Tidbits From the World

Last friday for the first time this year, I went out of the Metropolitan Region of Montreal and I visited Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. It did me good to go out and discover this city.

I took the train for the first time of my life. For short distances, taking the train costs the same as taking the bus. Going to Ottawa by train took 2 hours.

The purpose of my travel to Ottawa was to go to the chinese embassy, because there is no chinese consulate in Montreal and all the residents of the province of Quebec must go to the embassy in Ottawa to do their business. I will have to go back at least two more times, one time to make the application and another time to pick up the visa. I was very surprised by the kindness of the staff working at the embassy… I had never seen before bureaucrats smiling and joking… All the staff were wearing regular clothes (no suits) and everybody seemed to enjoy working at the embassy…

When I was done with the embassy, I visited the city. I took the first train that arrived to Ottawa this day, it left Montreal at 6 o’clock in the morning and I booked a ticket for one of the last trains going back to Montreal, which was leaving at 6 pm. So, I had approximately ten hours to visit the city! On the picture the guy that you see is a preacher announcing the arrival of Jesus Christ to planet Earth.

If you want to know if your are still finding yourself in Quebec or in another province, simply look for canadian flags. In the province of Quebec, canadian flags are relatively scarce. You can find some on federal buildings and on some other buildings but almost always besides a Quebec flag. Outside Quebec, though, Canadian flags are proudly flown on the roof of any buildings, be them banks, libraries, museums, houses, etc.

This is the canadian parliament, where the federal government sits.

At the foot of the parliament, some people protest calmly for injustices they are experiencing. They bring pictures and they sit, waiting for visitors to come to them and ask them questions about their problem.

The parliament is protected by two police officers from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

But I don’t know who is watching the door. I probably could have entered the parliament without hindrance because the person whom I saw entering, looked more as a tourist than as an employee of the parliament!

Here is another governmental building on the parliamentary hill.

And a tourist who takes the same picture as I did!

Here is a veteran from World War II. He tells his story at the entrance of the parliamentary hill. He is also a British citizen and he fought with the British forces against the Italians. He was injured in combat and today he is retired and lives poorly in Ontario, because the British government would not give him the pension he should be allowed to receive. The documents that prove that he fought with the british army were lost when he was injured…

This is something that is forbidden in Montreal, but allowed in most North American cities: itinerant businesses. Here, you see a hotdog stand. These stands give some life to neighborhoods, which blatantly lacks on Montreal’s streets…

As she saw me taking pictures of anything, a resident of Ottawa went to see me and asked me if I wanted her to take a picture of me with my camera. I accepted and here is the result… By chance she did not flee with my camera! I don’t think I would have been able to reach her if she had fled with it (I am officially still on convalescence!). But Ottawa seemed to be such a safe city… I even wonder if there is any crime out there. In all the cities that I have known, there is always at least one bad street where all the problems of society are concentrated. In Montreal, the street is Ste-Catherine, but in Ottawa, I saw no city that ressembled even remotely to Ste-Catherine street. I went all around Ottawa, downtown and outside, but nothing! So, I trusted the lady so she could take a picture of me with my camera!

The buses in Ottawa are among the most modern ones in Canada. They are painted with the colors that identifies the canadian nation. You can see a maple leaf that was painted on the back of the bus.

The seats are placed almost in the same disposition as in Montreal. The thing that really surprised me was that the seats are padded with synthetic foam. In Montreal and in other places, seats are made of plastic or hard metal, but in Ottawa, they are stuffed with foam, with is very soft and comfortable. I have always thought that this kind of seats would be ripped up by young delinquents, but apparently that does not happen. A poster that is not seen on the picture says: “Reward up to $500 for information leading to a conviction of any person or persons willfully damaging this property”. Maybe this poster had a deterent effect that worked. I have seen only one little “scratchitti” on the back of a bus that was passing beside me. But the majority of busses seem to be very clean.

The Franco-Ontarian Festival was taking place in Ottawa from June 12 to June 14. This festival celebrates the French language in Ontario.

This was the stage. The artists were Quebecois, French, Africans, Acadians, …

Ontario broadcasting channels had their cameras on the site.

Before I left Ottawa, I visited the University of Ottawa. I took this picture from the last floor, the eleventh. The parliament is to be seen through the window. Nice view, isn’t? This was what I saw in Ottawa. Next city to visit: Toronto. And then, Europe, Russia and China!