Princess Sparklefists

Thursday was our final day in Ottawa. We checked out of our hotel in the morning, but luckily we were able to check all our bags in the cloakroom at the National Gallery. Roaming around Ottawa with a rolling suitcase all day did not seem like a very fun plan.

I thought there was a lot of interesting stuff to see at the National Gallery. They have a large section of Canadian Art, which was very cool since it was mostly artists I'm unfamiliar with. In addition to painting and sculpture, the Canadian Gallery includes some First Nations art and an entire chapel that was relocated to the National Gallery. I'm not usually big into contemporary art, but there were several pieces in that gallery that I enjoyed. One was a multi-room installation; one of the rooms had a disco ball on a see-saw operated by a pulley attached to the door. Pretty crazy! European and American Art had its own gallery as well, where I saw some works by artists I know and lots of St. Jerome's. Was someone in acquisitions at the National Gallery really into St. Jerome?

In between two stints at the National Library, we walked out to Rideau Hall, where the Canadian Governor General lives. Tours of the house aren't offered during the week, but the grounds are open to the public. We mostly admired the fall foliage and played with our cameras before heading back downtown.

All in all, it was a good trip, even though everything didn't necessarily follow the original plans. I saw some interesting new sights, learned a little bit more about Canada, and, of course, got to hang out with friends. I'm glad I decided to go instead of just sitting around my house for the entire week off!



That's me and Meghan standing in front of Parliament. There are some more photos (including the Alexandra bridge sign!) at my Flickr page, which I think you can access by clicking on the photo.