Museum of War-ping time

To start, the Museum of War in a very interesting place, the title is just referring to how it can suck up so much of your time. That was the main feature of what we did today in Ottawa, it is a great big Museum that covers Canadian History in terms of the separate wars and battles that defined our country. It is an excellent example on how modern age multi-media can bring sometimes stuffy material to life before our very eyes. The main problem being that it is an enormous exhibit. It goes from the early 14th century with Native Wars all the way up to modern day, and the pavilions only get more and more lengthy as you go along. Much of the exhibits weren't very photo friendly, or specifically prohibited pictures, but I snapped some where I could. I was particularly interested in the sections on the First and Second World War.

They had some great replica (or in some cases actual) vehicles and weaponry on display so you can actually get a feel for how that part of history tangibly felt.

Ka-Boom!

In some cases they had some displays on what impact these weapons had on warfare. In this case however, they had a particularly gruesome display on what the difference between a bullet and a shell case fragment could do as an injury.

I would not want to be on the receiving end of that

In the end, the Museum is a very informative centre about all things war and Canada related, but it should really be tackled over two days. We were there for four hours and we got through the whole thing, but you get a bit of information overload, and the last exhibit on post-WWII conflicts kind of got glossed over in my mind because we only paid for 3 hours parking so we were just rushing through the rest of the Museum.

After that we made our way further downtown to grab some lunch and see the sights. We ended up wondering around the Sparks Street Market which had some pretty neat shops around. I was especially impressed with a big old building with very intricate statues and architecture. I find buildings like that, which are so eloquent and well designed, it's such a shame to see that they are no longer occupied by their original owners. I find this happens frequently with banks, you see a big old beautiful building, and it's been converted to apartments or a bar or something. Well in this case the building was still a Canada Post office, probably the same it's been for the last century, suffice to say it was nice.

I don't know what lions have to do with delivering or receiving mail. Maybe devouring people who don't pay enough postage

This post office was actually just across the street from the War Memorial in the heart of Ottawa Centre. I figured it was proper to go pay our respects after just absorbing 500 years of Canadian military history. If you've never been it is quite an impressive edifice, and the addition of the tomb of the unknown soldier makes it that much more sombre. It makes you appreciate all the people who gave their lives defending the country. I don't know if a huge monument makes it better, but at least it shows their appreciated.

Never forget, just like an elephant.

After that it was just a hop, skip and a jump over to the Parliament Buildings, the very place were all the bills get the official throwdown before they get passed into law, and the very exciting place that is the home of all election calls. We unfortunately missed the last tour, so we had to give ourselves a self directed tour of the outside. Even still, it is a very impressive building, especially all the architecture, statues and the peace flame sitting right in front of it. Perhaps tomorrow we may have enough time for the tour.

The Federal Parliament won a freestyle dance competition against the Quebec National Assembly to be crowned most important law making body in Confederation 

After the brief jaunt to Parliament, we went back to Kanata for supper. However on the fly we decided to head back into Ottawa in the evening for a Ghost Walk of some local buildings, with a focus on an old county jail that had been converted into a hostel. It turned out to be a very fun time, if a little short on the scares. We learned quite a bit of local history surrounding the assassination of Thomas D'arcy Magee.

The jail itself had some stockades in front for taking some novelty photos, but although most of it was converted into a hostel, the top floor was kept as a reminder of the jails cruel past. It was said to be haunted so maybe something crazy will turn up in the picture, but no one is quite sure.

Oh Geoff, always getting into trouble

The actual jail was pretty unremarkable, although you were able to walk into cells of former prisoners, which was thrilling in it's own right. You could even slam the door shut for picture taking, which is exactly what we did. We were also regaled with stories about how they used to charge extra to be able to stay the night in the prison-y section of the hostel, and then the guests would come down screaming in the middle on the night about ghosts.

The charges against Geoff were upgraded after he shanked the other stockade dweller. Don't ask how.

The tour got more interesting when it was revealed that the jail had a permanent gallow set up in the back. It was only used a handful of times, but it was the fact that it was built into the jail that made it interesting. It was a pretty erie sight to see the rope nooses just hanging there with the trap door built under it. What was really grotesque was that the trap door opened directly up to the outside, so you just dangled there for all the people in the courtyard to see. That was probably the most disconcerting part of the tour. Other than that it was simply a very entertaining evening learning some local history with some semi-frightening twists.

This was the creepiest part of the whole tour

Dangle Dangle

After that it was a walk through the Bytown Market at night (Which is hilariously full of drunks on a Saturday) back to the car and then home. Once again a late night blog night. Tomorrow is breakfast with Geoff's aunt, the Museum of Civilization, and then driving over to Toronto for the next leg of the trip.