Our Capitol City

"No Canadian can stand and look at this cluster of buildings....without feeling that somewhere on this Hill, perhaps by a happy accident, architects, masons and stone carvers have managed to grasp and materialize the beauty of Canada, the vastness of its land, its loneliness, its youth and its hope."

  Bruce Hutchison, The Unknown Country, 1944

Back in the olden days, when I was in Grade 4, I won a trip to Ottawa via our Safety Patrol at school.  I saw the typical sights.

Then a few years ago Everette came to Ottawa along with Rauchelle for a few days around a shooting competition, so he toured the city and Parliament Buildings.

And then when we drove across the country 2.5 yrs ago, we took a quick drive past the Parliament Buildings, and along the Rideau Canal, and continued on our merry way to Cape Breton.

But today, Everette and I got to enjoy some of the city, together, on foot.  And here's some of our sights.

 

What has Four Faces, Eight Hands, and a Voice that can be heard across a Nation?

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This is looking uppppp, through the top of the Peace Tower. 

This most recognized clock in Canada is  modeled after the one in the main tower of the British Parliament (I've seen it myself!) at London, England. 

Following the Great War (1914-18), Canadians decided to create a monument like no other in memory of the service and sacrifice of the men and women who died serving their country.  The Peace Tower was dedicated on July 1, 1927.  It's smaller predecessor was Victoria Tower, destroyed by fire in 1916.

The roof of the Library has cobalt blue features, including a weather vane.  It looks really cool.

The stained glass is vibrant.  This encircles a memorial in the Peace Tower where books of calligraphied names of all those Canadians who died in World War I and subsequent wars are named, and honored.

The staircase that P. E. Trudeau slid down and other Prime Ministers and MP's meet the press as we often see on the News.

The Green Room!  looking thru a glass makes it blurry.  But right of the flag you can see the Speakers chair.

 Our tour guide, Crystal.

Inside the Library.  It has books and documents that would stack as high as Mt Everest.  I would have imagined those ladders on rails, where you'd have to climb up to access those heights, but your don't.  There are stairs, out of sight, that lead to doorways all around the room on each level, and then there is a passage you can walk around where you see the wrought iron railings.  

A library to die for.......well, tragically, 5 people did die in the 1916 fire.  But some wise men closed the library doors and kept the fire from taking out this room and all these books.

In the centre of the room stands....

Elsewhere is this painting of Queen Victoria, saved from 4 fires.  But in one of them, a man took out his pocket knife to quickly size it down to fit this monstrous picture through the doorway and to safety, and thus, part of her gown and the crown on the table on the right are 'missing'.

Okay, that was a quick tour and history of Canada, eh?