'The Ballad of Ottawa Gaol' - no we haven't knocked the hat off a Mountie, we are staying in our own 2-bed cell, in the Youth Hostel at Ottawa which is the former prison. Complete with barred door, and iron bed posts it is very authentic but we are expecting to be let out for good behaviour tomorrow. Ottawa is very foot friendly and very European feeling and the YH is right in the centre of things. It is close to the By Ward market whose cafes, produce and flower stalls and bistros give it a very European ambience. We arrived in very hot humid conditions and soon were downing a beer at the Irish bar (next to the Scottish bar, which would you believe sells Wychwood beer) - nice to see the Celtic fringe thriving in Canada. We had the most enormous thunder storm in the evening, which at lease made sightseeing a little more comfortable today. The whole city is in pre-festivity mode; ready for the Canada Day celebrations on Friday and the arrival of William & Kate - the newlyweds had asked we join them for a pint at the Earl of Sussex pub, but our schedule being what it is.. We did the Confederation Boulevard tour today - walk around the key sights. We had a fascinating tour of the parliament building; a gothic echo of Westminster with a certain French je-ne-sais-quois. This included an elevator ride to the viewing platform at the top of their Big Ben equivalent and a visit to the library, which was stunning. We spent most of the day at the Canada Civilisation museum, which was an absorbing collections of exhibitions detailing Canada's history, both in terms of modern settlers and their own aboriginal peoples, and thoroughly recommended. We also enjoyed seeing the staircase of locks on the Rideau canal. Tomorrow we take the train to Montreal for the final stage of our trip - don't know where the days have gone!
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