Eclipse's Odyssey: Day 63, 7.29.18, Ottawa

After checking out the nearby Arboretum, we move four miles down to the next lock, the flight of seven.

A view of Agavoideae.
Hosta la vista, baby!

Black walnut is Juglans, so I juggle.

We've been the only sailboat transiting this canal, but from the park overlooking the bottom of the locks, we see a sailing catamaran preparing to enter the Rideau. The National Gallery of Canada draws us in for the afternoon. It's a big museum, and we enjoy paintings and sculptures by mostly Canadian artists, including many indigenous.

Boats queuing up on the Ottawa River, to enter the Rideau

Most museums we pick a favorite. Kristen's...

Gary's favorite. I liked how the artist captured the motion and effort of putting an iron tire onto a wooden wheel.

Kristen just found out she's not supposed to walk here.

On the way back we wander through Bywater Market, once the local market for fish and produce and everything. Now more upscale with designer clothing and food from around the world. We dine on chinese noodles made by hand while we watch.

Giant soup bowl for two!

As night falls, the Parliament building is transformed into a movie screen, while thousands of people, us included, throng the expansive lawn (wet from a thunderstorm) to watch Northern Lights. No, not the aurora borealis, but a multimedia presentation of laser light, still and video, smoke, and audio, projected on the face of the building. For half an hour they presented the official government version of the history of Canada in sight and sound.

Afterward I was amazed as thousands of people crossed a major road, not closed to traffic, there was no police presence anywhere. No cars with blinking lights, no officers wearing bullet proof vests watching over, no wooden barricades to keep vehicles and pedestrians separated. Canada trusts each other. Canadians behave themselves. Canada lacks the 'fear of the other' that is so prevalent a short distance to the south. People wearing burkhas, or sarongs, or speaking Russian and more, are happy to be with each other.