Wireless Internet Access
by johngayton
If, like me, your laptop is your travelling buddy and you find yourself here in Ottawa without a decent internet connection then the Bridgehead chain of coffee shops all offer freebie wireless. Not only freebie Wi-Fi but an ample supply of mains sockets to plug into!! - Yep, how many places offer freebie access but nowhere to top your battery up?
The Bridgehead Trading company started off as church-led initiative in Toronto in 1981 to support small-scale Nicaraguan coffee farmers by buying coffee direct from the growers at the time that Nicaragua was recovering from its civil war. The original not-for-profit company traded from locations such as church basements, staffed by volunteers, until 1984 when Oxfam-Canada aquired the business and attempted to run it as a for-profit private enterprise whilst still attempting to retain the original group's ethos.
For whatever reasons the involvement of Oxfam led to the company making losses and so after a couple of little tweaks of ownership and management the Bridgehead group restarted in 2000 with a flagship coffee shop outlet here in Ottawa.
Keeping to the original company's ethos Bridgehead returned to its roots as a supporter of small coffee (and tea and chocolate) growers and now has 8 outlets in the city, competing successfully against the likes of Starbucks and Tim Hortons.
The coffee is good and reasonably priced but be prepared to have to hang around for a decent seat!
For the store nearest you! - Bridgehead Company Site
Visit Ottawa... Canada's capital!
by europebn
Ottawa is a great city... it is the 4th most populated city in Canada behind Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and doesn't get as many visitors as well. But, it definitely has character, and is worth a visit for a few days.
It is home of Winterlude in February and the Tulip Festival in May. See the National Capital Commission website (see below) for details. It has many restaurants, shops, and bars to keep you busy. But more than that, it is not as crowded as a major city, and many of its attractions lie in the Byward Market, which is walkable.
For all sorts of information about Ottawa, here are a few sites of interest:
National Capital Commission:
www.capcan.ca
City of Ottawa
www.city.ottawa.on.ca
Ottawa - canada.com network
www.canada.com/ottawa
Ottawa Kiosk - Your One Stop Guide to Ottawa
www.ottawakiosk.com
And the link on my Ottawa main page.
VISIT 'THE ETERNAL FLAME'...
by Simonneeddy
VISIT 'THE ETERNAL FLAME' which honors our Unknown soldier and all those who died in the wars in the service of their country Canada.My brother Pilot Officer Lawrence Dubois (Allouette 425 Squadron a French Canadian Squadron) is one of them. Walking along the Rideau Canal or in front of the parliament buildings.
View from the River
by tvor
Another activity that's fun to do is taking a river tour. There are different companies that do boat tours. It's a nice way to get a different view of Ottawa from the Ottawa River. You go down by the Rideau Canal and the boats launch from there. We sailed up past Parliament then back down to the Rideau Falls coming quite close to them and then across and along the Quebec side near Gatineau. I went on one in the evening, docking by about 9 so we saw the sunset.
Bank of Canada
by jamiesno
One thing about Ottawa this is just simply where so much nationaly happens.
Here is a picture of the Bank of Canada.
Obviously a very important institution in any country.
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/
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Parliament Building in background
Beavertails
The local tomatos are ripening up quite nicely
Houses of Parliament and Rideau Canal
