Our goals today were to see the Parliament building and a couple other places in Ottawa. We’re thinking of staying here for a few days, as there are also some places Ethan might find interesting.
Video to come!
Morning
We’ve been only eating what we can fit in our Westfalia’s fridge, which isn’t that big. This has actually been great because Dong Eun is finding creative ways to cook, even though we are mostly using the same ingredients, like oatmeal, rice, pasta, potatoes and eggs.
Our food cost is about $15 a day for all three of us. We hope to continue eating this way, even when we eventually get back home.
Today, Dong Eun made potato salad using the macaroni we made last night.
After getting all the food ready and cleaned up, we were talking about how long we’ve been on our road trip and how fast it would’ve been to fly to Ottawa. We asked Ethan to figure out how many hours it’s taken us to get here, as in the number of total hours, so he had some multiplication word problems to work on.
He tried using the base 10 method he learned from YouTube, but he wasn’t too sure how it worked with larger numbers. We’ll have to check out those videos again, but we did eventually find out that we’ve been on the road trip for over 550 hours.
Once that was done, we made our way downtown to see the Parliament building. The area is beautiful and has such character. It was truly impressive just to drive by the amazing buildings.
Parking was less impressive, as street parking only allowed 2 hours max. The lots were between $12-20 a day, but we didn’t think we needed to pay for a day’s worth of parking. We snagged a spot about 5 blocks from Parliament and paid for 2 hours, which turned out to be barely enough.
We had to line up at the Capital Information Centre to get tickets for the Parliament tour. It’s all free but we waited in line for a good 20 minutes. Together with the almost 10 minute walk, we had already killed half an hour.
We then found out that the Parliament tour has times to choose from. By the time we got to the front of the line, there was only 3:20pm and it was barely 11am. There was an 11am time available just for the main tower so we grabbed that and the Parliament tickets, just in case.
One cool thing is that the info centre gives you as many Canada 150 stickers as you like.
The security line was more than 45 minutes long, and it wasn’t even that busy. I have no problem with security checks for this type of situation; it was just that our parking was going to end soon.
But when we got to the tower, it was an awesome view and we were so impressed by the interior.
They have little gargoyles on the walls with facts and even an “I spy” game asking you to find the Canadian flags outside.
Next was the memorial room containing documents from World War I and II, along with the Korean War and others.
Heading out of the building, we were blown away by the architecture and design we saw. Wow.
Once out, we only had 10 minutes left on our parking! But we had to grab a photo with the Canada 150 sign and Parliament. There were other people waiting so we only had time for one quick snap.
Then it was a mad dash to get back to Juju Jr. But we also had to grab our backpack from the bag check at the info centre. We ran like mad and got back to Juju Jr. about 10 minutes late; fortunately, we didn’t get a ticket!
Afternoon
We went over to the Agriculture and Food Museum, as we thought Ethan would find it interesting and we hoped there would be free food samples. We were right about Ethan finding it interesting, but wrong about the free food.
With our Science World membership, we got in for free, so that was cool. Paying for parking wasn’t cool, but just a little over and across the street is Fletcher Wildlife Garden. If you drive down that dirt road, there’s 90 minutes free parking for garden visitors. I figured driving in there was visiting, so I parked and went back to the museum.
Ethan had fun seeing all the different animals and exhibits, in particular, saying hi to the calves and horses.
They have cooking demonstrations, so that’s why I thought there was free food, but it’s apparently, just a demo. The building with the cooking also featured an exhibit about canola oil. Canola oil was invented in Canada in the 1950s(?) and the exhibit had lots of hands on stations teaching people about canola.
They had a beehive with live bees that come in through a tube near the bottom to explain pollination.
They had little quizzes and games to test your knowledge of food and canola oil.
In the dairy cow section, Ethan liked seeing the cows, of course, but we noticed that all the cows were chained so they could hardly move.
We were also disturbed by the electric shock device above each cow.
Along our road trip, we’ve seen plenty of cows grazing in fields with seemingly care free lives. This sight was a stark reminder that not many of the animals we depend on for food may not be treated humanely.
It seemed that these cows could not move around, other than stand to eat or lie down. Possibly, they were there to get fattened up to produce milk.
In the adjoining room were calves, about 15 of them. From what I know, calves are supposed to be with their mother, not put on display alone. But I can’t say for sure what’s happening, as I only saw them for a brief moment.
Not sure how Ethan felt about seeing the animals this way. Perhaps he didn’t notice what we noticed, but he obviously saw how the animals were being kept.
We should use these opportunities to ask him questions about what he has seen and find out how he feels. We don’t want to tell him what to think by labelling the situation good or bad. We all play a role in the plight of these animals, so we can’t say something negative, then go on eating dairy or meat products.
Anyway, the point is that we can use these situations and environments for discussion and let Ethan form his own opinions.
From there, we moved on to a building about preserving food, showing how canning, burying food or drying are different forms of food preservation. We even saw pictures of Korean kimchi pots, so that was something Ethan could relate to, as he’s seen those when we lived in Korea.
He actually made kimchi when in kindergarten, as his school taught the kids how.
There was also a section with an echolocation demo related to the topography of earth.
After leaving the museum, out next stop was Byward Market. But as we were driving, Juju Jr. started hesitating and not wanting to move. I knew that the gas was low, but the light didn’t come on. I wondered before if the light wasn’t working. I found out that it definitely doesn’t work because we ran out of gas.
Fortunately, I had just enough gas to pull over and park. It was also lucky that the VW dealer that diagnosed the issues with Juju Jr. had giving me free VW roadside assistance. So I called and they sent over a CAA truck that arrived in about 20 minutes. Day saved.
We finally got to Byward Market and the first thing we find is a giant Rubik’s Cube set up by the Hungarian Embassy. They were promoting Canadian-Hungarian partnerships and since Mr. Rubik was from Hungary, they set up the cube to people’s attention.
Inside, there were art pieces, design and engineering, all with a Hungarian flare. We even got to sample a Hungarian pastry and got some free gifts, too.
We had a beaver tail, too.
And even an Obama cookie.
There was a giant pumpkin on display that we walked by and didn’t even notice. It was a cool place and reaffirmed that Ottawa is a nice city. 
Evening
As luck would have it, admission is free to the National Gallery of Canada on Thursday’s after 5:30pm. I mistakenly thought the US embassy building in the photo below was the gallery.
The gallery was way bigger and Ethan quite enjoyed the experience. He doesn’t like museums much, but we think he’s getting an impression in his mind from all the different things we have seen.
He looks like he’s taking his time, but he zoomed through most of the exhibits, only stopping at the sculptures. But there is no way one cannot be influenced, even if just briefly glancing at art.
It was getting late when we were finally done; time to find Juju Jr. and get some dinner. Luckily, I let Dong Eun and Ethan find the way back so that we could actually find the van quickly.
After dinner, Ethan worked on customizing his bullet journal by adding his name and a pocket for the receipts we collect each day.
Overall, Ottawa was a great city to visit and we think it was an educational experience for Ethan to see Parliament, all the Canadian works of art and the many displays of our flag.
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