Happy Canada Day

June 28 – July 4, 2019

It’s Canada week and I will be telling you all about my adventures in the Capital from Canada Day!

Friday is was running errands before it started to rain. From the groceries I got, I had a homemade bacon cheeseburger for dinner. While I was eating, I was working on getting my pictures from Ariel and planning what I needed for Tuesday night’s cam party.

Saturday I was online in the day and watched the UFC Fight Night afterward. There were some good fights, but it was all topped off with a serious knockout in the main event in just over a minute of the first round!

Sunday I got ready for Canada Day. If there’s one thing I’ve learned while living here, it’s that on holidays, everything closes. So I made a list of things to go out and buy, and I was not alone. The stores were so busy! After reading online that there were some festivities going on, I went in to see. At Parliament Hill, they were doing the concert rehearsals and at the Major’s Hill Park there were some performances and vendors were open. Cam that night closed out June and we finished at #12 for the second month in a row!

Monday I took the day off cam to go celebrate in Ottawa for Canada Day. I woke up early enough to get ready and head into the crowds. I wanted to watch the opening ceremonies on Parliament Hill where they had a stage set up for the performances and speeches. The entrance was a couple of blocks away at the Supreme Court, and you’re supposed to walk down behind one of the buildings to go through a security tent.

As I was walking, I was thinking to myself that I didn’t bring anything they wouldn’t like such as alcohol, weapons, etc.. Well just my luck, I get up to security, a guy empties things from my bag while I walk through a body scanner. I’m told that I can’t be let through because I have an aerosol/spray sunscreen bottle. Being as it was brand new and brought it with me for a reason, I said okay and that I would take it back to my car. I didn’t have a car since I walked, but I decided I would just watch the ceremony from the street. So, I take back my things and go to the edge of the security tent, still inside but at the door to let the line move. I’m almost done when a security lady (from the body scanner) yells over to me, “Ma’am if you’re going to leave, you need to leave NOW!”. Surprised at how rude she was being, I shyly said okay and walked out. 

I ended up getting a great spot on Wellington Street (right across from Parliament) in the shade next to a flowerbed. Looking at all the people coming in, I was glad I got there when I did. On Parliament Hill, I noticed the majority of the people were directly in the sun. To be in the shade, there were small gazebo tents set up around the perimeter. That meant if you wanted to be in the shade, you would be away from the stage anyway and may as well be on the street where I was. So it turned out that I had no regrets about not being right at the stage.

During the opening ceremonies, there were fly-bys of the Snowbirds and CF-18 over the Parliament and War Memorial. 

After watching the ceremony, I walked over to the Major’s Hill Park to grab lunch. Of course, I went with a Canadian favourite, poutine!

I walked over to the Quebec side to see their events, but I didn’t find anything different or interesting, so I walked back to the Ottawa side.

I waited around for a bit to watch Tyler Shaw perform on stage. At the same time, there was an acrobatic show.

After all that excitement and being in the heat all day, I decided it was time to head home to the air conditioning. I couldn’t forget the fireworks at night! I tried taking pictures with my phone, but with the angle from the street and weird lighting, they didn’t turn out so hot. So here are some highlights from other, better photographs of the night!

What a night it was! I was so tired, I didn’t get up on Tuesday until noon! I cleaned and set up my cam room for the night’s party. We had a really fun, Canadian celebration on cam!

Wednesday and Thursday were lazy days. I alternated working in the A/C and lounging on the balcony in 30-degree weather. Wednesday I had one of my favourite dishes for lunch…poke bowl, yum! Thursday got up to 35 degrees Celsius and had a Heat Advisory for Ottawa. The humidity was making it feel up to 40 degrees Celsius until Friday.

I had a really fun time at the Canada Day parties this week! Thank you to those who came in and played games with me on Tuesday night.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Lacey

More Photos From This Week