Canada’s capital & NYC – Professional Writing Services

Image: New York City skyline

Tues 10 September 2024
Post 3 of 4

Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara and New York City

Three friends at a lookout with farmland in the distance — *Gatineau Park, Ontario*

Jenny and I trained it to Ottawa to visit my dear friends Lian and Laurent, their sons Hugo and Felix and cats Artemis and Apollo for a few days. We had a marvellous time catching up and exploring Ottawa, including a walk in Gatineau Park to a lookout with views over national parks and farmland. We could see a slight change in colour in the trees with autumn approaching, however we had been reliably informed by Paul the Ranger at Hopewell Rocks that we needed to be in the country on 18 October to see the autumn colours at their peak before the rain and wind brought the leaves to the ground. That was a good 6 weeks away so we were going to miss the colour spectacular.

A woman cooking a bbq in a leafy backyard — *Can take the Aussie out of Australia…*

a woman standing between two blue sheep, part of an art installation — *Ottawa street art plus sheep*

Ottawa is the capital of Canada and felt very similar to Canberra just 3 times bigger. It was safe, clean and full of interesting buildings, people, gardens, food and art. As always, I was curious to see Parliament and learn how the local system works so we did a tour of the House of Commons and the Senate. The tour started in the gift shop where I was blown away by the range of products available, all emblazoned with the Coat of Arms or Parliament House – socks, maple syrup, tea, BBQ sauce, Christmas baubles, jigsaw puzzles, watches, hoodies, handbags, hats, baby bibs and lollies. Who knew they needed a wristwatch of the Parliament of Canada?!

A statue in the grounds of the Canadian parliament — *Parliament of Canada*

A woman standing amongst life size sculptures honouring 5 Canadian women who fought for women's rights — *“Women are Persons” the fight for women’s rights in Canada*

On the Parliamentary tour, led by enthusiastic university students on their summer break, we learnt that any Canadian 30 years and over can apply at any time for appointment to the 105 seat Senate, or nominate someone they believe meets the merit criteria. There are no elections for the Senate – instead an independent advisory board assesses applications and makes non-binding recommendations to the Prime Minister who appoints senators to represent a region of Canada. Only about 20% of the current Senate is affiliated with a political party. Senators serve in the position until they don’t want to, until forced retirement at 75yo or until they’re booted out for breaking the Senate rules.

I was interested to learn that the French, Spanish, English and Americans have all had a go at Canada in different ways since 1497. Independence from England was dragged out because of WWII so it took until 1947 for Canada citizenship to come into being, and Britain’s power to legislate for Canada was only terminated in 1982! There you go.

A city scene with the sun rising over a busy road — *Good morning Toronto*

From Ottawa, Jenny and I ventured to Toronto which is possibly the most multicultural city, where most people are not tourists, I have ever visited. We had a day trip to Niagara Falls to tick that off Jenny’s bucket list but were left a little underwhelmed by the town and surrounds. Along the way, I was impressed by the Welland Canal System – it was very cool seeing massive container ships making their way through farmland from the USA to Canada.

A large waterfall on a sunny day — *Niagara Falls*

We flew from Toronto to New York City, and because Canada has separate airport terminals for flights into America, we passed USA Customs before we boarded the plane so that when we arrived in New York we were free to enter. A marked contrast to the +4hrs I had to wait at Los Angeles Airport customs on my previous visit to the USA flying from Mexico.

a view of the New York City skyline from the water — *New York City from Staten Island Ferry*

Inside a large department store with brightly coloured escalators — *Inside Saks on 5th Avenue*

A large room with domed roof inside a train station with people moving quickly — *Grand Central Station*

A busy city street with tall buildings and a line of taxis — *New York City*

A group of people sitting on the street outside a shop — *New York characters*

We stayed on the lower east side at East Village in a basement flat of a 4-storey family-owned apartment block. I shared evening sippers with our Airbnb hosts on their front stoop while chatting to the locals walking by. The giant sign hanging from the 3^rd floor window referring to the upcoming Nov 2024 election saying “We Won’t Go Back! #Harris” proved a great conversation starter, with the neighbourhood full of Democrat voters.

It was Jenny’s first time to NYC so we did all the touristy things including 2 Broadway musicals, stand-up comedy, sunset ferry to Staten Island to see Statue of Liberty, the High Line, Little Island and Central Park. Jenny had the obligatory breakfast bagel and piece of NYC pizza to round out the authentic NYC experience. To add to the adventure, the North American SIM card I had did not work in NYC, so I relied on a paper map to get us around! Free wi-fi was necessary at times but generally we were doing it old skool!

A woman standing in front of a sign saying "Times Square & 42nd Street" — *Times Square & 42nd Street subway stop*

A young man sitting in a city park with a sign offering to write poems for passers by — *Washington Square*

A woman posing in front of a city skyline with a river in the foreground — *NYC from Brooklyn*

A view inside a theatre, with the curtains on the stage drawn and the audience taking their seats — *Broadway theatre*

A series of large concrete stools forming a manmade island in a river — *Little Island*

A woman posing with a large statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park — *Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park*

I needed a haircut, and given the exchange rate, decided to brave a barber shop manned by a woman. The barber told me halfway through she’d never cut curly hair before so she decided to straighten my hair mid cut. Needless to say, my 52USD straight hair was curly again in no time. But Jenny was very happy with her new do. The barber’s usual clientele were very amused about 3 women in a barber shop! Just mixing things up for them 😉

A view through a window into a barber shop of a woman cutting another woman's hair — *Barber shop*

A woman with a large cocktail and a map with a big smile — *Thirsty work reading maps*

3 large painted murals of Michael Jackson, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, David Bowie and Freda Kahlo — *Street murals*

A street sign saying "This is a gun free zone" — *Gun free zone*

A woman cuddling a statue of an elephant made from bamboo — *Cuddly elephant*