Sunday in Ottawa

Today I visited the Canadian War Museum.  This is probably the premier war museum in Canada and was full of interesting displays and information on the wars that have shaped Canada and the world.  A definite must see while in Ottawa.

From the War museum I headed over to the Royal Canadian Mint and for just a few moments I was worth over $570,000!!!  Yes, I held a 28 pound brick of gold…unfortunately the would not allow me to put it in my backpack!  I enjoyed learning about how our coins are made and learned that we manufacture coins for a large number of other countries as well. It is actually cheaper for them to have us make their coins as we have access to the precious metals and have better infrastructure and equipment.

This evening, I was invited to join Sarah and Julie and their respective kids, Dylan, Mattie, and Jack for supper at Sarah’s place.  Sarah and Julie both work for the Canadian Cooperative Association.  I enjoyed hearing about their travels around the world and their prospective on international development.  I think one of the prerequisites of working at the CCA is to have travelled the world as they both have recently travelled abroad and are planning more trips in the near future.

After supper, I met one of Tamara’s cousins Tiffany and we went over to the Chateau Laurier for Hot Chocolate and a great visit.  Tiffany works as a translator here in Ottawa for NAV Canada.  We had a great visit and it was nice to see a familiar face and talk about family.  Tiffany is excited to run in the Ottawa marathon in May this year!!

Tomorrow is a tour of the Canadian Parliament buildings and maybe some skating on the canal if it warms up….way too cold today for skating.