We
went down the street where our hotel is and along Rideau to Cora's for breakfast. It is billed as
one of the best places in town to go to. As we reached it I was a
bit dubious as it is part of a chain we have seen in other places.
We decided to give it a go and I was pleasantly surprised. The menu
was a minefield, especially when your brain is not fully in gear
like mine was today as I am still full of cold. There was a lot to choose from ranging from
healthy options with fruit and yoghurt, through pancakes, waffles,
eggs benedict, omelettes through to the traditional fry up. It was a
good breakfast and good value for money too.
Over
breakfast we pondered the options again for something to go and do
tonight. The what's on guide really just had a choice of three
options - a country music extravaganza, a play based in Newfoundland
or a concert by Ravi Shankar. As Ravi is only playing tonight we
thought we would see if we could get tickets. We went down to the
Arts Centre
and surprisingly got good seats. Weare not sure if this means
there will hardly be anyone there or whether we have just been
lucky.
Outside the theatre they have
all the flags lined up from the ten provinces and three territories
(big in land mass but not people hence the reason why they are not
provinces). Statues in the gardens sitting on a lock gate made us
amble down and along the canal and we found a little treat in
Ottawa's Locks (not mentioned at all by the people at Tourist
Information). The canal links rivers and lakes across Ontario from
Ottawa to Kingston, a distance of two hundred and twenty kilometres.
It is now maintained as a historic site by Parks Canada.
The
idea for the canal came about in 1812 to provide a supply route
through to Kingston other than the St Lawrence river. The latter
forms the border with the US and was vulnerable to attacks. Building
did not start until 1826 when Lieutenant Colonel John By of the
British Royal Engineers was sent to supervise the work. It took just
six years to complete the canal, providing work for many Irish,
French Canadian and Scottish people. The canal itself was one of the
greatest engineering feats of the 19th century. Once the threat of
war passed, the canal became a major commercial thoroughfare until
steam and the railway arrived. Now it is mainly used for pleasure
boats.
It was
not an easy canal to build as it passes through marshland, wetlands
as well as granite cliffs. At Ottawa it provided a vital way of by
passing the waterfalls of the Rideau River. Here, a series of eight
locks takes traffic up or down the eighty metre height difference to
the Ottawa River. The locks are pretty big and can accommodate boats
almost thirty metres long and eight metres wide. It takes about an
hour and a half to two hours to complete the full set of eight
locks. Unlike locks in the UK which you have to operate yourself,
staff from Parks Canada do the honours here. As it is out of season
there were no boats waiting to go through and all the locks were
empty.
Next
to the canal is a small modern photography museum. Out attempt to
visit was thwarted by off season hours which means it is not open
until tomorrow. We ambled back into the centre in search of an Air
Canada office, partly to book our flights to Florida and partly to
check about onward connections from Vancouver to Hong Kong.
Amazingly for a capital city, there are no airline offices downtown
and we would have to go to the airport. We tried a travel agency who
were very friendly but could not help us as we had not initially
bought our tickets through them!
Even
though it was early afternoon we were both at a bit of a loss for
what to do. I was feeling pretty lousy still and was not really up
to much sight seeing. Stef went for a haircut while we pondered
options for the rest of the day. I did not want to get to tired this
afternoon as I wanted to be able to enjoy the Ravi Shankar concert
tonight. We decided to leave the Parliament Buildings until tomorrow
and go for a quick look round the main art gallery.
As we
walked back past the locks they were now full of water. Quite a few
people had stopped to watch and to see the boats coming through.
Unfortunately there were no boats. Parks Canada have to ensure that
the water levels in the canals are maintained at the correct height
so they had probably filled them partly for this and partly just to
ensure they do not seize up. Watching the water pouring through gave
a real sense of power. A duck had decided to watch the proceedings
too from inside one of the locks. It was quite happily bobbing
around on the water and watching the world go by.
