Monday, March 12, 2007

::day 4 (18 feb 07) - ottawa/montreal::
today was our last day in ottawa. we decided to set off early in the morning, planning to have a good breakfast at byward market!

en route to the market - walking through uni of ottawa campus!

we also passed by a soup kitchen for the homeless/needy.. this further reinforces my impression of how civic-minded canadians are, generally:)

byward market - which is the usual sort of public market, abound with fresh food produce!

not surprisingly, i got distracted by a beavertail stand. the beavertail is a traditional north american pastry, stretched to the shape of a beaver's tail (hence its name) and dipped float in oil - like the same way donuts are being made. the one i got was coated with the cinnamon sugar + lemon! yummydelicious:)

here's a closer look at this delectable (but sinful) snack;)

bagels galore!! perhaps it's coz i have been so severely deprived of bagels for the past 6 months, i am kinda crazy over bagels now! haha. what a wide variety of flavoured bagels! dear saori, don't u wish u had been there?:) heh.

lunch at byward market - after my sugar high indulgence, i opted for a healthy (but very savoury) bowl of assorted veg soup + baguette!

how can anyone resist these desserts?

cathedral-basilica of notre dame, one of the oldest churches in ottawa. when we arrived, i was just thinking to myself about how i felt guilty about not being able to go church that sunday - amazingly, i realized it was 12 noon exactly and service was just about to start! haha. God really speaks to us in mysterious ways:) im thankful that mich agreed to follow me too! hey mich, maybe it's a sign yeah?:) heh. we attended service for awhile! yayy

inside the cathedral - the architecture inside catholic churches is always so amazing!! the stainglasses are so beautiful too!

the peace-keeping monument - which honors canadians who have served in the un peace-keeping forces. this monument depicts 3 peacekeepers standing on walls above the debris of war. before them (which cant be seen in the photo, unfortunately) is a grove of young trees which symbolizes peace.

national gallery of canada - housed in a glass and granite building, with a notable view of the canadian parliament buildings on parliament hill. this gallery has a very large collection of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photographs - although its focus is on Canadian art.

art collection - of the indigenous inuit artists in canada

i couldnt really appreciate it though - some artwork looked strangely disturbing - like this one!

the water court - an excellent place for peaceful contemplation in the heart of the gallery

the gallery is really huge - we couldnt finish covering all the exhibitions even though we spent about 2 hours there! we didnt have enough time coz we had rush off to catch the greyhound coach to montreal!

in montreal - where we met up with wen jhien, who was a great host:) i didnt really know him before this but it was a pleasure meeting him:) he invited us to his friend's gathering for some brazilian foodfare!

with the rest of the people at the gathering - the hot italian girls leticia and martzia, and roman, who's a german and a schumi fan too:)

wen jhien's housemates and the lovely girlfriend!

not forgetting jon (aka the driver. heh;) ), who met us at montreal from toronto!

the food was fantastic - and the company was even better! it was fun getting to know all of them:) martzia even gamely seranaded us with a very nice song, which was originally recorded by wj and his band (apparently, wj's band is doing really well in malaysia - i cant wait for them to release an album/hold a concert! it would be so cool!:))

we later headed to parc du mont royal (this is how montreal got its name!), a hill that is draped around an extinct volcano and covered with paths, ponds and maple trees! it stares over the island of montreal - what breath-taking view!

more of the beautiful night scenery!