A Well of Inspiration: Ottawa

A sea of Red and White - Canada Day Pt. 3

3:29 PM

Hello Friends! Everyone is familiar with the expression "time flies" right? When I was younger I heard this expression wa...

3:29 PM

Hello Friends!

Everyone is familiar with the expression "time flies" right?

When I was younger I heard this expression way too many times from my parents and my immediate reaction would be to roll me eyes, proclaim that they are just old and that this would never be any of my concern.

Boy was I wrong!!

The last time I was in Ottawa celebrating Canada day was in 2011, when I drove up with my best friend. Documented here.

Being back this time around, it felt like no time had passed at all, but really two years had flown by and my life was completely different, in a good way.

Here's what I got up to this year:

Canada D'EH....get it ;)

Surfing fitness. Best idea ever. The guy who invented this is a genius. I only wish I had his details. I would have totally passed it on.

This little fellow is my new celebrity crush. His name is Crusoe and he is a celebrity Dachshund. Check him out here. He's such a cutie.

This is me doing my best I love Canada jig.

The past three years I have celebrated Canada Day in a pretty epic way! I wonder what next year will bring.

Chris Hadfield, Carly Rea Jepsen, Metric...oh my

1:25 PM

Hi Friends! To continue on from where we left of here . The end of the day before Canada Day, we got to watch the rehearsals for the big s...

1:25 PM

Hi Friends!

To continue on from where we left of here. The end of the day before Canada Day, we got to watch the rehearsals for the big show the next day.
Unfortunately, we knew we could not stay into the night for actual Canada Day, so we decided to hang around and pretend.

As soon as we got there we heard Chris Hadfield perform and my brother became extremely excited.

He got to meet his idol and I paped him doing so.

As the night went on, we were graced by performances from Carly Rea Jepsen, Terri Clark and Metric.

This is Carly.

During the rehearsal downtime, we got a bit crazy infront of the Canada flag backdrop.

And basically made fools of ourselves.

Terri Clark

Metric

I am really glad we stuck around as the performances were really good and we got a sneak peek into how the production of the show is done before the big day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when we were surrounded by a sea of patriotic Candians in red and white.

Canada Day in Ottawa Pt. 1

7:31 AM

Hello Friends! Nothing makes me more proud to be Canadian than to be around other proud Canadians. One of the things I love most about th...

7:31 AM

Hello Friends!

Nothing makes me more proud to be Canadian than to be around other proud Canadians.
One of the things I love most about this country is how patriotic our nation is, without being too in your face about it.

Last weekend was Canada Day. We celebrated by joining my brother and his gf and going to the nations capital, Ottawa, and having a good ol' beaver tail, maple syrup, Canuck time.

We arrived on Sunday June 30th and took it upon ourselves to check out the local sites, as my man toy had never been to Ottawa. He's British and in love with Canada, so naturally he was excited.

We even tried some beavertails. Clive had apple cinnamon and I had maple syrup butter and chocolate. YUMMM

Ottawa is known for its large market, called ByWard Market. It is very similar to a Spitalfields or Borough market in London. It has loads of stalls with many hand crafted trinkets.

You know you are in Canada when!

This lock is probably the most intricate I have ever seen. It starts off so low and comes all the way up as you see here. It takes a super long time as well. While we were there, there was a few boats waiting to cross onto the other side and it took at least about an hour, as they were still there after we came back.

This is the view of Parliament hill from the back. Such a lovely building.

We even came across Woddy Wood Pecker and his friend. They were so cute.

Then I decided I wanted to make myself a flower crown, but much to my dismay, I had forgotten how.

Thankfully Clive came to the rescue and made it for me. Go figure :)

Later we were joined by my bro and his lovely gf for some dinner and more sight seeing.

To think that just a year ago, I was celebrating Canada Day in Trafalgar square, smack dab in the middle of London with Clive. Oh, how far we have come.

Stay tuned for the rest of the evening, where we spent time with Chris Hadfield, Carly Rea Jepsen and Metric.

What is your favourite part about Canada Day? Are you Canadian? If not, where are you from and when is your national day celebration?

Let me know, as I would love to learn more about where you guys are from and what your traditions are.