Sunday, May 16, 2010

The Peace Tower and Byward Market

We headed off with good intentions to go up in the Peace Tower this morning. What a beautiful day! We walked by the Confederation Building which has offices for many MPs and Ministers.


The line up was short, but still supposed to be about an hour. We are waiting here for the elevator.


For some reason, many people felt the need to rub the lion on the way by. Because it's there, I guess...


What is a carillon? A percussion instrument of tower bells which is played from a large keyboard. Hmmm...I had never really thought about how it was played!


The East Block with the Chateau Laurier in the background. It is one of two buildings on Parliament Hill to have survived mostly intact since its construction.


Looking towards the Centennial Flame...


These were cute!


The Library with its magnificent roof...


The National Gallery in the background...


Oooohhh...the Peace Tower has a time capsule which was laid in a cornerstone in 1919. That would be fun to open!


The elevator has a glass panel so that you can see the bells of the carillon as you are travelling by them...


You can see the roof of the Library in this old photo...


The Museum of Civilization...if you have a chance to go, don't miss it!


How many Canadian flags can you spot? I gave up at 10, quite a bit short of the 15 you are supposed to find.


The West Block is in critical need of repairs. The tower on the right has been covered in plastic while renovations are undertaken.


Ottawa is a beautiful city with lots of greenspace.


In the Memorial Chamber...



In Flanders Fields...


One of the seven Books of Remembrance...


Dunkirk in remembrance of "Grandpa" Lovegrove...


One of several beautiful stained glass windows...


The War Memorial...


The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...the unidentified soldier was selected from a cemetery near Vimy Ridge in France to honour all Canadians who have died or may die for their country.


The Memorial features 23 bronze figures who are moving from war into peace...


The Chateau Laurier opened in 1912...


There are many statues around Confederation Square. Laura Secord is shown here...


These tulips are still going strong!


We headed over to the Byward Market...


Ooohhhh...our aching dogs! We were happy to find a place in the sun to have lunch.


Well, at least Jim was in the sun. I was happy to be in the shade!


The Irish pub across from us was doing a booming business as well.


Sugar Mountain?? I was already plotting a trip inside, but thankfully we were full after lunch!


The old market...Jim remembers coming to the market with his Uncle Howard. He would back his truck up to the building and would sell tomatoes, cucumbers, raspberries and other fresh produce. This was all from the farm that we visited a couple of days ago. Good memories for Jim...


Lots of beautiful flowers...almost made me wish I had a garden. Almost!


It was a busy Sunday...


We got up the next day and couldn't decide where to go from there, so we went home! It was a great visit...

Next trip...Newfoundland in June.

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