HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-02-01, Page 7til!!(,•"�:
by, fi e'Ofbh
•
The advantage of a winter
vacation, if you're willing to
head any direction but south,
is that you can almost cer-
tainly • avoid that peculiar
summer hazard - the tourist.
Until this January, I'd
JOYS never'santi led the oy S: of a
P
winter holiday:, in Canada,.
but , now l'•nt .a confirmed<
believer - on my recent.trip
tourist Iene rnntered
was the one l saw reflected in
the mirror, •
11 divided my week, 'long
vacation between the cities of
Toronto and Ottawa, ;where I"
have friendswho offered
free bed and board. I'ttt not
even going to: make one of
the usual 'Tarawna jokes
VIEW OF THE PEACE TOWER— The Peace Tower, which looms: over;
the. Parliament Buildings, seen through the distinctive gate which is in
front of Parliament
just in case there's it Toronto:
Star repartee at111 lurking in
the bushes. But Ottawa, a
city I'd visitedbriefly as a
teenager, has :clearly made a;
convert.. The intense cold,
the stinging sleet and those
overpaid civil;' servants-
their hefty fur coats cou0d0.
dim the appeal of our capital,
city, After all, we have to,
have poiciafs, and we have,
to put them somewhere, and
they're fortunate that Queen;
Victoria. wrote :in 1857, " ,
in. the judgement of Her
• Majesty, the City of Ottawa
combines more advantages,
than any other Place in .
Canada for the permanent
seat of the future govern-
ment."
Ottawa's fiat settler,
•man named Nicholas Sparks,
cleared a farm in the early
1800's, near the present site•
of the Sparks Street down-
town mall. Then. in 1826, the.
Sparks family gained some
new. neighbours - Colonel
John By and the Royal.
Engineers whocame to build
the Rideau Canal, a 125 -mile
waterway which connects
Ottawa and : Kingston by
natural waterways, artificial
channels and. 49 locks.
By the time the canal was
completed in 1$32, a'small
lumbering town. had sprung'.
up and. the residents named
it Bytown. In, 1855, when
Queen Victoria started think-
ing of choosing a capital for
Upper Canada, the name was
changed to Ottawa and the
city was nicknamed `.`the
—Westminster of the- Wilder
ness."
Now the highlights of 'my
ownvisit, aside from :realiz-
ing how balmy our Seaforth
winter temperatures are, was,
a chance tour of Rideau Hall,
an evening excursion to try
skating on the Rideau Canal
and the snowy view from the
Peace Tower .decks.
The friend 1 was visiting, a
former university classmate,
is a reference librarian in the
National Art Gallery library;
, : but:'she's also, an. acc9mp-
fished: calligrapher, and it
was :this, skill which quite
literally got els lnthe doors of
the governor-general's resi-
dence.
FAREWELL
Maija had offered to do the
Tettering on a farewell scroll
which was to be presented to
the retiring Governor-
general. Jules Leger and
Madame Leger. On the
.second day of my visit, Maija
asked if I'd care to go along
with her when she delivered
the scroll to the hall, and;.
since it was a bitterly cold
day, and our taxi would pass
by the prime minister's home
I decided to take her ap on.
her offer. Unfortunately, my
attire was anything but the
kind you wear to go calling -
blue jeans, wet to the knees
from the snow and rain*, my
oldest boots anda bag of
groceries tucked neatly
under' one arm;
Rideau Hall, or Govern-
ment House, the governor-
general's residence is . a.
beautiful old limestone house
'built about 1838, and set in
88 acres of parkland.
When we reached the front
door of the house, the taxi
driver quickly deposited us,
and 'Maija and I were left
"standing in front of the two
imposing wooden doors, still
decked out with Christmas
wreaths, completely bewild-
ered, A small sign advised ds
to pick up a telephone and
state,•pur• business. •
Theman who was .to
receive the scrolls was Dr.
R.H.,Hubbard, who holds the
curious post of "cultural
advisor" at Government
House. Dr. Hubbard proved
:to be ,a white-haired,' gra,.:-
ions' man who escorted iis,
snowy boots, groceries ;And
all, into his office and ti'en
asked if we'd like to see
around the house. '1 was tot,
awe-struck to do anything
but nod, but Maija managed
a response. •
.The house, or at least the
first floor of the house,: where
visiting • dignitaries and
$SSorted; ambassadors ate
ente ined , obvitwsl is
�a. , y was
little ,out-of.--the-ordinary.
