What We Did in Ottawa

     On the first day of staying in Ottawa,we went to the Royal Canadian Mint,the Canadian War Museum and we just walked around on Sussex Drive.
     The Royal Canadian Mint makes only 0 to 500 circulation coins(that is,coins that are used for money) a day,because the bigger mint in Winnepeg now does all those coins(12,000 to 500,00 coins/day).The mint still makes collectors and investors coins,though and,also,coins for different countries. The gold is obtained from Canada and the silver to make the coins is mostly from the United States of America. This year they also made the olympic and the paralymic medals because the olympics were held in British Columbia. I learned alot from the tour,but it would be boring,I think,for those who read this blog.
     The war musuem was quite interesting,but also very,very sad. It told of all the wars fought on Canadian soil from the Iroquois to the modern day peacekeeping(even if it's not on Canadian soil,Canadians are still fighting). Although, the world wars,and especially the Holocaust,interest me,it still makes me solemn to think of all those people who died.The boys enjoyed it,of course. They don't think about war of killing people,but rather only think of the guns and tanks associated with it. I hope that once they grow older,they will realize what war actually is.
     We walked around the city alot. Some high points made the Rideau River a beautiful view.There were alot of statues of important people. We didn't get that close to some of them,though, unfortunately.
     We also crossed into Hull for a short drive. It was very interesting to see all the French signs and trying to pronounce them.
     At night,when it was dark,we visited the Parliament and the Eternal Flame. It never extinguishes and it has all the shields of the different provinces and territories around it.
     The second and last day of staying in Ottawa(we did not stay till Saturday) we visited the Parliament Buildings(Parliament comes from the French word "parle" which means "to talk") and that was pretty much it. We first climbed the peace tower and looked over Ottawa. It was a nice view except that it was raining and cloudy. We went to the house of commons and there was a parliament in session! It was interesting to hear it,although we had to leave early for the tour. Unfortunately,we were not allowed to take any pictures. In the tour we went to the Library-we had to be very quiet in there,because the librarians were working-,the senate, and I can't remember so much anymore. But we were allowed to take pictures on the tour,except the Library. It was the only part of the building saved from a big fire that occured there,because someone thought to close the big iron doors that led to that part. Now,the buildings are made of mostly fireproof materials,as stone,metals,etc.
     The only problem with Ottawa is that it has a lot of one-way streets and so makes it harder to drive and to find your way around.But it is not as busy or has as many people as Toronto and that makes it also more beautiful. I am glad that it is our capital city.
     We were glad to get home.