Wednesday – September 6 – Woke up to heavy fog this morning but it was gone by the time we headed into the city. We went back downtown and went along the Sparks Street Mall – what a disappointment – half the stores are closed, as in empty, and we sure didn’t’ see anything that was interesting and warranted a walk through.

We then went over to the Parliament Buildings and took a tour as we hadn’t done that on Friday, just the Peace Tower. It was interesting and we had a really good guide so found it very worthwhile. The library is absolutely stunning, it is the only part of the original parliament buildings as the rest burnt down in a fire in 1917. The library has been restored to how it originally was and is most impressive. The interior of the parliament buildings has some wonderful architecture and some very beautiful ceilings. In the Senate Chamber there are some paintings of the First World War from the Lord Beaverbrook collection which were beautiful.

Our impression of Ottawa being tourist friendly certainly didn’t change today. I asked a fellow at the Parliament Buildings about a washroom and the directions I got took me nowhere but to a lot of bushes, today I wasn’t in the mood to use them!! It was the same fellow whose sign for tours pointed to a restricted entrance and when John pointed this out to him there was a bit of a snicker and he moved the sign, a bit, to sort of point in the right direction – real helpful!!

We went from the Parliament Bldgs. to the Byward Market and picked up some more veggies, etc. We had a Beavertail at the market, it’s the first time we’ve had one, good but sweet! On the way home we stopped at a grocery store and got the rest of the stuff we needed so now we are stocked up for a few days. Also fed the truck then came back and John got us hooked up so we are ready to go in the morning. I did a load of laundry – laundry was a great deal, $1.75 to wash and dry one load.

The weather has been so, so this week, not a lot of rain but very overcast so we have our fingers crossed that it will improve when we get to Quebec City.