Ottawa 2026 – Day 1 and 2

Brampton South Member of Parliament, Sonia Sidhu, is a supporter of the Active Transportation work and advocacy done by BikeBrampton. She invited BikeBrampton founders, David and Dayle to visit her in Ottawa. They invited BikeBrampton members Cindy and me. We would have liked to travel to Ottawa by ViaRail, but they haven’t carried bikes since the beginning of the pandemic. They were supposed to start carrying bikes again once their new train sets were received, but have yet to do so. David and Dayle picked us up in their van which they configured to carry two bikes inside and two bikes on the rack. We stopped in Bracebridge to have lunch with friends of David and Dayle from California. We had a good meal at The Old Station restaurant.

I don’t think I’ve ever been on the main street of Bracebridge before. This is the Federal Post Office Building, now renamed The Clock Tower Centre. It now contains artist Studios, galleries and boutiques.

After lunch, we drove to David and Dayle’s water access only cottage for the night.We loaded what we needed for the night into a small boat. We then put the two bikes from the rack into the van and covered them with blankets to obscure them, rather than making several trips to take them to the cottage. It was too cool to swim. David used the wood-burning stove to warm the cottage for the night.

The next morning, we loaded the boat and headed back for the van by 9:30. David rowed us back to the government dock. They do have a motor for the boat, but it’s currently stored in a shed at the cottage.

We turned the boat upside down to prevent it from filling with rain and stowed it locked to a tree near the dock.

This totem pole, at the entrance to Algonquin Park, stood next to a parking lot where we stopped for a bathroom break. Made of Eastern White Pine, the tree, estimated to have been 116 years old, fell in a storm in August 2013. Algonquin Elder, Dan Bowers carved the pole and presented it to Algonquin Provincial Park.

An hour later, we stopped at a roadside park beside Opeongo River for lunch.

Then we stopped in Killaloe for coffee at the Engine House Café.

We finally arrived in Ottawa losing time in rush hour traffic. The rain that had been threatening, began in earnest as we parked at the 90U Residence at the University of Ottawa, where we are staying. Simard Hall’s south wall features a composition of abstract faces looking left and right, a Canada goose and natural landscapes. The mural was spray-painted by artist Fathima Mohiuddin, otherwise known as @fatspatrol, in summer and fall 2024. Mohiuddin is an award-winning artist of Indian origin. She grew up in Dubai and is now based in Toronto and Dubai.

This was the view from the 19th floor. We had a kitchenette with a table and chairs, and a bathroom and two bedrooms.

The rain stopped and we decided we wanted to have some gin and tonics in the room before dinner, but we were out of tonic, so Cindy and I went out to buy some. Our first stop at the campus convenience store was unsuccessful because it was closed, probably because there are fewer students here in the summer. Our second stop was Circle K, but they don’t carry tonic water. Our third stop at the Metro grocery store on Rideau Street was successful. Fortunately, the rain had stopped. I wonder what constitutes a math emergency?

These beautiful homes and gardens on King Edward Avenue are part of a Heritage Conservation District. These homes were built in the late 1800s.

Ottawa has a lot more protected intersections than I recall from the last time I was here in 2023. As of this writing, Ottawa has 13 protected intersections, and we saw many more under construction.

On Cumberland Street, there was a raised cycle tracks. The sidewalk was relatively flat, but the cycle track undulated for the driveways, however, the up and down was fairly gentle.

Over drinks, we selected a restaurant at which to have dinner. One of the things I love about university campuses is that the buildings are generally open to the public, and often are interesting buildings. The social sciences building had a beautiful five-storey living green wall.

From the uOttawa Ultimate Guide to Art on Campus page: “The distinctive, multi-dimensional, repetitive mural of hands on the south side of the University Centre was created by uOttawa alum Laura Taler (MFA ’11). If you tilt your head to the left, the hands form the image of a brain. The University acquired the piece, titled The Hand is a Mind is a Heart, in response to a student’s suggestion that the campus should have more artwork on display. Taler wanted the mural to depict the inner workings of a uOttawa student’s mind.”

Dinner was at a local bar and restaurant called Father and Sons Restaurant. It was very busy and very loud but they had half-price nachos. We ordered two plates of them and a picture of sangria and the dinner bill for four was $60. I can’t remember when I last paid that small one amount for a meal for four in a restaurant with alcohol. Note to self seek out restaurants near the university campus as popular with students for an economical meal.

Our next stop was for gelato and the Byward Market. It was established in 1826 and is one of Canada’s oldest and largest public markets. It serves as a hub for dining, shopping, and nightlife located just east of Parliament, Hill, and the Rideau Canal. Four gelatos cost 2/3 of the price of dinner!

We then walked across the canal, passing the old train station where the Senate now sits while the centre block is under renovation. 

The Rideau Canal is a 202 km man-made waterway that connects the Ottawa River just east of Parliament Hill to Lake Ontario in Kingston. It was built between 1826 and 1832 for military defence. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for boating and winter ice-skating. It has 45 operational locks across 23 lock stations and is the best-preserved Slackwater Canal in North America. A slack water canal is a waterway that achieves navigability by using dams and locks to flood turbulent rapids and rocky shallows into calm, deep reservoirs. By raising the water level and controlling the current, the system creates long, interconnected stretches of deep water (Slackwater) perfect for vessels. The Ottawa River separates Ontario and Quebec. The Alexandra Bridge is in the background in this photo and connects Ottawa to Gatineau.

This is the Château Laurier is a 429-room luxury hotel and national historic site on the east side of the canal. It opened in 1912 and was commissioned by the Grand Trunk Railway president, Charles Melville, Hayes, who tragically died on the Titanic before seeing its completion. It was built in the French Gothic Châteauesque style to match the neighbouring parliament buildings.

The estimated cost of restoring and modernizing the Centre Block. There is a new Parliament Welcome Centre ( PWC) on the West Side of the Centre Block. “The rehabilitated centre block will preserve the building’s iconic character well in integrating, modern functionality, and addressing much-needed building upgrades, including universal accessibility, and increased sustainability.“The estimated cost of the project is about $5 billion excluding taxes. Construction is expected to be complete by 2031.

This is the East Block.

This is the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council.

This is the West Block and the Current Location of The House of Commons. It was renovated to transform its central courtyard into a glass-roofed interim House of Commons it was completed in 2018. Here are pictures of the renovation and interior of the West Block. 

Sparks Street is a pedestrian street one block south of Wellington Street.

This is the National Art Centre. 

This is the war memorial with the Château Laurier in the background.

Central Chambers is a National Historic Site. It faces the Canadian War Memorial. It was built between 1890 and 1893 in the Queen Anne Revival style. The building was purchased by the National Capital Commission in the 1960s and was left vacant for decades. In 1994 the NCC gutted the interior and the façade became integrated into a new office tower complex.

There are multi-use paths along both sides of the canal. The Château Laurier is at the centre of the image with the old train station housing the Senate at right.

The Rogers Centre is a convention centre. It is connected to the Rideau Centre, which is a shopping mall.

There were beautiful blue hour reflections in the canal. I love my 8X optical lens on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

I like the colourful glow of the different lights in this apartment building.

We are back on the 19th floor for the night. This is my third time staying here. David, Dayle and I stayed here in 2017 at the start of our first cycling trip. Cindy and I stayed here on the way back from our 2023 Quebec cycling trips. Tomorrow we will ride in the morning and attend question period and meet with MP Sidhu in the afternoon.