How Parliamentary

Last night we went out with Mark and Marina's work friends. I had a great time. Between the good people they work with and how great this city is in general, I can see why Mark decided to stay here. Even though Ottawa isn't much bigger than Winnipeg as far as population goes, it has a much more vibrant culture and has so much more to see and do. I'm pretty sure that being the capital of the country has something to do with it. After just being here for a few days, I know that if I were to move out of Winnipeg I'm quite sure that I'd move here.

Mark took me for a personal tour of the Canadian Parliament building. I was surprised at how the public was just able to walk through our capital building. I was standing on the floor of the senate and under the archway where the press interviews the Prime Minister and cabinet members. The whole place felt so important and made me proud to be Canadian.

One thing I found strange as soon as I got here is that downtown Ottawa doesn't really have any tall office buildings. Even in Winnipeg, you can look up and orient yourself to the middle of downtown by looking for the tall office towers. While I was up at the top of the Peace Tower today I mentioned it to Mark, and apparently none of the building in the capital are allowed to be any taller than the top of the Peace Tower on the parliament building. Crazy.

It's nice being friends with the tour guides at somewhere important like this. Mark let me take a picture from the stacks in the library. Something that I really shouldn't have been able to do. I ended up with this picture that I'm extremely happy with.

I spent the rest of today shopping. I found some great sales at some stores that we don't have back home. Grace would be proud.