GOOD FOOD TIMES IN CANADA - THE FISH COURSE

Day 12 Saturday 20th September

Once we had dropped the car off, we were free to explore the city. Everyone suggests that the best place to start is Major's Hill. To get there you need to go up some steps. The risers of the steps have been individually painted so that the whole forms a picture. It is called Morning Doves, and it is a play on mourning doves. Mourning doves are often used in art to signify peace and love and transformation. The local artist was inspired by the sound of morning doves and sought to inspire people at this location, which is often used by couples posing for pictures on the stairs. It was certainly very colourful.

Major's Hill park affords some good views over the city and the Ottawa River.

The park is also flanked by some fine buildings like the Chateau Laurier, which is actually a Fairmont Hotel.

The Chateau fairly dominates much of the park and it was not without controversy and some tragedy when it was built. It was commissioned by Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway. Now, some of you of a certain age will remember the early 70's American rock band, Grand Funk Railroad. They were formed in 1969 and were originally called Grand Trunk Railroad, which was the local train company where they lived in Michigan. The railway company objected and the name was changed.

All that was long after the hotel was built between 1909 and 1911. The real controversy was that it was built on part of the park, which did not go down too well with Ottawa folk. However, Sir Wilfred Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada at the time, made sure it went ahead and the hotel was then named after him. The government was also funding the railway company! Some things never change.

The tragedy arose just as it was about to formally open on 26th April 1912. Hays was coming back across the Atlantic for that on board the Titanic, which sunk on 15th April. The opening ceremony was a bit more subdued than originally intended, but Sir Wilfred was still there.

Across the river is the Canadian parliament and associated buildings. Some of these are undergoing a programme of restoration and refurbishment, which explains the crane.

On the other side of the park are the spires of Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. The towers are finished in tin, which is very common in French-Canadian churches.

It was quite warm by now and we were well past lunchtime. We found the Tavern on the Hill and had a sharing board and some cold beer to enjoy whilst we sat in the sun.

This was all very civilised.

After that little snack, we wandered a bit further down by the National Gallery of Canada.

We carried on round to end up opposite the cathedral, where it just so happened, a wedding was taking place. The bride and her limo were in front of the entrance. Now, what do you notice about the entrance?

Yes, that's right, it is designed in the neo-classical style. Above that are neo-Gothic windows. This is because the church was originally designed by a local builder and the local priest had asked for a neo-classical building. However, after the ground floor was completed a new order of priests took control of the parish and a priest was sent from France to complete the building of the cathedral. He wanted a neo-Gothic style as that was becoming more fashionable in the mid-19th Century.

If you continued to watch the wedding, you would have missed the giant spider behind you!

This is Maman, a giant spider sculpted by Louise Bourgeois. It is actually one of a number of sculptures. The original in stainless steel is owned by the Tate Modern in London. Another series of sculptures were cast and positioned in and around major galleries of the world.

Bourgeois was very close to her mother and saw her as industrious. Her mother repaired tapestries and the link to spider's weaving and spinning is obvious. The sculpture also includes a sac with marble eggs, alluding to the nurturing nature of mothers.

It still looks a bit scary, though.

By now we were getting nearer to our hotel and the room would surely be ready for us. We checked in and settled into our room on the 16th floor. It was very comfortable, but of course, dinner time was approaching.

We had booked a place called the Rabbit Hole, which was across the river and a little past the Parliament. As you cross the Portage Bridge, you can look down the side terrace of the Chateau Laurier. It looks very inviting.

The canal is part of the much larger Rideau Canal, completed in 1832 and engineered by Colonel John By, who was also instrumental in the founding and laying out of Ottawa. It was known as Bytown from 1832 to 1855.

Remarkably, the canal locks are still operated by hand.

The sun was going down as we walked to the Rabbit Hole.

Just across the river lies the East block of the Parliamentary estate. It was originally designed as offices for MPs and senators and it still serves as office space for senators and their staff today. It was designed in 1859 in the Gothic Revival style.

This is a sculpture commemorating the war of 1812. This was a conflict between the United States and Great Britain. The British had a number of allies including including First Nations peoples and Canadian provincial militia.

The British and their allies prevailed and peace terms were agreed in 1814. This memorial depicts the various allies on the Canadian side - an indigenous warrior, a Metis (mixed race of indigenous and European heritage) fighter, a Newfoundland infantryman, a Quebec soldier, being bandaged by a woman, a Royal Navy marine and a farmer.

