Ottawa - Canada's Capital

Before Ottawa became the beautiful city it is today, it used to be a rough lumber town with roads of mud. They even used to hold races on Wellington Street, the road right in front of Parliament Hill. In 1857, after years of indecision by 'colonial' politicians, Queen Victoria chose this 'little lumber-town' as the capital of the Province Canada (consisting at that time of what is today Quebec and Ontario). Her choice of an unpresuming, yet militarily strategic city was an attempt to ease the political tension of the day. After becoming the capital Sir Wilfrid Laurier created the Ottawa Improvement Commission (OIC) in 1899, which was mandated to beautify and plan the Capital.
And nowadays it really is a beautiful city, but it is still a Capital, that is different than anything that we've seen so far. Who can imagine to have a farm in the middle of the city, just 2.5 km from Parliament Hill? And there are many other little things, that make this city special.
Anyway, you can take a look at the pictures and maybe you like it. For my part I would really recommend to come to Ottawa if you have the chance to do.
A view days before Barbara had to go back to the US, we visited Parliament Hill, walked around in nice little streets with lots of shops, restaurants and bars, rented bikes to ride along the Ottawa river and enjoyed the nice weather. I guess the pictures say more than I can write here, so take a look and enjoy it!

ottawa