Onto Ottawa, August 30, 31

 August 30

       We packed up and headed to Ottawa on a gorgeous driving day. We opted to take the slow road from Utica through upstate NY just to the west of the Adirondack Park. The roads were pretty empty and it was a pleasant drive. We crossed into Canada at Ogdensburg. 

Over the 1,000 islands

      We are staying at the Ambassador B and B on Laurier (E) Street in a pretty central location. The B and B is modest and we do have to share a bathroom. But, it's adequate and we have parking.

      We arrived around 3:30 and walked to a nearby pub, The Nelson, where we had a surprisingly nice meal - Barbara had fish (as in fish and chips) and kale salad in place of chips. Mark had a very good smash burger, also with kale salad.

   August 31

    We had a continental breakfast in the morning which I'd say was continental+ as there were quite a few items, but not a hot breakfast. The nice thing about a b and b is chatting with the others who are here.

     We walked a lot today - about 5 miles.

     First, we walked down Laurier to the Parliament area where we rented bikes and biked along the Rideau Canal as we did 38 or so years ago when we lived in Ottawa for a summer. Mark tried a pedal assist electric bike which he quite liked. We biked along the canal in gorgeous weather, although quite hot (79 degrees). The bike path is very well used. We rode the 8 miles to Dows Lake where we had a meal on a terrace. (Fish tacos - Mark. Caesar salad-Barbara) We needed the break when we had lunch as it was rather hot and we have not biked in a while.

      

Dows Lake as seen from the terrace where we took a break

Happy Guy!

Along the Rideau Canal

After our ride, we walked to the Byward Market and straight to Stella Luna, a gelato place recommended by the people who rented us the bikes. And, it was excellent. We met the owner who retired from baking and opened the place with his son, who served us. The owner had just come back from Cairo where his wife was born and we had a nice chat about how much we had enjoyed Egypt.  Mark had salted caramel with dark chocolate and Barbara had dark chocolate blackberry. 

In the Byward Market

Then - a hot walk home.

After resting our feet, we went back out a short distance to WT restaurant which is in an old church. WT= Working Title. They had a prix fixe menu for their Sunday dinner. Beet salad, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and small roasted potato, followed by a trifle dessert. It was all quite good, except the beef was a bit tough. But, we sat on the terrace and had a very enjoyable evening in perfect weather.

The Ambassador B&B

A bar from what used to be the chapel