Friday 13 May: The Science Museum in London has a lot of stuff to see. When I was a child it was one of my favourite places to go to. The Canada Science and Technology Museum is that country’s equivalent. Except it’s a bit on the small side.

As one would expect from a national museum, the exhibits emphasize the impact Canadian citizens have made to science, but refers to other related discoveries and inventions as necessary. There were a number of temporary exhibits including an incredibly dull one on health and beauty in the home – people used to wash clothes by hand! Of the permanent exhibits there’s one sponsored by Nortel Networks which explains the evolution of digital technology which is full of things for kids to do; one area set aside for the evolution of motorised transport; one for canoes (really); one for ‘Canada in Space’ – which includes the control center for the loading bay of the space shuttle. The museum also has 11 demonstrations which run at regular intervals throughout the day.

The best exhibit is the one of steam locomotives. There are 4 locomotives and a sleeping car. These are very big animals indeed – the biggest is 16.5 feet high.

The museum is geared towards kids and families. They run special themed birthday parties and outdoor observatories. They also have sleepovers for groups of children beside the locomotives which sounds like a really fun thing to do.

Wednesday 11 May: Two places to see in Ottawa. One is the Hog’s Back Falls which separates the Rideau Canal from the Rideau River. The Canal leads into Dow’s Lake which is a major attraction in the centre of Ottawa.

At the beginning of the 2nd World War, Dutch Princess Juliana and her family found refuge in Canada. When Canadian troops liberated the Netherlands 5 years later, the Dutch people sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada, with another 20,000 added by the Dutch royal family. Every year since then the Netherlands have sent another 20,000 bulbs to Canada.

Every May since 1953 the National Capital Commission flower beds hold a display of (now) nearly a million tulips in 50 varieties. The highest concentration of tulips – some 300,000 – are found in Commissioners Park which is on the edge of Dow’s Lake.

BTW, I wrote about the peculiar weather at this time of year in my last post. When we visited the tulips, two days’ later, it was a mere 48°!

Tuesday 10 May: The first trip to Gatineau Park in Quebec, about 20 minutes drive out of Ottawa. According to their website it’s 363 square kilometres of parkland which means you can easily spend a week here, exploring all of the lookouts, the trails, cycle paths, lakes. Culiminating in a visit to the Mackenzie King Estate, the summer residence of Canada’s 10th prime minister, which occupies 231 hectares. This is open later in May.

First stop for today was right at the top of the Park – the Champlain Lookout which overlooks the Ottawa River, St. Lawrence Lowlands, Eardley Escarpment and Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield accounts for almost half the total area of Canada, i.e. 4.5 million square kilometres.

Our next stop was to be the Waterfall Trail, but we ended up going through the Moorfield Trail. This was a nice surprise as we eventually found ourselves at Moorfield Cottage. Mackenzie King moved here during his third term as prime minister. Again it was closed at the time, but I got some nice photos of the cottage and the ruins that he had constructed from remains of Ottawa’s Bank of British North America.

Turning back, we then found the right route to the Waterfall Trail. This is probably more spectacular during spring-time, but I wouldn’t like to walk it as it could be too slippery or icy. What do you find at the end? A waterfall, of course.

The Pink Lake is another must-see part of Gatineau Park. Except only half of it is open. The far side is closed due to rock falls and it could be some time before the area is secured and safe to allow visitors once again around the entire lake. If you want to, you can get further round simply by sidestepping the 20ft wide fencing. We didn’t.

The lake is 20 metres deep which is deep for a lake of this size (it would take around 1 hour to walk all the way around). It also lacks any oxygen below 13 metres as there are two layers of water which never mix. This is a meromictic lake. The separation of the layers of water are caused by the shelter of the surrounding cliffs and the millions of suspended particles which makes the water at the bottom heavier than that at the surface.

Tip for tourists: If you’ve visiting places with plaques and noticeboards, grab photos of them so you can read ‘em when you get back, blog about them and keep a record of what photos match with which locations.

For the record it was 82° when we visited Gatineau Park. But this area of Canada has funny weather until the jet stream gets stabilised.

Sunday afternoon: A whistle-stop drive around the Parkways in Ottawa. The parkways are acres of wooded areas with places for picnics, hiking, walking, skiing and cycling. If you live in Ottawa get a bike because there are miles of dedicated or shared cycle routes. Be prepared to share those routes with cyclists dragging their dogs for a walk and people on rollerblades.

Some of the parkways were closed due to the opening of the war museum that evening which meant a detour through downtown Ottawa. The Aviation Museum was also closed – must try to get there sometime.

The teaser photo on the right shows the view over to Gatineau, with the Lady Aberdeen Bridge over the Gatineau River. The water at the front of the view is the Ottawa River.

I think we’re at the dawn of internet tourism. This is where you dash round somewhere taking pictures at any opportunity. Then when you get home, you google on the internet to find out where you’ve been and what you’ve missed. Then you decide where to go next. We’re out Tuesday – probably a bit more organised this time. Must try to see the Rideau Falls and the Pink Lake (which is green). There’s also the Mackenzie King Estate, but that doesn’t open until 14 May.

Well there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming out here: don’t believe the local weather forecasts. Local means Ottawa Airport which seems to have its own climate. Consequently here in Kanata it has been a lot milder than expected. So I spent much of Thursday and Friday outside in the sun, apart from the trip to the mall for some shorts. Something else I didn’t bring since I hadn’t expected the weather to be so nice (73-74°F in the shade). I did bring my sunglasses at the last minute so that was okay. The air conditioning is being serviced on Monday.

Our skunk hasn’t come back although there are signs it wandered around next door Friday until it found the mothballs.

One of our neighbours opposite are having their decking extended, including some huge fencing which will go round their hot tub. I have a feeling their next door neighbours might complain that it blocks their sun in the late afternoon.

My cousin and her partner are coming round this afternoon and I think there are some plans for something on Sunday.