July 18, 2008: Ottawa

Ottawa is the capitol of Canada and it was chosen in 1858 because it was a place easier to defend from the Americans than either Toronto or Kingston. The locks we traversed today were built in 1826 and were constructed at this site before any of the city was here. The locks were built by the military as a supply line to Kingston in the case that the Americans blockaded the St Lawrence Seaway and they needed another passable route from the Ottawa River. This was just a few short years after the War of 1812, so there was still a lot of distrust of their neighbor to the South. Last night we walked up the Parliament Building to see the light show celebrating the history of Canada. You really have the feel of being in London here, because of the grand architecture of these buildings and they really do have their own Big Ben.

We were up early this morning to enter the locks, but the locks were operating for east bound traffic first. At 9:30 AM the doors opened and a huge catermaran came sailing out. Next we and four other boats pulled in and shackled ourselves to the cables provided along the walls of the locks for tie up. The lock workers cranked the huge Douglas Fir wooden doors closed and we began our trip up. The water boiled up as it entered our lock by an underground channel from the lock above it. There are 8 step locks to the top.
Each lock was 134 feet long and 33 feet wide, but they seemed like each one was smaller than the last with the same five boats trying to squeeze in at each transition. It was quite an adventure getting to the top with a rise of 79 feet. All along the way, local passersby stopped to watch the progression of the boats in the lock. At one point, the sky opened up and the rained poured down... everyone ran for shelter except the ones manning the boats.

Next to the locks there was a two story stone house which was the first built in Ottawa and it served as the store house for all the supplies for building the locks. Overlooking the locks from the river side is a small park with a tall bronze statue of Samuel Champlain. Also near the top of the locks is a Fairmont Hotel where I got online to put this log entry out on the internet.

This afternoon late, we walked into the city market where we were able to find some fruit, vegetables, bread, etc to restock the kitchen... unfortunately, no chips! It was interesting, because we had to go to four or five places to find things. There was no supermarket here. But it was fun, and we also bought our second bag of milk! The bag has three little (liter) bags inside which have to be cut with scissors to pour the milk out. While it seems like a lot of trouble, I assume it is better for the environment than all the plastic milk jugs we use up. Tom and I ate at a fish restaurant near the market and it was delicious. For some reason we are very tired tonight and plan to go to bed early.