Ottawa is a really nice city, we arrived at the famous Rideau flight of 8 locks about 1 pm. We had to wait about 30 minutes and then just 20Buck$ and Jackets II went through the locks. One after another we went up the locks right in downtown Ottawa. It was really cool. We did get caught in a little rain but it only lasted about 15 minutes. Charlotte and Pat caught the worst of it because Ken and I had the back of the boats and were under cover.
We really were bless because as we came out of the last lock and under a bridge boats were leaving. So there we were tied up in downtown Ottawa. A 5 minute walk to Parliament. They even had electrical hook ups on the wall.
The 25th we caught a tour bus with Pat and Ken, brrrrr it was about 60 for a high and overcast. We made the rounds on the bus then got off and checked out the mint. It was a nice tour, we even got to hold a 28 pound, 24 K gold bar. We also toured, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, the Peace Tower and Parliament.
That night we could here Jazz music from the park across the bridge, Charlotte and I walked up and stood on the bridge and watch the performance. It was a little cold but a beautiful night.
The next morning we saw the changing of the guard. They only have this ceremony in the summer and we happened to be there for the first one of the season. That night Charlotte and I caught a bus to see the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride. It was a high precision horse show. When they came in everyone stood up, Charlotte and I remained stand expecting the national anthem, folks behind us had to ask us to sit down. To close the evening they had a ceremony taking the flag down, it was terrific. This show tours all over Canada during the summer, they only perform in Ottawa for a week every year, we happened to be there for the 1st night.
Quite a day, it would be hard to leave. We were in the perfect place to watch the July 1st fireworks over Parliament. But we headed out the next morning.
