Ottawa

Last weekend Ryan and I went on a short trip to Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada (I didn't know that until I moved here). While we were there we got to see some cool things. We saw a St. Patrick's day parade, the home of the Prime Minister, the Science and Technology museum (when we got there we realized it was for kids, but it was still fun), and of course Parliament. Here are some pictures from our trip.

This is the Parliament building. It is a really pretty building, I love the Gothic style. We went up the the Peace Tower and looked out the observation deck and also saw the Memorial Chamber which is a room honoring Canada's fallen soldiers. They have 7 books in the Chamber filled with the names of men who gave their lives in different wars.

This is a statue of Terry Fox. He was diagnosed with cancer and they were forced to amputate his leg. The night before it had to be amputated he read on article about an amputee who ran the New York Marathon. This inspired him, and after his surgery he spent the next 14 months training. He told others that we was training for a marathon, but really he was planning on running across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. He ran for 143 day and made it 3,293 miles before he was force to go to the hospital. The cancer had spread to his lungs and he died 9 months later. He was able to raise $1.7 million, and the Terry Fox run is held each year to continue raising money for cancer research. Pretty amazing guy.

This is inside the Parliament building. There are 2 doors going into the House of Commons, above one there are symbols of England, and above the other are symbols of France. The picture shows the England side. Throughout Parliament are symbols of both England and France. I guess it is because Canada was founded by both countries, but I still don't really understand it.

This is the Senate Chamber. The big red chair is where the speaker sits. There are murals all along the walls showing events from WWI, and there is also a stained glass ceiling shows coat of arms and royal symbols. The chairs up above are where the public can come and sit in when the Senate meets.

This is the room you would enter if you came through the main door of the Parliament building. I thought the architecture was cool.

This is the library of congress. The statue is of Queen Victoria. She is represented a lot throughout the building, but I can't remember why. She must be pretty important, there is also Victoria day which is celebrated in Canada and lots of streets and building are named after her.