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3 June, 2000
Visiting Ottawa

Here I sit at the computer desk of my aunt's country ranch sixty kilometres out of our nation’s capital city. Yes, I have pulled up my roots, packed up my stuff, put on my traveling shoes, and flown out here to check things out. I’ve been here about two weeks now, and, as I’ve always wanted to say, I have much to report.

Ottawa is a very pretty city. Very green with multiple rivers and canals running through it. Naturally, there are many older buildings here, so the aesthetic of city is nicer. The Parliament buildings are particularly impressive as they stand watch over the downtown region. The city can also, despite a solid transit system, be wildly confusing.

You see, there are no numbered streets here. Or avenues for that matter. Speaking now from a cosmopolitan Edmontonian point of view, seeing "Kent Street" intersecting "Albert Street" was alarming to say the least. A "Street" crossing a "Street"?! Also, even though it’s a haven of federal tax dollars, the street lights along the canal (and who knows where else) do not turn on. That’s a shadowy surprise on an evening stroll. Some residential streets don’t have street lights at all. Oh wait, I only saw that in Nepean, which is apparently a different city, although it’s attached to Ottawa, although soon they’re all going to amalgamate… oh bother!

What I really dig about Ottawa is all the French. Most of the signs are bilingual, and so are most of the people. It’s no longer a shock for me to hear people conversing in French. I even had to speak French to the guy at the Bulgarian Embassy. Thank you, French immersion!

What really matters in a new city is the people. Aside from the large volumes of tourists, the most striking thing about the people in Ottawa is that… they don't seem all that different from people in St. Albert or Edmonton. They’re pretty friendly. They say "eh". They complain about neighbouring cities (mostly Toronto). They do seem more accustomed to meeting travelers, and they do discuss politics a lot more. But that’s natural.

The pulse of the city feels a bit conservative, like people are conscious of being the nation's capital, like they know they're being watched by the imposing edifices of the Parliament as well as by the rest of the world. I noticed that the dance club I went to didn't play any heavy or hard music at all.

There's a sense of placidity, of contentedness that infuses everything. It must come from the fact that virtually everyone works in government. People are looked after better here; there's not that laissez-faire, take care of yourself buzz like in other cities.

Of course, many things are a really big deal here. If people are more laid back about day to day living, then they make up for it plenty in their concern about political, social, and ideological issues. People younger than me gripe to me about their friends' political allegiance ("You see that table over there? They're all hardcore Liberals."). Hypothetical questions are the conversational meat and potatoes.

The best current example is the Unknown Soldier. Aside from Ottawa being the capital, that whole thing wouldn't happen in another city. (Unless it was "The Unknown Hockey Player".) This was a really big deal here.

Still, overall I’ve been having a blast, making friends, and learning a lot about myself and Canada. Will I be back? Maybe. But I’ve got a lot of turf to conquer first.

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