1st anniversary
wow, seems like i only blog once a week, and on sunday night after the weekend. i must be busy during the week, or tired. sorry.
This weekend was Leanne and my First Anniversary !
Grandma Stock gave us a buy one get one free ViaRail ticket, which we decided to put to good use. Quebec City was our first thought, but it was a little far. The train takes all day to get there, and since this wasn't a long weekend (we're saving our vacation days for the Africa trip), Quebec City was out.
Ottawa seemed like the next logical choice. We booked our ticket and off we went. Friday night we wandered past the Parliament, saw a demo of the upcoming light show on Parliament Hill, and partied (and drank and drank) at Highlanders Pub in the Bytown market. Highlander's is always good. I've been there a few times. Live music and good beer on a patio with a "no cars" street. We stayed in the Marriott using up points I had collected travelling with work.
Saturday we walk down Sparks Street, and the Parliament again, before checking in to the Chateau Laurier. Nice hotel. Grand lobbies and magnificent woodwork. Chateau Laurier and the Royal York are both owned by the Fairmont. We stayed at the Royal York the night of our wedding, so how fitting to stay in another grand old railway luxury hotel on the night of our first anniversary. Oh, and the Royal York opened on June 11, 1929 and Leanne stayed in it the night before the wedding, June 11th, 2004, the Royal York's 75th anniversary. The Chateau Laurier opened on June 12, 1912. Interesting.
After we checked in, we sat by the locks for a bit and read about the history of the canal. I love the locks, but I'm not sure why. It seems like high tech engineering, but it is 150 years old, and has never needed an update. Unlike high tech gadgets that eat through power (batteries) this is man and water powered, and very powerful. Anyway, sit by a set of locks for a while if you never have. I recommend the ones at the start of the Rideau.
Next up was the National Gallery of Canada. We spent most of our time at the temporary exhibit featuring artists from the Renaissance in Florence. Most of it was quite amazing work as they attempted to draw and sculpt the human form as lifelike as possible. We walked through the "modern art" section (really, is that art? I can draw a red square on a wall. sheesh) to see Tom Thompson and the Group of Seven. I saw quite a few paitings in the gallery I wouldn't mind having hang on my wall.
After the Gallery, we walked back through the bytown market, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and went for a swim at the Chateau. The pool was cool. Indoor, but completely enclosed, antique bronze heat lamps on the pool side chairs and a 2nd level mezanine. Built in the early twenty's I think, and then never touched up, and we had it all to ourselves. Creepy, but cool. Nothing like it. I've never seen a pool atmosphere like it. Aparently it thunderstormed out side while we swam. I had no idea.
Later we decided to see a movie, and I let Leanne talk me in to The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. I'm not sure what to say. I think I was the only guy in the theatre though. Off for another beer or two with live music in the market, then we retired to the hotel.
Sunday we decided to work-in our backpacking boots. We took our backpacks as luggage so we even looked like trekers. We walked all over the parks and along the canal. We saw the statues, baked in the sun, and eventually ended up back at the locks. Some of the paths we had walked the day before in sandles, and I know there should be no comparison, but I was surprised by how much easier it was to climb up hills and such in the boots, and now I was wearing a backpack! Definitely a good investment for the mountain.
An uneventful train ride home, and then, the wedding cake. Have you ever eaten year old cake? I mean exactly one year old? umm, why do people do this? The "cake" part, was actually quite good. I mean, it wasn't give-me-another-slice good, but it was edible. The top/side icing was ok. Cold, and crunchy, but tasted fine. The center icing? Like eating butter. Straight. Would you like a hunk of butter in your cake? I hope it wasn't like that a year ago when we served it. If it was, my deepest apologies.
What do we do with the rest of it? I know we were "supposed" to eat a slice, but what are we "supposed" to do with the rest of it? If I don't hear any good ideas soon, I'm inviting you all over to try some yourself :-)
All in all, a very good First Anniversary.
Thanks to the power of perl scripting, the album is already up at http://ajax.verkley.com/brian/albums/ . I don't think there is anything stunning there, but it is online anyway.
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