Ottawa

June 21-June 23, 2010

We read about Casino du Lac-Leamy in Hull/Gatineau (in Quebec) offering a free stay in their marina.  After spending a silly amount at the Le Chateau Montebello, we figured we'd even out the travel kitty with a stay at the casino.  There are direction signs sticking right out of the Ottawa River, signaling the way through a marked Gatineau River.  A quick left turn takes you through this mini channel to the gate keeper who directs you through this even skinnier channel no more than 50' wide.  Lac Leamy is  marked but the buoys take you around this lagoon type water until you need to go under two low bridges into an old rock quarry they filled in with water.  Pete was sweating bullets since he's using his new forward-looking sonar -now he can see the rocks in the quarry as structures on both sides with a little space in the middle.  Anyway, we arrived safe and sound to a super clean, safe place to spend the night.  We stayed an extra night since no one else was there.  What a deal! 

We toured Parliament Hill.which is the heart of Canada's government.  They are very proud of these buildings and we were fortunate to catch a tour of the Senate, Library of Parliament and House of Commons.  Since Ottawa is the capital of Canada, it is a clean well run city.  

Right next to where we tied up for the night, we witnessed a protest by Chinese/Canadian students to pressure Canadian government to not tolerate the Chinese government's lack of acceptance of Falan Gong's religious beliefs.  They were noisy but orderly and broke up when about 50 police cars arrived at 7PM.

 

There's a Jazz Festival going on tonight and we can hear it from the boat.  We went to a Rib Festival for dinner tonight with every booth boasting they had the best ribs and they have won every contest ever held for ribs- (they were good!).  But the most exciting part of today was going through the Ottawa Flight Locks.  It's a series of eight locks connected together, raising you and your boat from 134' at the Ottawa River to 213' on the Rideau Canal.  Amazingly, it was completed in 1832, providing a secure water route for troops and supplies from Montreal to reach the settlements of Upper Canada and Kingston.  We have another first going through them...at Lock 7, Canada had a 5.0 EARTHQUAKE!  Pete felt it as did the parks people - they evacuated the park but kept locking us through.  What would have happened if the locks got damaged while we were in them...don't even want to think about it...we're none the worse for it but a lot to think about!