide was just great, she took all the banter from her audience with great humour, and I got to correct here pronunciation of "Edingbro".

But the French influence doesn't stop there- just across the road is the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel, built in the classic French Style in the 20's, and certainly the most expensive hotel in Ottowa.

There is so much work going on here on the Government buildings, almost all have cranes and scaffolding on them or part of them. This is the east wing of the Parliamentary complex containing offices etc.

But there is a modern side to Ottowa as well, on the left is the PM's offices, but behind are many newer office and retail blocks as befits a modern city.
Unfortunately the next day, a Sunday, it poured down so our plans had to be modified somewhat. We were able to do a tour of the parliament buildings, taking in the House of Commons and the Senate, an elected upper house which works similar to our own Parliament. In fact the whole setup is based on our own democracy.

The Commons Chamber.

After Canada was formed in 1841 Kingston, Montreal, Toronto and Quebec contended for the designation of the capital city. When she was asked in 1857 Queen Victoria decided on Ottowa, right on the border of Ontario and Quebec, in what was at that time a small logging town. The fathers of Confederation confirmed and shortly afterwards commenced building the city.

While the whole building is impressive, I was particularly taken with the Parliamentary library, a circular building containing thousands of books and details of all the laws passed since Canada was formed. In the centre is a statue of Queen Victoria. As it is almost a separate building, protected by an iron door, it was the only part of the Parliamentary building untouched after a disastrous fire in 1916, the cause of which has never been established.

As the rain continued we decided to spend the rest of the day at the Air and Space Museum,but even getting there we got soaked!

This museum has some of the best early aircraft exhibits that I have seen anywhere, some thirty planes from the first and second world wars, as well as later ones.The one above is the first plane to fly in Canada, built by Alexander Graham Bell. There are a Lancaster, a Hurricane and a Spitfire as well as a Gloucester Gladiator. I am currently reading a book featuring the BE2 from the first world war and I was pleased to find one in the exhibition.

Part of the building was occupied with a "Star Trek" exhibition, where we were able to sign on as a Trekkie student, we spent a pleasant hour in there playing with the various items including a phaser and a transporter machine. They reckoned I would make a Commander, and Anne a Science officer!

The Ottowa River and skyline

A corridor of power.

In the Captain's Chair.

The Spitfire and the Lancaster.