Canada - Ottawa, Ontario

Arriving back into 'Canadian' Canada we arrived in Ottawa, the Capital of Canada. The Government is housed in a beautiful ' Gothic revival' building, which was a visual contrast to the capital of America. Parliament Hill is perched on the bank of the Ottawa River along with some other buildings of the same era, including the Chateau Laurier, built by the Grand Trunk Railway. The Rideau Canal runs through the centre of Ottawa and travels all the way from Ottawa to Lake Ontario 200kms away.

We took a tour of the Parliament building, followed by catching the rickety lift up to Peace Tower which is a tall clock tower in the Capital commemorating the end of WWI- with nice views across the city. Around the corner is ByWard Market, where we grabbed a snack at a popular bakery, and enjoyed sunset overlooking the river from Nepean Point. We also crossed over the Ottawa River arriving back in Montreal, and spent an afternoon in the Canadian Museum of History learning about the indigenous history of Canada.

We were just in time to see one of the last showings of the summer an evening sound and light show Mosaika tells Canada's story through impressive projections onto the Parliament building itself. It was very impressive!

We feel so lucky we've got on so well with all of our hosts through Airbnb, and we really recommend it as a great way to travel and meet locals. We had some great conversations with our Ottawa host Marina over a meal we shared together on our last night.