Thanks to our late night last night, we were all pretty slow moving this morning. "K" and I still got up and got started at 7, but by the time we got everyone clean, fed, and packed up, we were climbing into the car at 10:20am. Ah well! We drove towards downtown Ottawa and got to see a bridge lift up to allow a boat to pass underneath it. We parked in a garage near the ByWard Market and set out on foot.
Our first stop was a beautiful catholic church. I love looking at the stained glass all these old churches seem to have. Right across the street was a large spider statue, which was kinda cool. The kids posed beneath it for a picture. We walked a bit further, past some beautiful buildings, statues, and a park before crossing to the large OTTAWA sign. The kids posed beneath it for another picture. "A" is really not a fan of posing for pictures, but we make him anyway.
The sign is at one end of the ByWard market, so we ventured further in. It seemed to be marketed as similar to Pike's Place in Seattle, but it was quite a bit different. This one was 90% outdoors and it just didn't feel like Pike's Place. It was cool though, and there was a weird little cloud sculpture thing inside one of the buildings. We stopped at Bytown JOS and grabbed some delicious poutine before hitting the road again.
Our trip to Montréal in Québec was relatively uneventful. As soon as we passed into Québec, things definitely felt foreign. In Ontario, all of the government signs were in English and French, but in Québec everythiing is only in French. The drivers were also EXTREMELY aggressive. Everyone was driving 20km/hr or more over the speed limit, cutting people off left and right, and refusing to let anyone over (which is probably why people cut others off so much). They also frequently use a flashing green light on street lights instead of a left turn arrow, so that was a fun little surprise. Our first destination was the Biosphere Environmental Museum, which looked like a massive dome made out of metal. It definitely made me think of the hit 1996 film starring Pauly Shore, Bio-Dome.
Unfortunately, they had some electrical issues today so they were closed. Along with every bathroom on the island. The area around the Biosphere was beautiful though, so we walked around while the kids raced from one spot to another, seeing who was faster (it was always "A", because he has longer legs than all the rest of them). Somehow, "C" kept finding puddles to splash in and once again drenched her socks and shoes. We were all pretty warm before long due to all the humidity, so we walked back - all except "C", who insisted on being carried.
A few times today, we drove past a really cool old brewery for Molson. I snapped a picture of the sign at the top of their building. We had lots of time to look at it, as traffic was VERY congested here. It took us 23 minutes to travel 2.1 miles (by car).
Our next stop wasn't very far away, we went to the Old Port of Montréal area. They were setting up right on the waterfront for something called The Grand Poutinefest, which would have been awesome, but it doesn't start until tomorrow. We walked down the waterfront a bit to a place that rents quadcycles, which are basically 2 tandem bikes stuck together with much better seats and a steering wheel. We had enough room for all 7 of us on the bike, which was awesome. We cruised around for a little bit, getting quite sweaty which was gross. But probably good for us? I dunno. We're doing our best to stay hydrated! Afterwards, we let the kids run around a little park there for a bit before heading back to the hotel for pizza, showers, and bed. Back stateside tomorrow!
