Last week John had a triple hernia operation and I doubt either of us imagined his recovery would be quite so swift. Needless to say, we're grateful for small miracles and while John took it easy for four straight days (I know, impressive, huh?) by day five he began to suffer from cabin fever (or perhaps I should say condo fever).
To remedy the situation we headed outdoors for a brief stroll on day four and over the next couple of days increased the time until 60 minutes was easy peasy. This past Monday we took the bus downtown in order to walk a section of the Ottawa River Pathway that begins on the left side of the Rideau Canal and continues west below the Parliament Buildings.
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| Rideau Canal with Chateau Laurier Hotel in background |
Not surprising at this time of year there were a number of boats on the Ottawa River wanting access to the Rideau Canal. They had to wait, however, for those vessels making the progression from the canal down to the river.
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| Ottawa River |
The locks are opened and closed manually by Parks Canada staff and quite a few folks stopped to watch the proceedings.
A totally different type of vessel caught my attention and I quickly added a crossing by this mode of travel to my bucket list. The Aqua-taxi takes passengers to and from the Museum of Civilization as well as Richmond Landing to the west (which is coincidentally how far we happened to walk).
From the Aqua-taxi location just past the Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River Pathway we admired the glass dome of the National Gallery of Canada.
Continuing westward I was grateful for the partial shade along the walkway as the temperature hovered between 28C - 30C. (John, of course, loves the heat so soaked up as many rays as possible.)
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| Confederation Building on left, Supreme Court of Canada on right |
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| Bronson Pulp Mill ruins at Richmond Landing |
Once we reached Richmond Landing we spotted the Aqua-taxi dock with a great view of the dome of the Parliament Library (centre).
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| Parliament Library - photo courtesy of Google |
...as well as another super view of the National Gallery dome.
This impressive structure is just behind where I was standing to take the above photos. It is the Royal Canadian Navy Monument dedicated to those who served our country.
At this point we abandoned the Ottawa River Pathway for Wellington Street to return downtown.
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| Love the flags! |
As we walked past the Library and Archives Building we stopped to view the city in miniature as well as get our bearings.
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| Library and Archives Building - photo courtesy of Google Maps |
Then we continued eastward, past the Supreme Court of Canada building...
...Confederation Building...
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| Confederation Building |
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| Lovely reflections of Confederation Building on Bank of Canada building |
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| Another reflection of Confederation Building |
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| Parliament Hill West Block |
After passing the Chateau Laurier Hotel...
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| Chateau Laurier Hotel - photo courtesy of Google |
...we reached the Byward Market and as it was hot, hot, hot opted for refreshments at the Highlander Pub.
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| John and his Belhaven Black Stout |
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| Bacon wrapped scallops minus one John devoured before I could take a pic! |
We had a lovely time and much to my dismay I did NOT notice the Highlander waiters donned kilts until we were ready to leave. I blame it on (A) me being perched on a bar stool, (B) my admiring our beautiful surroundings in the Byward Market and (C) the fact that for a change I was looking up instead of down. I even spotted this lovely weather vane on a building across the way. Next time we're at the Highlander, however, I guarantee I'll be looking for men in kilts!
Another favourite pub of ours and right next door to The Highlander is the Auld Dubliner & Pour House. The hanging baskets are stunning and are a definite reason I failed to spot those kilts!
All in all it was an awesome day and John once again amazed me as our proposed hour long venture morphed into four hours from start to finish. One might think that Scottish stout he downed helped the healing process. It certainly didn't hurt!
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