Ottawa: The Canberra of Canada

Apr 22, 2018
3 min read

For a trip that had 50/50 chance of actually happening, I’m glad it did. A couple of friends and I had talked over spending the first weekend of the reading week to visit Canada’s capital. We had looked up some rental car prices and asked for what we thought was a quote. Little did we know we had actually ended up booking the car. A week or so passed without any of us bringing it up and I thought that I was going to spend the Reading Week doing what I was meant to be doing – study. Alas, two days before the weekend my friend messaged me saying she was still keen.

We met in the library the day before we were meant to leave and found out that – yes – we actually had already booked the car and they were expecting us at midday the next day. We had wanted to ice skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa but the week’s temperature had been above zero nearly every day so it was closed for the season.

Took my Chevy to the levy but the levy was melted so I couldn't ice skate on it :(

So we took our Chevy and made the two hour trip down the highway to Ottawa – having a brief stop at Canada’s favourite coffee chain of course. We arrived in the early afternoon and were fortunate enough to stay with a friend who was home in Ottawa for the reading week.

We spent the afternoon at a burger joint and I enjoyed an elk meat burger for the first time in my life. It tasted just like lamb.

We went out later that night with some more friends and went to an iconic Ottawa diner for dinner followed by a lazy wander around of the city’s highlights. After we got bored of looking at Parliament House at night, we retired to an underground bar where I had the most delicious 18+ hot chocolate ever.

The following day the three of us headed up to Parc Omega. It’s an hour outside of the capital and home to all manner of wonderful native wildlife. We drove around the park as the animals – elk, moose, caribou, deer, hogs, goats – came up to the window expecting to be fed. We also got to see some bison, arctic foxes and wolves as we drove past their enclosures. The Parc is also home to bears but they were all still hibernating so we did not catch a glimpse of them.

We stopped for a quick lunch break inside a little log cabin where a fiddler played Quebecois diddies to entertain us while we ate. After lunch we took a tractor ride around the Parc and stopped at a farm animals enclosure. We admired the cute little snow bunnies, smelly sheep and agile goats.

We headed back to Ottawa and I have to say I had the best road trip buddies. Both there and back, they were content with my being in charge of the music choices. Back in the city we spent the evening “bouldering” – an archane form of torture: rock climbing without any ropes. It was good fun but it was super crowded and my shoulders burned the next day. To recover, we all popped into the sauna when we got back home.

After sleeping in a little the next day, we left our friend in Ottawa and decided to take the long way home to Montreal via Gatineau National Park. We cross-country skied all morning and I really loved the opportunity to be out of the city in the Canadian wilderness.

We had some baklava and savory turnovers for lunch from a dodgy but loveable Lebanese bakery and hit the road again.

Before Montreal, we made one last pit stop: Chateau Montebello. I was expecting a French-style mansion but the building is actually a Canadian log cabin-style hotel. We warmed up by the fire, had some coffee and avoided the urge to have an afternoon nap.

After a long day we made it back home to Montreal. It was a lovely little getaway and I was sad that it had to end. But alas it was time to return to the real world and time to hit the books! I understand when people say that there’s nothing to do in Ottawa because it’s true. Canada’s capital is a small city on the border of Ontario and Quebec that was designated its location to keep the peace between the Anglophones and Francophones. There’s a few galleries and museums but no real nightlife – just like Canberra. But like Canberra, I love Ottawa – it’s the people that make a place and I got to experience Ottawa with some fantastic mates.