Was it worth the 55 min. walk to the bus stop?

One of the downsides of travelling in a large van like ours is that when you are comfortably installed in a campsite in the city it seems a good idea to leave the van and enjoy public transport. With that in mind we choose city campsites for their transport convenience and enjoy a good walk.
Our campsite in Ottawa, Ottawa municipal campground, had apparently great accessibility. What it didn't say was, if you drive to the park and ride there is a great bus into the centre.
We walked to the park and ride -  it was extremely hot but Ottawa was worth it.
We drove the next day!

These two creatures were searching for food in the leaves very near us. The forest in the campsite was tinder dry and the black squirrel seemed to be in a poor condition.

Our bus ride took us right into the centre of Ottawa.

This Parliament building looks vaguely familiar! They call the tallest tower the Peace Tower. The flag on top is changed daily and the actual flags are available to Canadians citizens on request. There is a waiting list, however. 72 years long at the moment!

Another Chateau hotel similar to Chateau Frontenac in Quebec!

The Rideau canal cuts right through the heart of the city and is 200kms long in total. In 1812 the Duke of Wellington, fearing another war with the Americans, built it to provide good communications and supplies between Ottawa and Kingston, the two military centres. It was hard, brutal work for 4000 men.

It seems quite odd, today, to see sunbathers on pleasure boats in the middle of a city.
The photo shows the steep series of locks taking the boats down to river level.

These statues represent the important peace keeping operations of the Canadian military.



Ottawa has many amazing museums and galleries.
We visited the Museum of Civilisation which charted the last 1000 years of history with great exhibits.

                              

The clothes of the many first nation groups, were particularly colourful and there was an exciting selection of Totem poles.

                                                                                                                                                                                      

Our final visit was to the National Gallery of Canada which closed too soon for us to do it justice. I enjoyed the Inuit art often sculpted from caribou antler and whale bone and also the contemporary Canadian art.



This spider called 'Maman', complete with eggs, stands outside the Gallery, opposite another well spired church.