Whole Lotta Ottawa

More photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126125&id=510568119&l=14ee333340

You learn a lot of different things when you're travelling. Like, for example, that Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Many people may already have known this, I did not. In fact, apart from having heard that Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are really nice places, that they have lots of maple syrup, moose and mounties, before I arrived I didn't really know much about the country at all. Having spent a bit of time here now I can report the following:

• Canadians are definitely the friendliest people I have met on any of my travels so far. Everyone from bus drivers to people on the street have been lovely and helpful, without exception. Even the customs officials were nice.

• In between the major cities we visited, there is a lot of space. Some of it has really impressive mountains but a lot of it is mainly space. (Editor's note: Rich is unhappy with the use of the term "space" so to clarify, the space consists of flat farmland with the odd house every few miles). This is not a criticism, merely an observation. It has the whole rugged wilderness vibe going on, is quite appealing actually.
  

• Canadians call soft drinks "pop". This endears them to me as that's what I used to call soft drinks when I was little. Don't know why I stopped really, am thinking of reintroducing the term to daily usage.

• Canada's news channels are much more sensible than those in the US (sorry the US). In fact (and perhaps unsurprisingly) Canada is very English in many ways. Rich was delighted to be able to purchase a Fry's turkish delight bar and a can of irn bru. I was delighted they knew how to make proper tea.

• Canada has a lot of very large black squirrels. See photos for example.
  

• This may not be Canada specific, but in North America generally I've noticed that movie trailers are excessively long and always give away the entirety of the plot, in quite substantial detail. Pack it in, North America. I might want to see those movies.

As for Ottawa itself, Rich and I were both impressed with it - looked a lot like Edinburgh we thought, and we spent a couple of pleasant days wandering around the Parliament buildings, markets and shopping streets in the Autumn sunshine and marvelling at the giant spider poised to attack the art gallery. As the photos show, the Autumn leaves were still in full force, and outshone even some parts of New England. So far then, big thumbs up for Canada. Next stop, Toronto and a big famous watery thing.