From
the locks we walked through Major's Hill Park and through to the art
gallery, which is also closed until tomorrow! The park was small but
very pretty and gave views of the locks, the Ottawa River and across
to Hull and Gatineau on the other side. From here we wiggled our way
back to our hotel through the Byward market. Byward is the original
European name for Ottawa, named after the chap who oversaw the
construction of the canal. The market building now seems to have
been taken over mainly with eateries but the few stalls around it
had colourful displays of pumpkins and corn. With Halloween on the
way pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are very much in evidence
everywhere we go.
Back
at the hotel we relaxed for a while and booked our flights to
Florida. This is a little side trip to meet up with my sister
Caroline and her family who are going there on holiday. The hot,
high twenties temperatures will be a welcome change to the cooler
days and nights we are now getting in Canada.
Pumpkin season
Around
seven we left to go to the Ravi Shankar concert. The theatre
building reminded us of the South Bank in London. It is a similar
concrete style building with any warmth and charm being over ridden
by functional form and clean, straight lines. I think we had both
decided during the day that it would be a low audience concert so we
were surprised to see the lobby buzzing with people. It was a great
people watching experience too. There was a full mix of age groups
but what I had not expected was to see so many (Asian) Indian ladies
dressed up in colourful sari's. It was a sight I have not seen since
we were in India a couple of years ago.
The
theatre itself was pretty impressive. Boxes ranged along either side
(I still cannot understand why people go for them because you do not
get a full view of the stage) and there were a couple of tiers of
seats. We were four rows from the front and had great views of the
stage. The stage was simply set with a raised platform with a few
microphones on it. As the cast came in they all gave a traditionally
Indian greeting before sitting on the floor of the raised platform.
It was
a concert where I wished I had a translator. The leaflet we had been
given listed the players but unfortunately did not include their
pictures. While some, like the chap from Newcastle, were easy to
spot not being familiar with the names of all of the instruments
they played I do not know with certainty who was who. The
instruments in themselves were fasinating. The sitar is like an
oversized guitar but with more strings and knobs to turn. There were
two different types of hand drums, wooden flutes and a chap playing
a violin held and played with the neck resting on his ankle. At the
back of the platform Newcastle man and another were playing other
string instruments. You could not see what they were or how they
were playing them. They seemed to be slowly moving their fingers
over something to create some form of sound but I could not
distinguish what.
The
first half of the concert was led by Anoushka Shankar, Ravi's
daughter. She is an accomplished sitar player in her own right but
has obviously had a very good legacy. She has very long slender arms
that meld into long wrists and then long thin fingers that fly up
and down the sitar at a pace of knots. In one of the pieces in the
second half her fingers were moving so fast that they were blurred
and I could not distinguish each finger separately.
She,
and the other performers looked like they were enjoying playing as
much as we enjoyed listening. The rhythms are complex and intricate
but they made it look so easy. Although Anoushka was leading the
musicians and in effect conducting it was hard to make out what
instructions she gave. Her foot tapped out the rhythm and, when she
was not playing she was also beating time with her hand. She seemed
to keep control as much with smiles and raisings of her eyebrows as
with anything else. Everyone knew what they were doing and
they were all set to have a good time doing it. There also seemed to
be a shared awe and respect for each others musical talents.
For
the second half, Ravi Shankar led a much smaller group of musicians.
For eighty five he is looking pretty good. He drew a laugh from the
audience by opening with an apology that for tonight he would only
be speaking in English. He introduced each piece they played
explaining the musical forms and themes but not being familiar with
the terminology it was lost on both of us. Although he is clearly a
master of his art, we both felt that his daughter (who is only
twenty four) has now outpaced her father and mentor and is probably
a better player.
The
concert was superb. I was not sure what to expect and am not even
going to attempt to describe the music as I will not be able to do
it justice but we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Ravi received a
standing ovation before he had even played a note or spoken a word.
He got another ovation at the end of the concert. They were selling
CDs out in the foyer after the concert so we picked some up to
listen to in Morty. We decided not to wait for Anoushka's autograph.
The fact that she was signing CD's and not her father, and that the
latter only played in he second half, left us both thinking that
perhaps this is Anoushka's tour and that Ravi has come along so that
his name draws in the crowds. Perhaps we are right or perhaps we are
just getting too cynical in our older age.
