I spent today wandering around the grand sights along the Ottawa river and I loved it. Unlike most other capital cities, this place is very human and an oasis of calm compared with Washington, London or Paris – even as tourists line up for tickets to tour the Parliament building and take selfies everywhere.. All you expect to find in a modern capital city is here; impressive government buildings and manicured grounds, amazing museums, a river and waterways, monuments, markets, tourists and traffic – but walking around is easy, nobody seems to be in a hurry and even the security is very visible but unobtrusive.

I found breakfast in the ByWard market area and then walked towards Parliament Hill, passing the Rideau Canal. I took a few photos but it was cloudy, and predicted to clear later, so I got tickets for a 1:20 tour of Parliament and headed over to the War Museum. This is a great place, with a historical timeline of Canada’s involvement in war that also serves to explain much of Canada’s political and cultural history. The displays are educational but not boring and I was fascinated. A separate area displays military hardware, from small arms to planes, dating from the 18th century. I had allowed myself about two hours but could have easily spent another two hours there.

Unfortunately, as I walked back towards Parliament along the river-walk, I had a problem with the SD card in my camera and, since I had no time to get another, I was unable to take any photos for the rest of the day. The Parliament building had some amazing sights, especially the library, so I have now bought a new memory card and plan to take another tour of Parliament before I leave town tomorrow just to get photos.

No video today as I have not even seen my car. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I hope I get some better photos but here are three of today’s:

The Rideau Canal has a sequence of working locks as it descends to the Ottawa River.

The centre block of the Parliament BuildingView of the Ottawa River from the river-walk