Journey Across The Country: Day 9 - Ottawa & Capitol Hill!!

Wow!! What an amazing incredible day! After having a very off day yesterday, I was ready to get back to exploring again today!!😊

Started the day with a fabulous breakfast at my hotel and the coolest pancake maker!! You push a button and 1 min later it pops out 2 pancakes!

Then off to Capitol Hill I went! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!! If you've never been it needs to be on your list of places to go! It will truly give you a greater love for our amazing country! Now I must for warn you, I'm about to overload you with pictures! But there was so many cool angles and places to see and things to look at that I couldn't help but take way too many pictures!

I quickly found a parking space and headed off in what I thought was the direction of the Parliament buildings, knowing that they were only two blocks away! Well after walking about 10 blocks I finally figured something has got to be wrong! So I turned on my GPS and realized I'd been walking the opposite direction the entire time! What sucks the most was when I turned around I realized if I had of just looked behind me I would've seen the Parliament buildings at the end of the street!

Anyway, I went to secure tickets for the free tours and wasn't able to get any tours right away. So I took off to explore the sites while I was waiting!

Parliament

East Block. Unfortunately West Block and the tomb of the unknown solider were both under renovation so I don't have any pictures of them.

There were amazing carvings all around the east block and it was so neat to see! Apparently each door was used for a different section of Parliament, for example agriculture, health, etc. And so each store had its own unique carvings to go with what it represented. Some of the doors were amazing!

I then took off to explore the Rideau Canal and its cool lock system!

I finally stopped for a lunch break and then took my family on a FaceTime tour of the area!

Finally 6pm came and it was time for my tour of the Peace Tower and Memoral Room! In the Peace tower we got to go to the top and look out the observation deck! Super cool views of the city!

The Memorial Room is amazing! On the walls are plaques with the wars Canada fought and different poems...

In the floor are tiles with the names of each war, and then all around the room are glass cases containing books. Each book is for a different war as well as one that is ongoing and contains the names of those presently serving...but in each book are handwritten the names of the soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom! A page is turned each day in each of the books.

Above is the one that contains all the names from WWI.

The room itself is stunning and sacred...

Next it was on to see the Rotunda...

The room is round obviously but I captured this panorama of it anyway.

Finally it was time for the tour! Eeek! They took us to the House of Commons first and these were a few sights along the way...

Below is the House of Commons...our Prime Minister sits on the Left hand side.

Then it was on to the Library! This was my favourite room! It is also the oldest room! In 1916 there was a fire that destroyed all of the Parliament but did not touch the library due to the heavy steel doors guarding it! It is a noticeably brighter room due to the time period That it was built in. It was obvious the rest of parliament was built at a different time as it had a more dark gloomy look to it. It was rebuilt during the war which accounted for the more gloomy styling.

There was also some pretty amazing architecture as we walked between places...

And finally last but not least... The Senate! The paintings on the walls are from World War 1 and the tiles on the ceiling represent our allies during that war.