Ottawa in the Summer

So I'm in Canada now.  Everyone really does say 'eh' all the time.  And my first day of work somebody called somebody else a hoser.  (I already called David and shared this glorious information with him).  I want to go to a furniture store now and see if I can buy a chesterfield.  Or maybe a nice ottoman.

I am working at the National Gallery of Canada, which is gigantic.  In this photograph, the glass tower on the left are part of the Gallery.

Mum and I had something like the following conversation when the parents visited:

Mum: So the National Gallery here is pretty big?

Me: Yes.

Mum: So what would it be compared to museum-wise in the US?  Like... the Smithsonian?

Me: No Mum, it's like the National Gallery.

Mum: Like the National Gallery?

Me: Yeah, you know, the National Gallery in Washington?  It's the same, only it's Canada's version.  England has a National Gallery too, in London.

Mum: Oh.

-a pause-

Mum: I've not been to our National Gallery.

Ottawa has lots of these pseudo-Gothic buildings, which are all governmental.  If pressed to identify them, I say, "Oh yes, that's Parliament" like I know.  They're all Parliament to me.

The view from the grounds of the museum, looking over the Ottawa river.

Ottawa is right on the edge of Ontario, jammed up against Quebec.  This is the bridge to Quebec.  It's all French-Canada over there, though loads of people speak French and English in Ottawa itself.

Ottawa in the summer feels pretty much like anywhere else in the summer.  It's pretty much Arctic-temperatures in the conservation lab though.  Keeps those chemical-degradation reactions movin' real slow-like.  Just the way we like 'em.