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Our Life In Ottawa

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Our home is in Ottawa, Ontario. Ottawa is Canada's national capital, and the fourth largest city in the country. Ottawa is a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Unlike Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States, Canada does not have a federal district surrounding the capital. However, Ottawa is part of an officially designated National Capital Region. The population of the city proper is 808,391, while the population of the larger metropolitan region, including the city of Gatineau in the Province of Quebec, is 1,146,790 (2004).

Ottawa enjoys one of the most extreme climates of any national capital on earth, from hot and humid in the summer to frigid in winter. It actually gets colder here than Moscow (there goes another Russian myth). We experience a range of temperatures from a record high of 37.8 °C (100 °F) to a record low of -36.1 °C (-33 °F), the second coldest temperature ever recorded in a capital city (after Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia). This extreme range in temperature allows Ottawa to boast a variety of annual activities.

Ottawa is located in the Ottawa Valley, on the banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway which forms the border between the two provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Ottawa is about 400 km (250 miles) east of Toronto and 190 km (120 miles) west of Montreal.

Come tour the Parliament buildings and learn about Canada's history. Enjoy the beautiful colours of the autunm leaves. Visit Ottawa in winter and enjoy skating on the longest ice rink in the world, the Rideau Canal. During WWII the Dutch Royal Family lifed in Ottawa, in exile. Each spring we have a Tulip Festival to celebrate the friendship between our two countries. In the summer watch the Changing of the Guard Ceremony on Parliament Hill, explore another face of the Rideau Canal from a house-boat voyage of discovery, or go shopping in Ottawa's historic outdoor marketplace - the Byward Market.

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Photos of Ottawa. Click on thumbnail to see full sized photo.

Guards marching from Parliament

Changing the Guard ceremony,
Chateau Laurier in background

Parliament
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Lock connecting
the Rideau Canal to the
Ottawa River

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Spring flowers - Tulip Festival

Parliament

Parliament from
the Museum of Civilization
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Spring flowers
War Memorial

Cenotaph, National War Memorial
Byward market

Byward Market
Notre Dame

Notre Dame
Arboretum

Arboretum

Dows Lake

Dows Lake

National Gallery of Canada
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Follow these links to the rest of my pages about Ottawa and the National Capital Region.

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Wayne is a former CO of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.

Click on the link for a brief regimental history of the Camerons, Ottawa's Highland Regiment.

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Patti

This page was updated on 26 November 2007.

Contact me at: patti.primeau@sympatico.ca

This site was updated using Nvu and Style Master.
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