OTTAWA - THINGS TO DO IN CANADA'S CAPITAL CITY

Story and photos by Barb & Ron Kroll

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Why should you visit Canada's capital city Ottawa again, if you've seen the Parliament Buildings, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and other popular sights? Ottawa's lesser-known attractions offer adults and children fun, history, adventure and good food.

Hot air ballooning

Passengers enjoy aerial views of Ottawa from a hot air balloon. Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Sunshine glints off Parliament Hill's green roofs and the Ottawa River. Fairmont Château Laurier rises castle-like above the Rideau Canal. It's an incredible aerial view.

Aerial view of Ottawa River, Parliament Buildings and Rideau Canal. Ottawa, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

We're in a wicker basket, dangling from a four-storey nylon balloon. Our Sundance Balloons' pilot, Frank Bellantoni, heats the air with propane burners. The balloon rises, married to the wind.

Universities, museums and homes scroll by like movie scenes until we gently land beside the Aviation Museum. Elated, we share a traditional post-flight Champagne toast.

Le Cordon Bleu School and Restaurant

At Ottawa's prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute, courses range from croissants to sushi.

Le Cordon Bleu chef teaches cooking class. Ottawa, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

We learn to prepare nine canapé recipes, in three hours, with culinary arts students. Our instructor, Chef Armando Baisas, whisks eggs, chops lobster, shells mussels and sautés shallots in a spotless stainless steel kitchen. Mouth-watering aromas fill the air. All students receive recipes and samples of the dishes after the cooking class.

That evening, we savour snow crab with parsnip rémoulade, flounder with baby vegetables, and chocolate-covered walnut cream at Signatures, Le Cordon Bleu's award-winning restaurant. Who has visit to Paris?

René Chartrand feeds cats behind Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

RCMP horses

René Chartrand fills dishes with cat food and water. “I haven't missed a day since 1990,” says the octogenarian, who feeds feral felines behind Parliament Hill. “I've named them all.” He pets black-and-white Fluffy. Lulu peers from the shelter he built.

In Manotick, south of Ottawa, Jane Madigan descends stairs with a yellow labrador. “Good dog,” says Jane, who's training Bella at Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. On appointment-only tours and quarterly open houses, visitors learn about training dogs to help the visually impaired.

A guide dog learns how to lead the visually impaired at Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. Manotick, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Retired Mountie, Dave Stewart, loves giving visitors free tours of the RCMP Musical Ride Centre stables, in Northeast Ottawa. He introduces us to Kanada, a black thoroughbred, in the stables. “Schoolchildren name the first six foals born annually in a contest,” he says.

Dave Stewart shows saddlery at RCMP Musical Ride Centre and Stables. Ottawa, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Although equitation classes and Musical Ride rehearsals aren't in progress, Dave shows us the indoor and outdoor training grounds, the farrier station, where horses are shoed, and the tack room, where officers store and clean saddles. Afterwards, we learn more about RCMP work in the modern Interpretive Centre. We resolve to return during the first week of July to see the Sunset Ceremony musical rides.

Diefenbunker: Canada's cold war museum

“It's Canada's strongest building,” says Doug Beaton. The four-storey nuclear bomb shelter, built between 1959 and 1961, hides underground in Carp, west of Ottawa. The bunker was top-secret for years. “Its 350 rooms could house 535 military and government officials, with one month's provisions,” says Diefenbunker's president.

Doug Beaton opens vault door in Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War Museum. Carp, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Doug opens a massive door to a vault designated to hold the Bank of Canada's gold reserves during war. Our eyes widen further as he leads us past decontamination rooms, a hospital, cafeteria, dental clinic, CBC radio studio, bedrooms, meeting and machinery rooms.

Diefenbunker impressed Hollywood too. Film-makers shot scenes from Sum of all Fears, with Morgan Freeman, here.

Laurier House

We sit on comfortable wicker chairs, with green cushions, on the veranda of the Prime Minister's home. He arrives for our afternoon tea appointment, wearing a black jacket and vest, white shirt with red cravat, and grey striped pants.

Servers offer us a selection of teas from an elegant wooden box, blueberry scones and chocolate cookies from tiered trays. “I support Great Britain,” says the Prime Minister, as he sips his tea, from a white china cup. He talks about his wife and political views.

Tea with the Prime Minister. Laurier House National Historic Site. Ottawa, Ontario.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

During the summer, any Ottawa visitor can have tea with the seventh Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, (played by an actor from Parks Canada Players).

We are in the yellow brick 1878 Laurier House National Historic Site, which Laurier occupied from 1897 until his death at age 78, in 1919, in a second floor bedroom. Lady Laurier willed the house to his successor, William Lyon Mackenzie King, who lived here from 1923 to 1950.

After tea, Parks Canada interpreters recreate the past, with music from Laurier's player piano and tours, which include King's study. Here, he met visitors like Sir Winston Churchill, Charles DeGaulle and Franklin D. Roosevelt. We even see Mackenzie King's infamous crystal ball, which he used to seek help with decision-making.

Ottawa's hidden attractions are as much fun as its must-see sights, we discovered. If you're an adventurer, animal-lover, gourmand or history buff, you'll want to include them on your next visit to Canada's Capital Region.

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TRAVEL INFORMATION

More things to see and do in Ottawa:

Ottawa Tulip Festival

Ottawa Museums Passport

Travel Deals in Ottawa for Families

Maple Syrup Month in Ottawa

Ottawa Tourism: www.ottawatourism.ca

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