Creeping Along the Rideau Canal - Part 14.1

August 9 – 11, 2011

Part 14 – Ottawa, Parliament Hill

Before you start your tour of Ottawa, it is worth taking the time to visit the Capital Infocentre, located right across the street from Parliament Hill. You can find all kinds of literature about the museums, special events, maps, tours (walking, biking, riding), reservation assistance, and people who can answer your tourist questions.

Since Parliament Hill is right next to the Rideau Canal's flight locks, it was a logical place for us to start sightseeing. Plus, with the self-guided walking tour booklet we picked up at the Infocentre, it was easy to get orientated and understand what we were looking at.

Centre Block, front

Parliament Hill is home to Canada's democratic federal government. The Hill is composed of a Centre Block, East Block, and West Block. Plus, there are many other government buildings adjacent to these 3 main buildings.

The Centre Block houses the Senate, House of Commons, and Library of Parliament. National issues are debated and passed into law. The Peace Tower, in the middle with the clock, was added to commemorate the 65,000 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives during World War 1. The clock is visible from many places around the city and has melodic bells that chime every quarter of an hour and a 53 bell carillon to sound the hours.

Front entrance

Under the archway, the base of the Peace Tower, are the front entryway doors into Centre Block. Notice that it is just a pedestrian thoroughfare, like the whole of Parliament Hill. While no private vehicles have access to the hill, ANYONE can just walk right up to the doors, peek in and touch the buildings. There are no obviously armed guards stationed external to the buildings.

Library of Parliament

The Library is in back of Centre Block, but actually overlooks the Ottawa River directly. It functions like our Library of Congress by supplying senators and members of Parliament access to books and documents that are supposed to provide useful information to help them make intelligent decisions about running the country. The guide book also says that the Library is supposed to provide nonpartisan, reliable, and relevant information about what is happening in Parliament. We can only rely on FOX news to give Americans that kind of information!

East Block

The East Block and West Block, similar in appearance and situated on either side and slightly in front of Centre Block, were initially built to house the ministries and federal public servants. It didn't take long before they were filled up, since government always outgrows its space, and more buildings were constructed north of West Block.

Exquisite detail in stone and metal

The High Victorian Gothic architecture emphasizes pointed arches and extensive use of stone of multiple colors with intricate carvings and elaborate masonry features. You could spend most of a day trying to see how many different figures you could count that are carved into different areas of the buildings. Some of the forms you can recognize as animals, but others look like mythical creatures, called grotesques. They are all carved in Nepean sandstone, quarried locally, that naturally changes to the gray/black colors over time.

Everyone loves a unicorn

This unicorn graces the archway at the base of the Peace Tower. If you look closely at the garland to its left you can see different kinds of bird carvings. There is so much detail!

A wise owl

I would expect to see owls since they are supposed to be wise, which is what we hope for in our politicians. However, if voters were wiser we wouldn't have so many lousy politicians.

Salamander boss

Is this one or two creatures? I found the name of this thing in one of the guide books.

Modern and classic

I thought this image of the classic style reflecting in the modern style of architecture on the opposite side of Wellington Ave. interesting.

Supreme Court of Canada

This building was constructed in the Art Deco style of architecture and stands in contrast to the others in the Hill area.

From the end of June to the end of August, the Ceremonial Guard of the Canadian Forces performs a Changing of the Guard ceremony on the main lawn in from of Centre Block at around 10:00 a.m. I told you that we could see them marching through the park heading towards the Hill next to where we were docked on the canal.

Bagpipe marchers

The procession is led by a unit of bagpipe players, followed by the marching band, and then the guard units bring up the rear. People line both sides of the streets and are packed in around the main lawn.

Marching band in front of Centre Block

You can see the band in this photo. Notice all of the people sitting on the railing in front of Centre Block building. While we were watching the ceremony, one of the band members passed out flat to the ground. The ceremony continued on, with the inspection of the guard and the band kept playing. A medic team rushed out and put the horn player on the stretcher and carried him off out of sight. No one skipped a beat.

Palace guard

This shows the two groups of guards, who operate on 24 hour shifts until they change over during this ceremony. It takes about 45 minutes for the whole thing to reach completion and is worth the time to observe the ceremony.

We knew with these guys on duty we would be safe for the rest of our tour of the city!