The ensemble statue is named Triumph through Diversity. This is particularly ironic in that when we were there, some very young children were playing on the sculpture. A young woman remonstrated aggressively with the mother of the children, complaining that this was a war memorial and that more respect should be shown. This was, she said, "our country" and whilst they welcomed the mother and her children, they needed to be more respectful. The particular irony is that the complainant was white and the children were black. Our country, in Canada's case, must surely refer to the indigenous population. She did not know whether the black family were Canadians or not. I suspect also that if the fighters had still been alive, they would say that one of the freedoms they fought for was for people to be free to enjoy themselves without inhibition or fear of censure.

Triumph through Diversity indeed.

We carried on, passing the Centennial Flame. This was first lit in 1966 to mark the centenary of the Confederation of Canada. It was to have been a temporary thing, but was, apparently, loved so much that it has become permanent.

The coat of arms of each of the provinces of Canada are carved around the monument. There were 12 of these until the monument had to be deconstructed and rebuilt to add a 13th side, which accommodated Nunavut, the 13th territory of Canada. Nunavut became the 13th Territory in 1999, but the monument was not changed until 2017, the 150th anniversary of the confederation.

Meanwhile the sun was going down on the House of Commons and it was getting close to our reservation time.

The Rabbit Hole was aptly named. It was a warren of rooms up and down stairs. The woman who greeted us asked where we were from and upon being told we were from Scotland, she declared us special guests and showed us to a very nice booth out of the main hubbub of the bar area.

Shortly after, a couple of glasses of free Prosecco arrived to confirm our specialness.

The bar was really very lively, the music was good and the service was fantastic.

The food was really good too.

The warm olives for the table, were the best I think I've ever eaten.

Sharon had crab cakes with apple and fennel slaw and dill remoulade.

I had lamb skewers with flatbread, fingerling potatoes, cucumber salad, barbecued courgette ribbons and a pomegranate balsamic dressing.

We shared parmesan fries with harissa aioli.

We really had a great time and on our walk home all the Parliamentary buildings were illuminated. This is a rather blurry photo of the Peace Tower, which is one of the most recognised buildings in Canada, It was built in 1927 and recognises the sacrifice of Canadian troops in the First World War.

The Chateau was also lit up.

Soon we were back at the hotel after a really long day.

Day 13 Sunday 21st September

After a good sleep, we were ready to go again. We had a few things left to eat, so we had an impromptu breakfast in our room to finish off all those bits and pieces.

We had booked a self guided walking tour before we had flown out. All we had to do was activate it on our phones and start our guided walk.

That proved a little problematic, but we got there in the end. Not before we had to dodge some marathon runners charging through the streets, though.

We started at Major's Hill Park and we hoped that we wouldn't be retracing yesterday's steps.

Our starting point was the statue of Colonel By who lived from 1779 to 1836. He was a military engineer and it was he who designed and supervised the building of the Rideau Canal. This was really about providing a safe transportation route from the Ottawa River to Kingston on Lake Ontario. Whilst it was a major engineering feat, it soon became superfluous due to the expansion of the railways. Nonetheless, its construction led to the expansion of the small settlement here and the ultimate establishment and expansion of Bytown and its metamorphosis into Ottawa.

Major's Hill Park was actually the site of Colonel By's house and gardens.

This is where Colonel By lived with his wife and daughters. As is often the way, Colonel By was summoned back to England, where he was retired from service because the project ran over budget. Clearly, they knew better from thousands of miles away.

By's house was later occupied by an Army Major and hence the park became known as Major's Hill. I feel By deserved a bit more recognition than he ended up with. If it wasn't for him, we might never have seen this sign!

Our audio guide took us to a series of courtyards, known as the Sussex Courtyards. The first of these that we visited was home to this Dancing Bear. He is actually the first sculpture by a Nunavut artist, Pauta Saila, exhibited in the Canadian capital. Saila, an Inuit, believes the bears he saw when out hunting, were not dancing, but playing. Whatever, they certainly are a bit more playful than me!

The next courtyard had a replica of a tin house frontage mounted on a building wall. In the early 20th Century a local tinsmith advertised his business by cladding the whole of his shop frontage in tin. The building was demolished in the 1960's, but the façade was saved. An artist reproduced it using original pieces and some refabricated parts.

Whilst the tin house is almost self explanatory, Our Shepherds is less so. The suggestion is that the sculpture is asking us who is leading and who is being led (by the nose). Are the leaders standing on the back of the led (the sheep).

I have to say, I don't know, but the blue colour is certainly striking.

There are three things to look at here. The building on the left is the oldest stone building on Sussex Drive and it dates to 1843. It was the rented home of the first Catholic Bishop of Bytown. He leased it while he had an even grander house built nearby.

The main building was originally built as Ottawa's first bi-lingual college. It also was intended to educate both Catholics and Protestants, French and English speaking. There had been tensions and sometimes violence between these various groups. It had also been used as a intelligence base for codebreakers during the Second World War and then as a home for Ottawa's first professional theatre company. William Shatner and Christopher Plummer performed here. Now, it is government offices.

