Ottawa!

Monday, June 11, 2007 - Posted by Amanda Bast
This is going to be a beast.

Friday morning Krispy iceBaerg lettuce in the fridge! and I revved up the Bastmobile and set out to Ottawa. It was a lovely trip - we sang, we laughed, we cried. We also went on a huge side trip and saw most of Kingston because we couldn't find the dang Wendy's.

We arrived in Ottawa, found the Ottawa Jail Hostel (it used to be a jail), checked in, parked the car, and excitedly found our room. Well, found our room with people sleeping in it at four in the afternoon. With the lights on. Who does that? Our roommates apparantly. So we made our dinner, froz pizz and fru ju. Yum.

Friday night consisted of wandering around town and Kristi showing me some of the sites. We took a self-guided tour of Chateau Laurier. The third floor is lovely. We then made our way to Parliment and discovered that they were still giving tours. Our tour guide was Avril (yes, we giggled) and she took us on a most "convenient" tour. I am not particularly interested in politics, so most things went in one ear and out the other. I focused on things like the hideous outfits that all the tour guides were wearing, the good looking security guards, and how many times Avril said "we", when she should have said "they". Avril, you had nothing to do with the renovation of the library, stop talking as though you did. While in Parliment, it started to thunderstorm. Cool, but Kristi was wearing white, and I was wearing Birks. Not cool. We did eventually make it "home", but we were a little damp.

The common room was a strange place. There were oodles of English people there, and their accents were so real they sounded fake. It felt like we were in the middle of a Brit-Com. At approximately 10pm, it was invaded by screaming Girl Guides.

We eventually went to bed, but found this to be quite a trick. Some of our roomies were sleeping, so we had to be quiet, which is next to impossible when your bunks creak and sound like they are going to collapse. Every time Kristi moved above me, it felt like an earthquake. Every time I tried to sleep on my side, I slid into the ladder (my mattress was on a slant!), and every time I tried laying on my back, the light from in the hall shone directly into my eyes. It was humid and hot, and I was tired and miserable. The best moment was at 1am, when some heaven-sent person found the lightswitch for the blinding hall lights. I think I shed a little tear. Sleeeeeep. Finally. Then someone's cell phone rang. Twice. Thanks, Asian girl who talked on cell phone all weekend.

The next morning was spent at the Museum of Civilization (well, the children's part of the Museum of Civ...the adult stuff was boring) and at the IMAX. We had lunch in an outdoor cafe, and then strolled back to Parliment to go up the Peace Tower. I have a beeping belt. I peed in Parliment, and wish there was a t-shirt in the boutique that said so.

We then caught the bus and headed to Westboro, for WESTfest. We ate some chocolate while the owner of the chocolate store took pictures of us eating chocolate. Then....THEN the Golden Dogs played a show. It was marvelous. Made even more marvelous by the fact they were playing on Golden St., the funny dancing man, the confusing guy in the aviators, and that other guy that looked shockingly similar to Wally. We met up with my friend Matty, and had some Mexican. I mean the food, not the people. I love Mexican food. A whole bunch. And the people. But not to eat.

The evening was spent wandering, watching some dude light himself on fire, watching some other dude sing and play guitar, warding off skeevy short guys, speculating about what happens when a girl sits down in a too-short skirt (where does it GO?), laughing at a bachelorette party, watching some people get a "relationship reading", and drooling in the best bead store I have ever been to in my life. Seriously drool-worthy. And taking a picture of a restaurant called "Mr. Wang's Noodles". Come on, that's funny.

We met a guy from England named Oliver. I won't mention much about him, because he'll probably get his own post in a day or so.

Sleep was a little better, but there were earthquakes everytime Kristi or I moved. My bed was still slanty.

We went to the Art Gallary Sunday morning, and it was a nice, relaxing chill time. I loved the Renoir exibit, but I realized that I don't "get" contemporary art. How is a pile of scraps of carpeting art? I don't get it. I must be dumb.

We spent our last bit of time in Ottawa at Confederation Park playing frisbee. Confed park is where Kristi first learned to play Ultimate, so it was an honour to play frizz in the park where our Ultimate guru first learned to play. A little boy watched us. We were amazing.

We took a few last minute pictures at Parliment (teeeeheeeee) before heading home. The drive home was fun because of our unreal tiredness. We stopped for dinner in an unknown city (Whitby, we learned later) and it was full of FLAVA.

I drove home. And went to bed.