weekend in Ottawa

Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | 365, adventures, cooking

I’m a bit behind in everything, not the least of which is my poor neglected blog! Let’s see about catching up. Last weekend I headed to Ottawa for a bit of a birthday trip. A friend and I drove (okay, he drove) and got there Thursday night. We stayed at his brother’s apartment in Byward Market – very, very convenient in terms of getting around, but it’s a bit wild on the weekends. Clubs and such.

Friday we walked around, took the bus to Hintonberg and checked out Parkdale farmer’s market (where there were berries all over the place!), a few little shops, and the yarn store on Wellington West, Wabi-Sabi. Bit of an adventure to get there with all the construction, but it was a nice little shop that carries a lot of Americo yarns – perfect if you want them but aren’t in Toronto.

Had a delicious pizza lunch at the Grand in Byward Market, then headed over to Parliament Hill for Fortissimo – a “musical extravaganza” put on my the armed forces. It was interesting, but they probably could’ve cut at least 15 minutes of unnecessary music.

Saturday we took the parliamentary tour and took lots of photos – including this crazy unicorn right outside the main entryway! Why’s his tongue sticking out? Weird.

This view should be familiar to Canadians who watch the news – this is outside the House of Commons, where all the journalists lie in wait.

My favourite part was the library – it’s the only part of the building that survived a big fire, and it’s quite beautiful.

Saturday night we went to New Edinburgh Park for the Lumiere festival, which was super fun – the park is super dark, but the trails are lit with tons of pretty lanterns.

(Candles-in-paper-bags maze)

Sunday was pretty chill – we walked around the Glebe area and went to the Landsdowne farmer’s market. Can you tell I love farmer’s markets? So much pretty and yummy produce! I ended up baking a pie on Sunday too, with blueberries from the market.

And then Monday it was back to Toronto and a full week of work at the store! Knitting news and some destashing is coming right up.

7 Comments to weekend in Ottawa

1 Leah
August 16, 2009

Maybe the unicorn is sticking his tongue out in defiance of whoever chained him up? Just a thought.. probably lots of political iconography there.

Great pictures, and good for you hitting up both Parkdale and Lansdowne markets – I’m ashamed to say that though I live in Ottawa I haven’t been to the Lansdowne market yet.

2 Julie
August 16, 2009

looks like you had an amazing time!! looking forward to the destash…

3 April
August 16, 2009

The looks like such a fun trip. I’ll have to visit Ottawa now.

4 Jocelyn
August 16, 2009

Laura, your photographs are always so crisp and interesting. Oh, and amazing!

I think the unicorn is tired and wants a drink of water or something.

5 carol
August 17, 2009

My favorite city in the world. Thank you for the lovely pictures. I don’t get there as often as I used to when I worked for BNR, but I still try to go for vacation every few years (especially for Winterlude if I can). We Texans tend to like to visit winter since we don’t really get one. Thanks again for reminding me why I love this city.

6 Nicole
August 17, 2009

I was at the farmer’s market that Sunday and thought, “Gee, that woman looks exactly like Cosmicpluto”.

Darn it, I should have gone up to you and asked. Oh, well, maybe next time. Glad you had fun!

7 Betsy
August 17, 2009

I think the tongue sticking out is a heraldry thing; strength, maybe? My hubby’s family crest has a greyhound with golden tongue out – he says it means that someone in his family was really good at convincing people of things. Which pretty much sums up the tall-tales abilities of my in-laws!