Sleepy Cedars Campground - Ottawa

Slept in till just after 9am today and had a lazy morning around the Sleepy Cedars Campground.

It was noon before we got in the car and drove into Ottawa.  Today we are going to go for a boat ride on the Rideau Canal.

We parked the car at the World Exchange Building underground parking.  Then walked the short distance to Rideau Canal where we bought our tickets for Paul’s Boat Tours.

This is the boat we will be cruising in today.



We were early so we bought a quick lunch at one of the street meat stands and sat in the Muskoka Chairs that were near the National Art Centre to eat our lunch.



After our bite to eat, we walked back to our cruise ship and got onboard.

We waited past the departure time for a group of people who had bought tickets, but were not onboard yet.

I think if you snooze you loose and find it rude that they can hold up a boat for 20 minutes past the departure time.   This cuts our whole cruise time short because the boat has to be back to the dock in time for the next group of people who bought tickets.

Anyways, we untied 20 minutes after the departure time and began our cruise on the Rideau Canal.



The Rideau Canal or otherwise known as The Rideau Waterway is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America.  It was completed in 1832.

 

The Rideau Canal stretches from Kingston in the South on Lake Ontario to Ottawa.  A distance of  202 KM or 125 Miles.  The cruises ends at Dow Lake where we turn around and head back to the dock.



There are many pleasure boats tied up along the canal wall as we get close to the downtown core of Ottawa.

 

We got tied back up and Karen and I then walked back to the Parliament Buildings.  Along the way, we paused to look at and take pictures of the locking system.

 

There were a couple of statues that we missed photographing the other day so we found those.
Sir Wilfred Laurier.  He was our 7th Prime Minister.

 

We also had not taken any photos of the West Block, probably because it is all under renovation, so we took photos this time.



It can’t hurt to have another photo of the Centre Block.



And of the Centennial Flame.

 

We then found the statue of Lester B Pearson.  He was our 14th Prime Minister.



We also got a photo of the beaver sculpture right above the front entrance door to the Centre Block.  From a distance you cannot see the detail carved into the stonework, but up close, it is amazing what you start seeing.

  

That concludes our day in Ottawa, and we head back to the campground for dinner.  Along the way Karen snapped this photo of some elephant statues through the back seat window.  From our drive by location, the appear to be elephants, but further research reveals that they are actually Mastodons.