Exploring Canada's Capital...

Well, my sister and I finally made it to Ottawa! While we had a smooth and hassle free flight, once we landed we were told by the pilot that the runway had been put on red alert (due to a thunderstorm) and we were not aloud to leave the plane. For the first 45 minutes my sister and I thought of it as an adventure and tried to make the best of the situation. So we sat there with our i-pods and a few good books and began to wait it out, thinking that we would be aloud to get off the plane at any moment. However, to our dismay we were stuck on the plane for 3 HOURS. Long after our books and I-pods had become rather uninteresting, we did anything to keep ourselves occupied. From braiding each other's hair to playing "peek-a-boo" with a three year old child who was sitting in front of us. Needless to say it was a long and tedious wait but we finally made it to NHOP safe and sound.

Despite the rather interesting start to our trip, my sister and I had the best time roaming around Canada's capital and exploring downtown Ottawa! We began our exploration by walking down York street and heading up to Parliament Hill. We finally were able to make it to the peace tower after 3 times of being in Ottawa! After walking through the tower and memorial site we walked around the Parliament grounds taking pictures and enjoying the view of the Rideau Canal.

Shortly after we wrapped up our time at the hill, my sister and I left no stone unturned as we made our way up Sussex and eventually found ourselves at Chapters where I picked up a great new read called " Ask Me Why I Hurt". It is an eye opening account of a doctor who created a travelling medical bus to help the forgotten and broken homeless teens of Arizona. It is such a good book and I am already half way through!

 After we took a quick break at Starbucks we walked across the street to the Rideau shopping centre and eventually made our way to Byward Market (the best market I have been to in my opinion). It was full of all sorts of wonderful smells and explosions of colour!  

We literally turned Byward market inside out as we made our way though all the local shops and vendors. My sister and I then stopped for an amazing lunch at a local Indian restaurant where we had the best chicken curry and naan bread. Seriously. It was so good. Soon after we finished eating we continued walking through the streets of Byward market, where we came across Beaver Tails. Now, if you have no idea what a beaver tail is, then you are missing out. Basically, it is a Canadian delicacy which consists of a long piece of fried dough, powered in Cinnamon and sugar and smothered with any topping you like. In this case, my sister and I had maple butter and chocolate syrup. Delicious!!

By this time it began to rain so we ducked into a little tea place called "the tea shop". Simple name, but excellent tea! There we met up with a friend who moved out to Ottawa and enjoyed her company and conversation. However, I think the tea made us feel a little worn out so after we were done talking, my sister and I headed back to NHOP and crashed for the next couple hours.

I loved being able to share this time with my sister and enjoy the wonders of Ottawa with her. I am excited for the campers to finally get here tomorrow and to see what the rest of the week holds!!

The gourgous flowers of Byward

Mmm...how I love earl grey tea!

                                         
      A view of the Parliament grounds and Rideau Canal

                                            
           The infamous "Women are Persons" Monument

         
                 Enjoying an Indian lunch down Byward.

                                                                       
                            Her very first beaver tail! Yum!