Wish List: Ottawa, ON

There are so many places in Canada that I’d like to see.  Having only been to Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary, for example, are on my list.  Yet, I’d like to visit the capital next.

Ottawa is in nestled in the Ottawa River Valley in eastern Southern Ontario, bordering on Québec.  This location has made the National Capital Region of Ottawa and Gatineau a bilingual area with a diverse population. Home to the National Government, the city is a mixture of formalistic and functional architecture with a good helping of Romantic and Picturesque styles, too.

Central Block, Parliament Hill

Like our capital, Washington, DC, history is rich in this planned city that Queen Victoria chose as the capital for the Province of Canada (comprised of parts of modern day Ontario and Quebec) on December 31, 1857.  The city is the site of the northern terminus of the Rideau Canal, the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of additional war with the United States.

After the War of 1812, British forces learned that the US has planned to invade the confusingly named colony of Upper Canada* via the St. Lawrence.  The British built the canal to keep commerce and communications open between Montréal and the British naval base in Kingston, ON.  Today, the Canal is also famous as being one of the largest fresh water skating rinks in the winter.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization

As a Commonwealth Nation, they honour (wink) the British monarch as their sovereign. In June 1959 Canada accepted ten heraldic statues, The Queen's Beasts, that Ministry of Works commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II to depict her genealogy for her conoration.  Being cast in plaster, the statues could not left in the open air and they were shipped between Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle and, finally, storage.  The British Government decided to offer them to the Commonwealth Governments and Canada, being the senior nation, was offered them first. The beasts now reside at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.  I don’t know if they display them or not, but I would love to visit for a public showing of these statues.  There are replicas of The Queen's Beasts on display at Kew Gardens, if I can’t see the originals in Canada.

The Queen's Beast - The Unicorn of Scotland, courtesy of Call to Arms...

Beyond the Queen’s Beasts, the Canadian Museum of Civilization serves to collect, study, preserve, and present material objects that illuminate the human history of Canada and the cultural diversity of its people. The building, reminiscent of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in design and architecture,is Canada’s most popular and most-visited museum.

Across the river from the Museum stands Parliament Hill, where Gothic revival buildings, including the commanding Centre Block, serve as the home of the Parliament of Canada and the center of Canadian politics. Though Ottawa is the capital for the Confederation, Pierre Trudeau worked to increase the number of more federal workers based in the Quebec side of National Capital Region. To the end, the Central tower of the Terrasses de la Chaudière is now the area’s tallest building.

On the Rideau Canal

In writing this blog entry, I realize that there are many parallels between Washington, DC, and Ottawa, including that the largest buildings are outside of the city proper.  They share in being deliberately established between the boundary of two different demographic types, (i.e. the more agricultural south and the more Industrial north for the US and the Anglophonic Upper Canada and Francophone Lower Canada).  As I love Washington for its history and its cache of American identity, I know that I will be charmed by Ottawa’s share of Canadiana.

Images, except where noted, are courtesy of Trip Advisor.

* Upper Canada was the southern portion of Ontario, while Lower Canada was southern portion of Quebec and region of Labrador. Therefore Upper Canada is South-southeast of Lower Canada. The naming convention came from the direction of the Saint Lawrence, as Upper Canada was further along the waters of the river. In 1841, these two colonies became the Province of Canada.