Ottawa

It’s time again to bring to you more of my tales from the road. Yes, we took another road trip, just M, myself and a now 14 month old D. This time we headed up to the Great White North. This became D’s second international trip and he had the fortune of meet some of the most warm and friendly people I have ever met, the Canadians. J

We started our trip with the capital, Ottawa. But before I get to it I must first mention the amazingly delish lunch we had on our way to Canada. It was a few minutes detour off the highway and into a German restaurant by the name of Hallo Berlin in Conklin, New York. Now this was our first time eating German food and the fact that we do not eat pork or drink alcohol made the menu all the more daunting. I don’t know why we chose German of all cuisines but I’m glad we did because my alpenwurst and M’s schnitzel was terrific. So if you ever find yourself in the area I would make it a point to stop by for a bite.

Now back to Ottawa. We stayed at the Capital Hill hotel and Suites.. which was just a few minutes’ walk from the parliament buildings as well as the Byward Market where you can get just about anything to eat, The hotel itself was very nice and the staff extremely helpful. They let us use their freezer for the ice packs I was carrying for D’s food and when M locked himself out of our bathroom we had someone up within minutes to solve the problem plus we got a room upgrade free of cost enabling us to have a kitchenette.

As for the sightseeing, we walked all over downtown Ottawa.. along the Rideau canal and saw the incredible locks.. which I had read about but did not quite understand the allure until I saw them myself. They were a must see.. and standing on the locks was thrilling. 

We walked the grounds of the parliament buildings and witnessed the surprisingly interesting sound and light show that takes place at the parliament building at night. Instead of what I expected to be dull and dated was something modern, relevant and graphically awesome. 

We visited the beautiful Notre Dame and ate some delicious meals in the Byward market including amazingly good Thai food at the Royal Palace.. a steak penne that I am still thinking about at the Blue Cactus, an unfortunately disappointing meal and milkshake at Zak’s and of course a sample of the famous Beaver Tail and some Poutine. But the best I save for last which was breakfast at the SconeWitch. 

I do not have words to describe the awesomeness of this breakfast which we devoured twice. The first day was a weekend so we had the brunch which consists of scrambled eggs with your choice of topping.. I chose to go with the Mediterranean.. some green, fresh fruit and a scone of your choice plus some jam. I choose the vanilla cream scone and the strawberry jam while M picked the orange and cranberry scone. I must tell you that I do not like jam.. I never eat jam..ever. I ate the jam.. I slathered it onto my scone and loved every last delicious morsel. In fact I was so enamored I ordered the same scone and jam the next time too.. (unfortunately entranced my the awesomeness on the plate in front of me I forgot to take a picture until I had already started to dig in) and the sad part was that with every bite I realized that I would in all likelihood never eat this meal again. 

All in all we spent a lovely three days in Ottawa.. with forecasts of rain but encountered never more than a light drizzle during the night.

Have you been to Ottawa.. what was your favorite thing about it? Where did you stay and what did you eat?

A little something funny I saw in Byward Market

Stay tuned… coming soon Montreal.

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