chaussures et fleuves

I completed the previous post by stating that Daniel was in the process of making us a birthday bear cake. Well, make it he did, and impressive and delicious it was!

(Movember, folks...Movember).

Now that he has proven his cake-making-and-decorating abilities, he has secured his position as "cake-decorator-Dad" (for the future).

Now to finish off our Ottawa trip...

On Sunday, after a failed attempt to attend church (as it had been evacuated due to a gas leak), we walked to Quebec!

Ontario and Quebec are separated by this interprovincial bridge. It was a short jaunt, but I still think it sounds mighty impressive to say that we walked to Quebec.

This is the river that separates Ontario and Quebec. Ontario is on the left; Quebec on the right.

This was Lowell's first time in Quebec...and boy was he excited!!

As we walked along the Quebec side of the river, we enjoyed the parliament buildings from a different perspective.

Carlynne and I also made a point of having a complete conversation in FRENCH while we were IN Quebec. Our French has deteriorated greatly since our high school days, but we managed to scrap together a pitiful conversation about shoes and rivers. It was a very cultural experience for us!

After a delightful walk to and from Quebec, we went to The Works for a hearty (and healthy) meal of milkshakes, poutine, and burgers.

On Monday, both Dan & Carlynne had to work so Lowell and I had a relaxing day bumming around Ottawa and preparing dinner.

About those dinner preparations... we could NOT locate a can opener, so Lowell got creative and mutilated the can with this creative design.

It worked- and we didn't have to go pineapple-less.

Tuesday was our big Parliament day. Daniel had to work, but Carlynne, Lowell, and I attended a lively question period in the House of Commons. We were veeeeery pleased that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance, and even more pleased that I made fleeting eye contact with him. Woot!

After question period we went up the Peace Tower and took a tour of Parliament.

This is a view of the huge clock- looking through a ceiling window from the Peace Tower...

And these are the views from atop...

(The neat pointy building is the extremely beautiful library. It's the only original part of Parliament left as it was the sole building that wasn't destroyed in the 1916 fire).

I was a very helpful helper girl when I helped hold the 'Senate flag' (which was used to describe the Senate because Senate was in session and we couldn't go in).

After the tour, we strolled around the exterior of Parliament and had a look-see at the statues.

We took this picture of Lowell as a direct copy cat of Marc's previous pose with the same statues.

Lowell:

Marc:

I had to pose with a statue too. A statue that was somewhat of a GIANT...

We concluded our Ottawa experience with more Beaver Tails. Lowell's was ridiculously loaded and likely contained the recommended caloric intake for an entire month.

Yummmmm....

Now we're home again, and our fabulous Ottawa trip already feels like a distant memory. We're already looking forward to our 2010 visit. Perhaps at that time, eye contact with the PM will be upgraded to a handshake...