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July 5, 2012  Day 55                                    Total miles to date  1071.3

We said goodbye to Tom and Linda on Raydiance as they left this morning on the Rideau Canal.

Changing of the Guard

We walked with Sally and Greg (Odyssey) to watch the ceremonial Guard Mount Ceremony on Parliament Hill. It was a very impressive military occasion. We were happy to find Jim and Belinda there also! They had come back from Smith Falls again today to tour Ottawa.

House of Commons

The Senate

Following the ceremony, we took an excellent guided tour of the Parliament building, which included the House of Commons, the Senate, the Rotunda, committee rooms, and the library. The Parliament building was built in 1866 in a Neo-Gothic Architectural style.  At the end of our guided tour we were able to go up to the Peace Tower which overlooks the city with magnificent views.

An Irish lunch stop

After our tours it was time for lunch and Sally and Greg went with us back to the ByWard Market area to the Auld Dubliner Pour House (have to love those Irish names!) for a nice lunch. Then the guys went to a camera store and down to the locks to watch boats and Sally and Joyce went to the open markets in search of fresh fruits and vegetables.  The selection was amazing and the prices were generally very low!

The 90 degree heat was catching up with us and the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, having a light dinner, working on the blog and planning our next move. We will depart Ottawa tomorrow and most likely stay on a lock wall.  We will be on the Rideau Canal for at least a week until we arrive in Kingston, Ontario.  Wi-fi will be sporadic and blog entries will sadly reflect that.