As if I could forget about the horses. This arresting sculpture is by Canadian artist Joe Fafard and it illustrates the power of horses, which once had a very important role in Canadian history. I imagine the real horses were resilient and hardy beasts. The sculpture was not. It was displayed here, outside the National Gallery, in the summers between 2011 and 2016. However, they were harshly treated by the winter weather and had to be brought inside. A new aluminium version was made and they are much more durable.

Finally, the tour took us across Portage Bridge over the Rideau Canal to the edge of the Parliamentary Estate. The significance of the canal and the adjoining hotel and parliament was explained to us. The tour ended here, which was fine as we had already looked around some of the parliament. We got a good view of the canal and the hand winches used for opening and closing the lock gates.

After all our walking about, we decided to go back to the National Gallery for a look around. There was a huge amount to see, and we certainly did not see anything like as much as we might have wanted.

Here are a few things that really stood out for us.

This tiny carving in bone and soapstone is only about an inch long. It is really remarkable.

Traditional Inuit clothing.

A fabulous birchbark canoe. Of course, I am now an expert in canoes.

I was really taken with this.

This is a painting in a mixed style of modern pop art (think Andy Warhol) and an indigenous animal hide painting. It is called My Memorial Blanket for Eddy (My Marilyn), by Jim Logan. Jim Logan is of mixed Cree/Sioux-Metis heritage and this piece honours the memory of his father, who fought in one of the many conflicts involving Canada last century. Indigenous veterans did not get the same rights and equality as their non-indigenous comrades. This metaphoric honour blanket is Logan's homage to his father's memory and that of the thousands of indigenous fighters, whose sacrifice has been historically overlooked.

The gallery has, as you might expect, a lot of indigenous art. However, this seems to have occurred in the face of considerable attempts, deliberate or unintended, to suppress these cultures. Interestingly, there was an interpretive sign at the entrance to the Canadian art hall. It explained the significance of Potlatch.

Essentially potlatch was an ancient gift giving ceremony used by peoples all over North America. Potlatch and other ceremonies were outlawed in 1885. They were viewed as being a hindrance to civilising indigenous people and an impediment to their assimilation.

For art this was a real problem as the ceremonies often involved works of art and banning them also banned the works of art. Art was forced underground or increasingly into providing for tourists. That has changed, with increasing recognition of the value and worth of indigenous art, like this Alder and cedar bark mask representing Mother Nature and the ties of people to land. It was made by John Marston (Qap'U'luq) from British Columbia. The work is actually finished with carving knives rather than using the likes of sandpaper.

It would be impossible to visit the gallery and not look at some of the work of the Group of Seven. I have to admit it is not all to my taste, but I can see the interest and attraction.

This is A Y Jackson's "The Red Maple". The Group of Seven was founded in the 1920's and consisted of artists with an ambition to form a distinct school of Canadian painters who interpreted the landscape around them. Before he was a member of the group, Jackson had been a war artist and was wounded in France in 1917.

This is an earlier painting of Tom Thomson's called Northern Lake. It seems simple to me, but it captures the weather and the lonely desolation of the place. It actually feels cold to look at. Thomson was not a member of the group, he died before it was formed. However, he knew the artists involved and was heavily influential on them. He has almost mythical position of influence on the group.

This is a work by Lawren Harris and it is something completely different from other works of the group. It was painted in 1930, long after the group had disbanded. It is somewhat stylised, but starkly interesting and evocative. Interestingly, it is one of the last paintings he made before he concentrated on purely abstract works.

It wasn't just the artwork that I found interesting. There were some fabulous internal spaces to sit and look around. The use of rooflights allowed natural light to flood these spaces, which also included water or planting, giving them an aura of calm and beauty. I really liked them.

Whilst art might feed the soul, sometimes you need a bit more than that to keep body and soul together. Luckily, there is a little bistro outside the gallery.

A sharing board and a glass of wine was just perfect in the sun.

Much later in the day, we met up with David, the son of James and Hope, who lives in Ottawa. James had let him know that we were there and he made time to see us a for a while along with Michelle and Aran. We managed to get a seat in the rooftop bar of our hotel, which had some fine views of the city in the very warm evening sun.

Here we all are. We had a very nice time together catching up on people and past times.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. We did not have very far to go to the Speakeasy bar that we had booked beforehand. They were famous for cocktails, so it would have been rude not to. I had an El Diablo - Tequila, cassis, syrup, lime and ginger beer. Sharon had a Passion Fruit Margarita - Passion fruit nectar, tequila, triple sec and lime. They were very good.