Made it up to Ottawa! (how much, hotel, buy) - Ottawa-Gatineau - City-Data Forum

michgc · 08-20-2016, 08:26 PM

We drove up to Canada last week and spent 8 days total in Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa/Gatineau and Montréal. I had been every place before except for Ottawa/Gatineau. Nice cities - Ottawa was bigger than I expected. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, so we did several things in the rain and missed out on the Northern Lights laser show both nights were were there.

Loved the ByWard market - had some great fruit there. And Parliament is beautiful! We enjoyed Old Chelsea (great pub!) and enjoyed camping in Cantley. I hope to make it back one day and do all the things we missed - we had our small pup with us which limited what we could do. All in all, we enjoyed your neck of the woods!

bassetluv · 08-24-2016, 12:38 PM

Glad to hear it! I live in Ottawa, although I'm officially not from here (born and raised in Nova Scotia, been living in Ottawa since 1987). It's a great city to visit, lots of things to see and do. I do much prefer the Maritimes (east coast fresh air, Bay of Fundy, Annapolis Valley, Halifax waterfront, the overall laid-back and friendly mannerisms of the people) but yeah, Ottawa's really nice to visit too. If you ever do get to come here again don't miss out on things like walking the canal (or skating it in the winter), hiking in the Gatineaus (just across the river in Quebec), boat tours along the river, the museums, walking tours of the city, etc.

P.S. If you ever get a chance to visit the east coast, I'd highly recommend it. Heaven on earth....

michgc · 08-31-2016, 02:50 PM

Thanks for the reply! We did get to walk the canal during the few hours that it wasn't raining! We even saw them open the locks. And we did a very short hike/geocached in Gatineau Park. We also did the Mint. So we did fit a few things in!

I actually have been to a small part of the East Coast of Canada. We took a cruise several years ago to Halifax and saw Peggy's Cove and also stopped at St. John, New Brunswick. Of course arriving on a cruise, you are limited on how much you can see and do. Plus we had a 2, 4, and 7 year old with us at the time.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time there. And it certainly is beautiful! My husband is from New Hampshire so he had been to Nova Scotia a few times growing up.

I'm not a fan of flying, so Canada by car has been my vacation destination of choice lately. We've gone two years in a row now! We'd love to do PEI next!

bassetluv · 09-18-2016, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Plus we had a 2, 4, and 7 year old with us at the time.

All I can say to this is, you really must be adventurous!

PEI...I've been there once, beautiful scenic farms and seashores. This was many many years ago and I was raising show rabbits; our fall show was being held over there for some reason that one year. My (then) husband and I drove over with the bunnies, and my cat came along as well (what can I say? he loved to go for truck rides!). Unfortunately I haven't been to any of the tourist attractions or cities in PEI (I've heard the beaches are great); for that trip we were headed to a tiny place called Alberton (blink and you miss it). What I can say about my experience there is that the people were some of the most genuinely friendly folk I've ever met.

Glad to hear that you and your husband have been enjoying Canada! Having destinations to travel to that aren't too too far and have lots of things to discover is always great. I agree too about the Byward Market here...I always love going there. Used to take my last dog for walks down to the market - would take us little over half an hour to get there - and she loved walking around the vendors' stalls. Her favourite though, was a little ice cream place located next to the Beavertails stand; I'd buy her a hot dog (limited that treat to once a year though) and she had a great time sitting down and eating it. This was followed by a walk up the hill to Parliament so she could see the cats - they're no longer there, but for many years an elderly fellow was feeding and taking care of about 30 feral cats in the wooded area behind the fence that surrounds the buildings - and then I'd take my dog down the hill behind Parliament so she could swim in the river.

Oh, btw, I was in NC once, stayed at Duke University with 3 co-workers for a week whilst on a course. Now that was fun! We only had one afternoon free where we could explore, so we wound up going to a local mall, via the local transit. I don't believe the bus we were on had any shocks - wow, what a jarring ride! - but the people around us were all such characters...right down to the lady sitting next to me who began rocking back and forth and praying after a few people walked past her. At first I wondered what she was doing, but then she began speaking as she rocked, saying, "Oh Lord, oh Lord, I done saw his underwear!!!", referring to a young guy who was wearing jeans where the waist was waaay down on his body. Now this had to be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time! It was a hoot. And the people there were so nice to all of us. Great place (I just wasn't prepared for how hot it would get there, this was in mid August).

Also been to NH once, my sis and I took a quick road trip down to the White Mountains. The only thing I'll say about it (cuz I'm too chatty) is that I'm convinced the hotel we stayed at on the first night was haunted. This was in a small town called Littleton, an old hotel called Thayer's Inn. Had a very weird experience there...I'm a big chicken, so even though I was intrigued by it, I was very relieved to not be staying there another night. Someday though, I hope we'll get back to NH and do a proper road trip.

Anyway, enjoy any future trips to Canada! Maybe some day you can get out to the west coast too (though that would be a long road trip), as I've heard that Vancouver and the surrounding area is absolutely beautiful - I've never been there, but someday, maybe.