Our Tour of Ottawa

Entering Lock #1 to #8 of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa

Our first leg of the trip included the Trent Canal, St. Lawrence River, Montreal and then the Lower Ottawa River to our nations capital arriving on June 30th. We stayed on the lower side of the locks and planned to climb all 8 on the morning of July 1st. By staying on the blue line, we were first up the locks on Canada Day. We had invited our friends Patti and Dom to join us for the ride, as not many people that live in Ottawa get to experience going up the eight locks beside the parliament buildings.

The lock crew arrived at 9:30 am and within 10 minutes they had the gates open for our passage. They told us that it will take about 1 1/2 hour to get up the 8 locks so we were prepared to spend the morning locking.

It took us just under 1 hour to do all eight locks and we then cruised to a spot on the wall opposite the National Arts Center along with about 20 other boats. It was to be our home for the next two days.

History of the Canal

The Rideau Canal, a great engineering

feat of the 19th century, opened central Canada to settlement and trade. The building of the canal also brought thousands of people to the area, helping to shape the community of Bytown, known today as Ottawa, Canada's capital.

The entrance locks mark the start of a 202-kilometer route linking the Ottawa River to Lake Ontario through a system of lakes and rivers. These are connected by the channels, locks and dams that the workers built. Designed for military purposes and completed in 1832, the canal was never used for defense. Today, it is an artery for recreational boating, a national historic site and a UNESCO World Heritage site owned and operated by Parks Canada.

In Command

Lieutenant Colonel John By was in command of the mission to create a waterway through great distances of almost impenetrable rock and swamp. Faced with extremes of climate, rising costs and rampant disease, By drew on his leadership qualities , determination and extraordinary technical ingenuity to complete the Rideau Canal in six short years. Bytown was named for him and later became Ottawa.

Gruelling Labour Engineers used explosives to blast a channel through the rocks of the Canadian Shield, but it was men with picks, shovels, chisels and mallets who did the back-breaking physical work. More than 2,000 workers were needed to dig the channel, break up the rock and cart away the debris. Hundreds of them died from accidents, disease and cold while building the great canal.

The eight locks lie between the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel and Parliament Hill

At 12 noon, about 1 hour after passing through the last lock we were able to watch the Canadian Snowbirds fly directly above the Rideau Canal. It was an amazing sight and the show went on for about 20 minutes as they flew around all of Ottawa. It is very seldom that you get to experience this special show. It was difficult to get good pictures and the video does not do it any justice but here is the best we can do to let you know how they flew and in what formation. Thanks Snowbirds, for the "Excellent Show."

So here we are, July 1st in Ottawa and we actually had plans that were scheduled. Cynthia was heading to meet a friend (she has one at every port) to tour Ottawa and we three had been graciously offered a city tour by Dom. He is referred to by everyone as "Webster" famously named after the dictionary legend Webster himself. He knows everything about everything. So off we went touring the city, checking out neighborhoods and enjoying the sights and sounds of Ottawa. We got to see the development that had taken place at Lansdowne Park, home of the football, soccer and junior A hockey team. There were many restaurants, pubs and shopping places all around the stadium. Impressive to say the least. On this site is the home where the Ottawa Senators won their first Stanley Cup in 1921.

Off we went to checkout the Experimental Farm, the Italian neighborhood, Hog's Back Locks and an interesting park used by photographers for specialty pictures for weddings and other occasions. Our friend Dom even said he had his wedding pictures taken by a special tree which we posed at.

During our tour with Dom, we visited Little Italy and enjoyed looking at murals that depict the history of business's in the Italian neighbourhood.

Our afternoon was packed with visits all over the city. Unfortunately we could not get into any Federal buildings as they were all shut down for Covid-19. The parliament buildings are all undergoing a major reconstruction and the buildings did not pose well for photos as they are covered with scaffolding. We understand that our House of Commons, the Senate, our Prime Ministers office and much of our federal government have moved into temporary building while the construction is happening. We do not know when this work is expected to be completed.

Later this afternoon we were strolling along Sparks Avenue and ended up at the Cenotaph where we witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

As we strolled on the lawn of Parliament Hill we were able to view the memorial at the Eternal Flame. Last evening there were thousands gathered to participate and today the crowds we much smaller, however, it certainly was an emotional time to think about the children that have been lost.

We spent a lot of time walking the city during the daytime and in the evening. On July 1st evening there were lots of people on the streets. The restaurants have all made good accommodations to meet the health requirements for outdoor dining and most have set up tents to meet the Covid-19 regulations. Wait times for restaurants were long. The lines to get anything, including more Beaver tails for Swabbie, were not worth the wait, so we passed on the opportunity. There were families with their children strolling the streets at 10 pm but no real social distancing being practiced at all.

In the evening the buildings and cityscape is very pretty and we tried to capture as much as we could at night.

Over the past two weeks we have not had much chance to use the tender " Out Seein'" as we have been in larger water and we were always on the move. For the past two days we have been tied up at the wall in Ottawa and decided to take the dingy for a ride up and down the canal. Tonight Jan decided to stay downtown and do some shopping, and then we got a phone call. She asked if we could arrange for Swabbie to fire up the tender, drive down the canal and give her a ride back to Out to See III. Swabbie jumped, said, "Absolutely, I will go now" and off he went all by himself. He was thinking of starting a new business called Boo'Uber Water Limo Services, and only family members will understand this name. In short we call him Boo.

The Hallman Experience: Take an night off and play games all evening

Solution: When you lose just play another game and watch your Karma

We are off tomorrow morning to explore the Rideau Canal