Happy Canada Day eh?

We spent 3 days in Ottawa over the long weekend.  It was kind of weird. The things we thought would be great we're a disappointment but then other things we really enjoyed.  Let's start with the campground.  It was rated high in our Woodall's book but it was not.  I always look at the rating for restrooms and it had a 9.5 with a star!  Yeah!.  We would have given it a 4. And that is being generous. And there was no privacy.  It was just one big field with units parked fairly close to each other.  But it was easier to get around in Ottawa than I thought. We got into town fairly early each day so that helped and we found good parking the first day.  Then we caught the hop on hop off, which gave us a feel for the city.  We saw a couple of museums.  The war museum was very interesting and well done.  By the time we got to the modern wars though  we were pretty much done. But I would definitely recommend it.  On Canada Day we parked out farther from the centre, but we were close to a bike trail and we spent the day riding the city.  Seeing things we missed on the hop on, hop off.  We saw the Rideau Hall and 24 Sussex place,  the falls and rode the Rideau canal from one end to the other. We did a lot of riding.  And of course there was Parliment hill.  What a show!  Wall to wall people, screaming shutting, singing.  And the line ups!  Museum were free so we thought we might check out the Mint, but the line up snaked for miles.  I don't think I saw lines ups at Disneyland that were as long!  President's choice had food tasting tents set up.  People stood in line for 1 1/2 hours to get 1/2 of a hot dog or burger - they were free mind you but really!  That is one big advantage of the van. We decided that we didn't want to Stand in lines to eat, or pay the prices, so we headed back to the van and Gerry made a nice little dinner there and then I did dishes.  It was a nice break from the madness that was Ottawa. When we were on the hill we locked our bikes far from the crowd and walked or waded in.  We managed to catch some of the show and saw (or heard) the opening ceremonies.  If you watched it on tv or the news you probably saw more than we did.  When we were in the crowds I hung onto the strap of Gerry's knapsack so we wouldn't get separated. Apparently I am hard to spot in a crowd!  We ventured to the hill 3 times during the day. Just to say we'd done it. Proudly I can say that I never had to use on the the porta potties once but as Gerry said, "when you got to go bad enough even they look good "( Not to me -  ever ). Clearly he had to use them once.  We waited around until 10:00 for the fireworks and after being in town since before 9:00 am that was a bit of a chore.  We did manage to find a little outside bar by the canal where we had  a couple of glasses of wine and watched the people but that just made me sleepy.  I must say the fireworks were disappointing. They lasted less than 15 minutes and as soon as they started going off we realized we were not in a good spot (too close) and were running back to get up on a bridge.  And then they were over.  What there was was good but short!
On Canada Day we parked in a lot that advertised parking for $9.00/day.  Gerry is so paranoid about getting a ticket that we chose that route rather than the street.  When we got back from the fireworks though we had a $75 parking ticket!  Don't worry I am going to fight it all the way!  But it was a bad way to end the day.
After our Ottawa experience we decided we had had enough of traffic and crowds and sailed right through Montreal and headed to Quebec City.  We are here for 2 nights .  We are staying at a KOA and I love it!  The campground is not very private but clean bathrooms.  And they have a shuttle that will take us into Qubec city and back! We stopped at a tourist information booth right on the Quebec border.  The girl was wonderful!  We have 2 days in Quebec City and then onto the Gaspe peninsula which we are both excited about. It just re-in forces our decision to skip Montreal.
Sadly I am starting my last bag of wine that we bottled at Grapes and Suds.  But Gerry finished all of his ages ago! LOL!