Canada Day!

So after the race we went back to the Byward Market to find a place for me to change. The Bay was open, and the day was much colder than we thought, so we bought matching hoodies to wear over our Canada t-shirts. I changed out of my race clothes in the washroom (I may have lost the elastic part of my heart rate monitor there :( ).

We then headed to McDonalds for a quickie 'egg mcmuffin no meat' and chocolate milk. Perfect post race food! From here we made our way to Parliament Hill. Wow, we should have skipped breakfast and shopping. It was packed. We wanted to see the changing of the guard and the RCMP musical ride, but it was impossible, the Hill was overflowing onto the street. We found out later that 50,000 people were already there by 10:00.


Plan B was to go back to Major's Hill Park behind the Chateau Laurier and check out what was going on. We caught the Lumberjack Show (in the background is the National Art Gallery.


We then went to the Snowbirds exhibit, to look in the cockpit of the demo plane. I need new pants. That's not pretty.


Steve then uttered the funniest statement of the day: "I see people with cheese curds... let's go find the cheese guy". So off we went. Except he found us. What a great country that gives away St. Albert cheese curds!! Unfortunately in the photo is blurry, but above the cow's head in read it reads "squeak"! Because everyone knows that the best cheese curds squeak in your teeth when you eat them! What everyone doesn't know, is that the French term for 'squeak' appears to be 'couick'! (in blue) Hahahaha :)

Everywhere we turned, the Dairy Farmers of Canada were giving us cheese. We were happy. So happy, the picture is again, blurry. Shaky Steve.

Steve took a few more shots.

Parliament Hill from the east in Major's Hill park.


Below Parliament Hill.... part of the race route!
The Parliament Library unveiled after several years of renos under a tea cozy! The copper roof is still coppery!


Back to Wellington Street, where we saw the Governor General arrive in carriage surrounded by the Mounties (RCMP). The War Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in the background... the arch.




The Snowbirds flyby


One of the buskers. I would be so sick.


And we went home, so that I could shower, we could have some lunch, and watch the concert for Diana. Those Princes need to get their hands away from their mouths. So not hygenic!

Anyway, we went back downtown around 8PM. Because we knew that parking would be impossible to find, we parked 1.5km away, where we normally park for our Canal runs. I had dinner (chip wagon Poutine! yum!) and we staked our place in Major's Hill Park, for the Fireworks. Like clockwork at 10PM we were treated to a 20 minute display. Wow, it always takes my breath away. We didn't bring the camera. We will next year!

It took us almost half an hour to get out of the park, and unfortunately, several trees and rose bushes got trampled. The lighting is really poor in the park, and we couldn't see the exit. So all of a sudden you're in the bushes! My shin is bruised and cut from a run in with a recently cut down rose stump. The walk back to the car by the canal was lovely. And we were home by 11:30.

PC sponsored the fireworks, and there were photographers everywhere all day. They found us and took the following shot: Steve and I in our matching sweatshirts and CBC hats, on Wellington Street, with the Chateau Laurier in the background. Steve wants to make it our Christmas card!