I've just got back from 2 weeks in Canada - Ottawa and Toronto. It was amazing! I'd say one my the best holidays can't decide if it was better than Florida but it is definitely up there. Loved it and so sad to come back had the best time there. Seeing family I've not seen in over 20 years so didn't actually know who everyone was but won't forget them now.
I went with my grandma, Tracy and her boyfriends Chris - well fiance now after Canada! That's for another post as that was a while into the holiday before that happened..!
We went from having no plans at all in Ottawa to having too many plans that we didn't actually have enough time for! Thank you Canada fam for being so welcoming! There's plenty of posts thanks to them for all the different things we ended up doing and seeing over the 2 weeks...
We flew with Air Canada Rouge - basically our version of Easyjet/Ryan Air but long haul. It was the worst we didn't have any in flight entertainment and our tickets weren't cheap - we had to pay for our luggage as well. There were no TV's at all and the flight was 7 hours 50 long couldn't even see where we were. We flew at 12:15pm UK time so got fed dinner and a snack.
I got pasta which for some reason had coriander in it!! So this was the start of me questioning what Canadians put in their food...
Nanny Wing got the chicken.
This also had coriander in it!!
We flew into Toronto - had a 2 hour lay over then flew to Ottawa which only took 40 mins. That was an Air Canada flight which was better than our long flight as it had TVs and we got given a snack - pretzels and a bottle of water. We've learnt the Rouge doesn't make it fancy it just makes it rubbish..!
You can see the CN tower!
We landed in Ottawa around 7ish and Nanny Wing's niece Auntie Kitty met us at the airport. Me and Nanny Wing went with her and her husband as we were staying with them. Tracy and Chris picked up the rental car as they were staying in an Air BnB apartment.
Tracy and Chris came round when they checked in to have dinner.
Food was good and the fish was caught by my uncle.
It was Auntie Kitty's son Tony who was getting married the reason for our trip so they had this up and Nanny Wing said Tracy and Chris needed to get a photo - oh how we didn't know how this holiday was going to turn out...
Also them 2 fish either side of the clock are actually real fish my uncle had caught and they got them glossed and made into ornaments!
Day 1
Went for dim sum in the morning.
So much food! I ordered chicken feet but it didn't come with everything else and came last on its own so I ended up eating the whole thing to myself.
Dad's cousins kids Angie and Anna the cutest!
After dim sum me, Tracy and Chris walked around Dollarama - like Poundland but no everything is a dollar as they do this stupid thing like in America where the tax doesn't get added till you get to the till so everything is $1.25 after 13% tax.
After we went to Nanny Wing's sisters house
Nanny Wing's sister and my dad's cousin Kitty and her brother's son Connor
After Auntie Debbie took us around downtown Ottawa where we went to Parliament Hill
Downtown Ottawa and Parliament Hill
Sparks Street
Auntie Debbie
Canada's version of Big Ben - "what's that building?" Anything with a flag is a government building. Basically nearly every fancy building in Ottawa is a government building.
The glass building is the national gallery.
Beavertails
Famous Beavertails - a deep fried dough pastry like a churro. Auntie Debbie got a classic cinnamon, sugar and lemon. Tracy got a maple syrup one and Chris got a peanut butter one. I didn't get one as there is no way I could eat a full one. Instead I got a classic Maccies ice cream cone.
It was really icy and not creamy like at home.
Then we went to the hair dressers as Tracy had a hair appointment to get her hair pin curled for the wedding the next day. After we went back to Sparks Street for dinner at The Rabbit Hole.
The Rabbit Hole
The biggest portion of fries
Over the 2 weeks we learnt Canadians are definitely honours with their portions and arrnt stingy at all!
Shrimp Spaghetti - Prosciutto, zucchini, broccoli, arugula, grape tomatoes, pine nuts, olive oil
The pasta and broccoli had a really weird taste to it but everything else tasted fine which was weird.
Tracy and Chris both got the Crispy Pork Belly - Spinach and tomato cassoulet, wilted greens, honey brown butter glaze
Debbie got the Seared Rare Yellow Fin Tuna - Herbed Israeli couscous, sesame bok choy, yuzu aioli
Food was nice and the place was really busy. First day in Ottawa done plenty more posts to go...!
All photos were taken with
my Samsung Galaxy S9 phone.
