Despite my late bedtime last night, I still woke up at 0630. Before getting ready, I read, did Duolingo exercises and did some travel planning for later in the day. I left my hotel by 1000 and drove into downtown Ottawa. After a bit of searching, I found a parking spot on the far western side of Wellington (1030). Hearing loud church bells coming from a church that was located immediately across the street, my curiosity encourarged me to try to attend Mass (I'd thought "perfect timing"). Once inside the warm building, though, I discovered it was actually an Anglican Church. Oh well... Returning to the biting cold (brrrrr), I started walking east on the street where most of the buildings related to the Canadian government were located, the so-called Parliament Hill (see JUL 1990). At one point, I considered taking a tour of the Parliament but (after talking over the process with the Docents there), decided against it. Continuing my walk, I got lots of wonderful views of the Ottawa River, historic buildings and Rideau Canal. I eventually looped all the way around to Confederation Park. During this part of my day, I was enmeshed in history, crossed locks on foot bridge and found the Whalesbone restaurant on Elgin Street - Eileen has told me many stories about that place... I thought about going in for lunch but decided instead to have some poutine at Harvey's, located across the street (1130). The food was very good! Once I was done eating (1200), I walked back towards my car, exploring Sparks Street (shopping district) on the way. After rejoining "Nessie" (1215), I drove across the Ottawa River on the Portage Bridge and returned to the Province of Quebec. Hoping I'd be able to walk along the northern edge of the river, I stopped at the Kruger "factory", where the guard let me park in the lot for a short time, and took a path town to the water. I got some great photos of Parliament Hill from the north side! Back in my car, I received a call from Eileen and Emma about their ETA in Ottawa - we'd initially talked about meeting for lunch and a walk but time had gotten away from them. After hearing she wouldn't arrive until "after 1400", I agreed to meet them at National Gallery of Canada when I was done with a hike in Gatineau Park. With that decision made, I drove (via surface streets) to A5 and headed north to the exit at Boulevard des Hautes-Plaines. Next, I followed the road on the eastern perimeter of Gatineau Park (Boulevard de la Cite-des-Jeunes and, later, Chemin de la Mine). During this phase, I located some bike trails and, eventually, a road (Chemin Notch) that crossed the ridge. After exploring parking options, . Several of the access roads were closed but I still managed to get a nice hike in Gatineau Park, a sprawling green area on the north (Quebec) side of the Ottawa River. There were only a few parking spots available (near Trail #15) when I arrived at the Chemin Notch trailhead (1315) so felt lucky to have a shot at a walk to Lac Pink. This little mountain pond had a great circuit trail with lots of stairs and graded surfaces - much easier than many of the places I usually hike. Spent 75 minutes in nature and later explored some other trailheads nearby. This place would be great for cross country skiing - it won’t be long... After getting done (1425), I changed clothes and drove north (still Chemin Notch) towards Chelsea. I made a brief stop (got maps) at the Gatineau Park visitors center before driving east to A5. Continuing south to Ottawa, I arrived at the National Gallery of Canada just after I crossed the Ottawa River again. I paid for a ticket (1505) and then wandered around inside until I located Eileen and Emma. Once together, we walked around, through the Native and Indigenous displays, before adjourning to the courtyard for further talks (1600isg). At some point, I became aware that Eileen had promised Emma that I'd be gone before dinner started. This realization was very uncomfortable and I did my best to extricate myself from the situation - I don't think I was very successful... Feeling VERY finished with the museum, I left the parking garage (1655). During my drive back to the hotel (backtrack from the morning, using surface streets and ON-417), I felt quite dazed and blew off any ideas I'd had about dinner or other night life adventures. Once inside my room (1730), I even started thinking about leaving for home but decided against it. Instead, I tried to kill time reading and trying to get sleepy. In the end, I skipped dinner and just turned out the light. I managed to doze, starting at 2030, and fell asleep for good by 2130. Definitely a roller coaster day of emotions...
