Ottawa

Living here for almost 2 years now…

My wife is from Ottawa. We were married here.

I went to Ottawa on a business trip, but i got the chance to do some site seeing, and it was beautiful.

The streets are very calm and clean, it’s really a quite city even tought it’s a big one, so I think that for most of Canadian, it’s the perfect city to raise the kids.

Most of the governement buildings, are neo-gothic style, even some of the new ones. I was fascinated by the parliment buildings, espacially it’s library !!!! What a beauty !

If my trip stopped after my visit to the parliment, it would have been enough for me..

I must also mention the museum of Civilization, it’s a great place to learn about Canadian history that many people don’t know about since the history of North America is usualy taken for the history of the united states, forgetting that there are other countries in this continent.

I wanted to go to visit Montreal, but didn’t have time unfortunately, I was told that as beautiful as it is, it is a crowded and busy city, so I’m not missing much as I see, I’m already living in one :)

That’s why I loved Ottawa, it’s a city, with all you can find in a big city, all type of amusement ways, but is still a nice quite city where you can feel absolutely safe, and people are incredibly friendly, that you know if you needed something you will find it.

I was lucky to see snow, it snowed during the week I was there, last week of October, wich was unusual for this time of the year.. but it gave me the chance to see the snow for the first time in my life :)

The only thing I hated, and I think it’s in all of America and Europe, is TOILETS ! Terrible !!! no way to wash, not like our system in Egypt! But anyway it’s probably the only annoying thing in the whole trip ..

Thank you Ottawa for the nice time I had.

I moved here from Fort McMurray, Alberta (Ewwwww) in August for school, and lived in the Nepean area from August until April. I’m back in Fort McMurray for the summer, and I can’t wait until I move back to Ottawa in August, where I’ll probably stay for good.

I love everything about this city, from The Market to the Canal and pretty much everything else. This place has definatley changed my life, and I look forward to the many years I plan to spend here.

Coming from Australia, where we have a capital city with similar origins (halfway between the two large contenders for the capital etc.) I thought Ottawa would be a bland, concrete jungle.

I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to find out how beautiful it was. There are so many lovely old buildings, especially the Houses of Parliament, where we were lucky enough to stumble upon an annual ceremony marking the relationship between the British and the Canadians, complete with a symphony that ended in cannons (Beethoven? Tchaikovsky? I am so bad at remembering these things). The War Memorial was also done up for this event, and it was summer. If someone can help me with the details I would be most grateful :) They also played “O Canada” and thrills rushed down my spine.

We visited vibrant markets, went on a really well-presented (and chilling) ghost tour, and saw a fantastic comedy show.

Definitely worth a second visit, this time in winter, to skate on the Rideau Canal.