Trip to Ottawa

Earlier this week, Arabella, Lori and I decided to join Jay on a road trip to Ottawa. I knew that it wasn't too far to Ottawa, but I didn't realize how close of a drive it really is...it took us less than 2 hours to get there. Arabella was excited to get out of the car, so our first stop was looking for lunch in the Byward Market. We ate outside which was nice since it was sunny day, but not too warm. Byward Market is a great area full of restaurants and shops that was right near our hotel. Lori and I took a walk around the area on Monday night and I wish we had stayed longer, it is such a fun area that I would have loved to explore more. There were so funny yummy looking restaurants and cute shops.


Perfect weather for a drive thru Canada farm country to Ottawa.
Byward Market...not the best shot...

After lunch we headed over to Parliament Hill to do some sightseeing. The blending of old architecture with modern buildings is beautiful. I was amazed by how large Parliament is and the architecture of the building is amazing. (I will do a separate entry on Parliament since we were allowed to take pictures during the tour.) We walked around for a little while before getting tickets for our tour and then Jay and Arabella headed back to the hotel for a nap. Lori and I decided to stay behind and explore some more. We also found a few great shops and picked up some fun things.
Lori, Jay & Arabella in front of Parliament


ParliamentLori, Arabella and I in front of Parliament.

While "exploring", Lori and I can across the Canadian Tomb of The Unknown Soldier.






After the nap, Jay and Arabella joined us back at Parliament for the tour, which was so interesting. After the tour, we played around on the lawn before heading out for some dinner.




We had a great day. It was so much fun and Arabella was so excited to get back to the hotel and go to sleep since on Tuesday we were going to the "Dinosaur Museum" a/k/a Canada Museum of Nature!