• warm CWET
ts w. w
ant reOSecarpe-coloured, theeredining
table was long and polished'
and fresh bouquets of flew-
ers were dotted about on, the
antique furniture in every
But coned the thrills was,
standing in the middle of the
grand. ballroor►t w.h••ere that
evening's farewell; party was
being held and gazing up at
the huge .Lemieux mural. of
Queen Elizabeth and her.,
husband, standing apart and
gazing out at the viewer. The
painting, a gift of the Legers,
has been the subjectof
heated debate in Ottawa: - the
more conservative art lovers,
led by John Diefenbaker,
attacked the painting for
being unrealistic, while
others defended it for being.
expressionistic and a differ-
ent view of the royalcouple
as well 41 : ttie work of a
respected Canadian artist.
U nderne'at h the • painting,
the entire end of the ball-
room was banked with pots.
of flowers, all grown in the
Rideau Hall greenhouse: •
Across the hall, another
huge room was linedwith red
and white tenting and small
tables were set up for the
partygoers. Not suprisingly,
this is the "tent room",
originally built by an earlier
resident of the house for
use as an indoor tennis court.
Now as our tour was
winding up, and we were on
our way to see ,the green-
houses (my, friend is a plant'
lover), the three of. us
bumped iinto' anenergetic,
petite woman, bundled up
for the, Ottawa cold,with
three paperbackstucked.
neatly under her arm. The
lady was Madam Leger; she
stopped, chatted, we
hands and asked if we were
headed in the same direct-
ion. Unfortunately, she was
off to Rockcliffe Park; home
•
U
THE moot
of ;ambassadors* and parli-
mentarians, and our destin-
ation; was downtown, so we
missed sharing ,a taxi with
the country4S first lady, en
her second last day of duty.
Now on the night 1 was to
leave Ottawa, I still ,hadn't
fulfilled one goal of my visit -
a skate on the Rideau Canal.
1'd toured the Parliament
Buildings (the only tourist at
the time), wandered through
-the Canadian War Museum
andlingered by Billy Bishops.
plane (again, the only visitor)
and; spent hoursin the
.National Gallery, (it had the
cheapest cafeteria l could
find,) Now it •was time to
brave the . elements, take
borrowed skates m hand, and.
find the canal.
Maija and I bundled up as
if we were heading, to the
Arctic (long underwear is a
popular• seller ,in Ottawa
stores) and walked. the five
blocks to the celebrated canal
which really'"' isn't much big-,
ger than any country'creek,
BRAVE SKATERS
l' expected to see one or
two_ other brave skaters out
on the ice, but I hadn't
counted on the spirit of the
natives. The canal• was
covered with skaters - famil-
ies, skating, arm in arm;.
POSITOR, FEBRUARY 1
979
VIEW FROM.ABOVE- This is a view of the
rear of • the Parliament BI,tildings, 'and the!
Ottawa River, taken from the observation duck
at the top of the Peace Tower on a cold, snowy
Ottawa day. (Expositor photo)
•
fierce, .dashing young civic
servants who sped by with
scarves flying and even some
figure skaters, pirouetting, in
the midst of all the action, In
the background, the Parli-
ament
arli-ament buildings stood spot-
lighted
pot-
ligh ted against the snow.
The ice, 1 can • report
wasn't thesmoothest, but
someone had ,'kindly circled
the largest holes with red
paint. An ice cleaning mach
ine rolled by at regular
• .,
•
intervals, the banks blocked
out the worst of the wind,
and: after five skateless years
I managed to stand upon the
ice., .'_.
As. I stood, or more ac-
curately shivered,on the
canal, I couldn't help think-
ing smugly, „Boy,: it's great
to be une Canadienne (the
city is bilingual, so I thought
I should follow Suit)." •
Ottawa is certainly :a
capital city!
A CRISP DAY .IN OTTAWA Two surveyors.
~workthe.
withParliament Buildings in the
background in Ottawa, as temperatures in the
city hovered around 'the - 26C, mark. But
there's a real advantage. to visiting the city in
January few - very :er y fellow tourists
HAVE .A SEAT! -- Visitors to the Houses of
Parliament in
.Ottawa can have their choice of
Park benchesin
the adjoining
park this time of
i
Year -
the only problemS digging the'bertches
out of Ottawa's: heavy covering of snow,
•ON GUARD-=These"two stately stone lions, b. Hamilton. McC,arthy, a
late 19th century Canadian sculptor, guard the entrance to the Ottawa
Post Office: Mr. McCarthy, a fan of English history, named his two son
Plantaganet and Coeur de. Lion; • (Expositor photo)
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�V•
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Fri 9.30 w 900' Closed Sun & Mon..
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Sat. Feb. 10th
at 2 p.m.
Stratford Legion Hall
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EVERYONE WELCOME.
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345-23:•1'
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