Oct. 26th - Leaving Ottawa and National Gallery of Canada.

On our way out of the beautiful city of Ottawa Skip took us on a tour of the National Gallery of Canada which, to say the least, was amazing. Although we missed the Caravaggio exhibit which was up all summer the Drawn to Art: French Artists and Art Lovers in 18th-Century Rome was quite the exhibit as well showing off a plethora of sketches and finished drawings which were much more interesting than the finished oil on canvas, well-rendered pieces we are so used to seeing. The simple realization that most of the work was on paper from 2-300 years ago and still beautifully kept was very cool to see outside of even an art perspective. On the other side of the art thingies the Gallery had a very large collection of Marcel Duchamp's Readymades which was fun to see up close and in person. They also had a retrospective exhibition from David Askevold which was heavily laden with his video pieces which I haven't ever fell entirely in love with. One of the other exhibitions was also a retrospective of sorts, a homage to the life of Louise Bourgeois whom the gallery has an affiliation with owning a few of her sculptures including Maman, a extra-large cast spider with marble eggs inside of the cast egg-sack and stands over 30 ft. tall in front of the entrance to the Gallery. The gallery also owns her last piece that she did when she was 97 years old, Cell: The Last Climb. Sorry we weren't able to get many photos yesterday. I have included one of Maman and links to the Galleries website below.

Click on the image for the link to the National Gallery.

We are just outside of Montreal and will be touring the city today so we should be back with a stream of photos again soon.

Oct. 25 - Bike, Spa, and Ottawa.

Today was like any other day except nothing like them at all. We awoke, did the internet thing, packed up the car, drove out to Gatineau Park again, this time to go biking. There we did a nice 20km ride which was packed with some great climbs, even better descents, and beautiful scenery the whole way.

After the ride Jena and I went to a wonderful place called LeNordic which is a Nature Spa nestled in hills of Chelsea, Quebec. Neither of us had been to anything like it before but with the wonderful descriptions my aunt, uncle, and cousins gave it we decided to give it a try (a huge thanks to Skip and Carol for treating us). LeNordic was amazing, an unbelievably relaxing experience. The idea is a relaxing experience for adults with three stages to complete relaxation: first being heat (sauna, steam rooms, or whirlpool), second was cold (50 degree waterfall, 60 degree pool, or just sitting outside in the crisp fall air), and lastly relaxation rooms(fully equipped with noise canceling headphones, fireplaces, and the sounds of flowing water). Although LeNordic seemed like something I may never have thought to do, it turned out to be fantastic. The sauna and steambaths were great, we also really enjoyed the hot and cold waterfalls as well as the relaxation rooms(Jena fell asleep). And although I'm not sure my reading choice of Naked Lunch was such a great relaxing choice it was still quite enjoyable. We ended up spending close to five hours there(and probably could have stayed even longer, it was so nice) before heading back into Ottawa for dinner at the J's again, this time with Skip and Carol as well.

Click on the photo to be directed to the Spa's website, if you're interested.

Once again dinner was delicious and we had a great time hanging out and chatting before retiring to bed back at Skip and Carol's. We are going to be heading towards Montreal tomorrow and then Quebec City before uniting with the U.S.A again. A huge thank you goes out to all of my family in Ottawa who showed us what a wonderful city it and the surrounding areas are. Thanks for the dinners, the conversations, the showers, and the beds. We are very grateful!

Oct. 23/24 - Ottawa.

 Sunday we woke up late and poked around the OnRoute rest stop for a bit before making brunch in the parking lot and cleaning our house before packing up and heading to Ottawa. We made it into Ottawa to my Aunt and Uncle, Skip and Carol's, home early in the evening where we were joined by my cousins Christopher and Jonathan and Jonathan's wife, Jacqueline, and their newborn, Julia. All together for the first time in many years, we enjoyed a great home cooked meal and good conversation. Once the J's and Christopher left for home we were ready for sleep, but before settling into our bed we were able to SHOWER(normally showering wouldn't rank that high but boy it was a relief to feel clean again). We also were able to sleep in a real person bed, which was nice but it was so comfortable that we ended up sleeping in a tad later then we have been(which was refreshing).

 The next morning, after some putzing around Skip and Carol's and enjoying the comfort of their four cats, big boy Boswell being a favorite, we were able to get on our bikes for a little ride along the canal and through the downtown area over to the J's place. The canal was being drained, so the water was quite low but the views were still very beautiful. The sun came out just long enough to really get a nice sunny look at the beautiful old buildings downtown including art galleries, conference centers, cathedrals, and the amazing Parliament building.

Zipper art of a bunny. Just for Andy and Leah.

 Once we arrived at their house we made plans to go on a hike in Gatineau Park, just over the bridge in Quebec. We hopped in the car and it started sprinkling but we continued on, hoping the rain would eventually stop for a bit. Since the rain didn't stop by the time we arrived at the park, we decided to go into the town of Wakefield for some lunch.  We went to a very cute one room, one waiter/chef cafe with a great view of the Rideau River and lots of orange and green speckled hills. Once we finished our feast of poutine, veggie nachos, french fries, and honey garlic wings(only for the J's, including Jena) the rain stopped. From there Jonathan and Jacqueline lead us on a hike in Gatineau Park where we were able to see another great waterfall(also where they got engaged) and lots of changing leaves. Once we got back to the car,  the rain began again so we felt very fortunate to get the hike in and still stay dry. We finished the night with a great dinner of fajitas at their place and a pleasant bike ride back through the dark to my Aunt and Uncle's house.