Totem Pole City

We have now paid one and half visits to the stunning Museum of Canadian History. Fine site on the north bank of the Ottawa River, handy for all the dinky little restaurants and bars popping up in the Hull/Gatineau area. Stunning building both inside and out. Extensive gardens. Nice spacious entry area, nice spacious entry level restaurant plus a rather smaller higher level restaurant. Not altogether clear who would use this last, given the number of proper restaurants in the vicinity.

Perhaps pride of place goes to the totem pole hall illustrated, occupying a good slice of one side of the building, overlooking the river.

Then there is a gallery given to some other first nations, but we were a little tired by then to get the best out of it. We had overindulged on the totem poles and related exhibits, which last included some interesting textiles.

The third big gallery is presently under reconstruction. Then there were two or three special exhibitions which we did not do. And an IMAX film about the Galapagos which we did not do, maybe this last being a mistake.

On the way back from the first visit we took a little ferry boat across to the entry to the Rideau Canal, driven by a cheerful French Canadian. It rained so it was an opportunity to deploy my blue plastic spray protector from the 'Maid in the Mist' at Niagara Falls. We have never been and I forget from where it came, but it served on this day to keep the rain out, my having failed to find a proper plastic mac, of the sort once favoured by MIL & FIL, before we left the UK.

One and a half visits because we paid one proper visit and a second improper visit, when we thought perhaps to go around again but decided not and headed off back across the Alexandra Bridge to the Blue Cactus sports bar for lunch, where we were served by a very bouncy blonde waitress, who it seemed lived in 30 acres out in the sticks somewhere with her husband. Or maybe hectares, but not enough to live on I daresay.

Reference 1: http://www.historymuseum.ca/home.

Reference 2: http://www.bluecactusbarandgrill.com/site/HTML/home.html.