Where?

Quick geography question, what is the capital of Canada? Come on, Canada is one of the biggest countries in the world. It's bigger than the U.S.A and still I had no idea what the capital city was, I originally thought it was Toronto or possibly Vancouver but no. Ottawa is the somewhat subdued capital city, a bit like Canberra in Australia, it goes unnoticed internationally and has never come up as a tourist destination. But as it wasn't too far from Toronto and on our way we thought why the hell not. We'd heard, like Canberra, that there's not a great deal to the place but it's always best to find out for yourself. Besides, we've got a lot of places to compare it to.
First thing's first and sorting accommodation is priority. We look at a couple of overpriced dire rooms, one motel even had a filthy office toilet on display next to the garbage filled counter and chain smoking owner, before settling in a reasonable place out of town. Just over the large river is central Ottawa.
A row of kebab, or kabob as they call them here, shops and a few grimy stores line the roadside before things improve up a small hill. On this slight elevation is the grand parliamentary buildings with their definite French style of green copper roofs and elaborate masonry. We are slowly entering another realm, one dominated by the French. If you didn't know, France used to own huge chunks of Canada but lost out to the British a few hundred years back. For some reason it seems no-one told them they lost. Smatterings of French were about in Toronto but not so much you'd really notice or care but clearly the capital has just that little bit more. You hear French being spoke by all ages all over the city but they still speak fluent English too, they just prefer to speak French. It's all a bit strange really.
Swarms of people are flooding the streets in the hot weather and many gather outside the huge parliament building to picnic or throw a ball about on the grass. Behind the building is a pathway which overlooks the fast flowing chilly river below.
For some reason the people are much more attractive here than I've seen anywhere in North America. It also seems that the nightlife is pretty good and during the day aswell many bars and restaurants are crammed in the outside seating areas. The weather is again good and after the especially long winter here many must be making up for it. Talking to a bar waiter he tells us that the seasons are extreme here, well below freezing in winter and upto 40 degrees centigrade in summer!
After eating in a bustling but disappointing take-away curry house we wander the still warm evening around the bustling cobbled streets surrounding a market area. We return in the sunshine the day after to check out the food at the market and buy a croissant to see if the French influence really has affected the pastries. Oh yes it has. Americans can't make pastry, fact. Canadians can. I'm inclined to believe this is the closer European influence here, which may also explain why there's loads of bars and outdoor places to drink and eat compared to the morose dark bars of America.
We blow some money on a couple of decent ales and a handmade pizza sat outside an almost English style pub. Then it's just over another river to a park that has a long pedestrian and cycleway running alongside the still very fast running water. We stroll along the popular path as rollerbladers and cyclists zoom past as the sun sets over the water. After a day of strolling around European looking buildings, a bustling market and drinks and food outside a pub this seems like a good ending. Back into town and amongst the large residential buildings, mainly occupied by students standing outside drinking, we get a cracking bit of take out food called a Shwarma. This is a Lebanese sort of pita wrap thing that's more akin to a healthy type of kebab.
We left with a good feeling about the Canadian capital. It has a youthful vibrancy of a student town with the nightlife to go with it. With the addition of the great looking national buildings and some narrow cobbled streets and outdoor eateries. There's always plenty of people wandering the streets rather than the frankly deserted American cities, although it doesn't take too long to walk into some rough looking areas. The edges of downtown quickly become dirty and forgotten but around the heart of the city it's clean and characterful.
I really like it when you never know what to expect from a place and it surprises you into being a decent destination. There was no hype about the capital, in fact we'd only heard negative things, so it was all the better once we got there. But it's expensive and for that reason we have to plough on to another couple of cities before heading south again to the cheaper life in the USA.