To The Capital

The girls we won't forgive for introducing us to Poutine.
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We were beginning to get itchy feet; we wanted to see some more of Canada. We decided to take a couple of days in the countries capital. Ottawa was a 2 hour bus journey from Montreal, and was situated in another Province. We travelled west from the French dominated Quebec to Ontario. On the way our bus was hit by a Winter storm, the first time we had seen the potential ferocity of Canada’s weather. Ice, sleet and snow battered our coach. Mike was particularly pleased with himself as he had borrowed an extra jacket from Jim, Max on the other hand had forgotten his hood for his jacket, a scarf and gloves, it was going to be a long weekend for him.

At the NHL hockey match, where we were sitting up in clouds.
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Once we reached the city the weather had settled and the snow replaced by clear blue skies, a 20 minute walk and we were at our hostel, a reformed prison that had been renovated into a haven for travellers. This place was full of atmosphere, and apparently ghosts, it had been the sight of Canada’s last public hanging! We were thrown into our cells (which surprisingly were comfortable and welcoming) unpacked and went to find out what Ottawa had to offer.

We had arranged to get an NHL game whilst we were there, where better to see the national game than in the countries capital. With the help of Jim we had just managed to order some of the last tickets the night before, we took a local bus to the Corel Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators, they were playing against the Boston Bruins. A 20,000 sell-out lead to a great ambience, the only problem being the $8 for a can of Canadian Beer, we both refrained and settled to drink from the cup of atmosphere that the local fans provided. We stood for the national anthems, turning our backs accordingly for the America’s ‘Star Spangled Banner’.

The Capital Parliment buildings.
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Now hockey is a complicated game, at one point it had Mike screaming for “handball” to the amusement of local fans (for reference players can use their hands to catch and put down a puck). But the most infuriating part of the game(as with all American sports) was the constant stoppages for commercial breaks. The breaks were filled with ‘entertainment’, every 20 minutes a fiddler would suddenly appear from within the fans, playing a feel good tune to the delight of the roaring masses. But the most astonishing event was when the game got going a 10 foot Lion with an even bigger gun began to fire hotdogs into tier 3 of the crowd. This haltered the game for over 5 minutes until Sparty the Lion had fired his last wiener. After that the game got going Senators winning 5-2, one short of the promotional slice of pizza(we weren't impressed!) however we are now devoted Sens fans.

Ottawa from the top of the Peace Tower,(a part of Parliament)
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After the hockey we travelled into Ottawa central, put on our glad rags and hit the local hotspots. However being a Tuesday night this entailed a local bar/club packed with students. A night of drinking with locals followed by a typical American '4th meal of the day' at a local diner. We were advised by some local totti to try the 'Poutine', something we had refrained from trying the previous week. however it was either the beer or the girls that made us order chips, gravy and curd cheese. As disgusting as it sounds we barely eat a 3rd and settled for massive Canadian burgers.

Meet the shockers...
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The following day we headed towards Parliament Hill, and with the -20'C wind chill we promptly moved inside. The houses of parliament and the House of Lords were extremely similar to those in Britain and the Colonial links were clear from the many paintings of British Monarchs. Michael hassled the tour guide with numerous questions and political remarks, which she duly answered with great gusto. We wanted to see more of the city but hampered by Max's whining (due to forgetting his Winter gear) we took refuge in the tourist centre to view a informative video on the history of Ottawa.

Picture of the boys at the Uni hockey match
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Hooked on hockey, Jim suggested we get tickets for a local Uni game, a derby between McGill and Concordia to Montreal Unis. A sold out Friday night saw 1500 students cram into McGill’s Ice Rink to watch their boys thrash Concordia 7-2. The atmosphere, albeit smaller, was much more intense and saw rival fans singing, chanting and sledging in true British fashion. Of course Max and mike joined in and even added a few of our own( namely British anthems). Once again the locals were hooked on our Englishness, and after the game guided us to Montreal's Superclub- 'La Boom'. Partying hard to the wee hours we managed to miss the last bus home. Due to some financial complications( max leaving his card and Mikes being cancelled a taxi was not feasible, despite our bests efforts to haggle the $40 fare to the measly $7 we scrambled together). This lead to Max calling Jim at 3:30 asking for a lift. Jim as kind as ever picked us up saying "kids will be kids". Sorry Jim.

Mike's crap snow angel
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Our last weekend involved watching copious amounts of American Sports, we are now experts in Hockey, Football and Basketball. Our departure night Sue prepared a wonderful roast dinner with all the trimmings. It was the perfect way to finish a great Canadian adventure.