This is a LONG journal entry, please feel free to skip, avoid, pass over or nip out and make a cup of tea 
Where should I start? The beginning seems like as good a place as any I suppose and the most obvious... I've hardly been near a computer in the last few weeks so this really is going to be a journal entry of epic proportions (and by epic i just mean long and dull probably not an amazing spectacle of action and adventure)
Canada
After about 17 hours worth of travelling and surviving the canadian version of the inquisition at passport control (where do they find the people that work at the passport desks? rejects from prisoner cell block r us? or maybe they just suck all the nastiness out of everyone else in canada and stick into the airport staff which would explain why the rest of the people we meet are so nice) we finally made it to our hotel in downtown ottawa. Despite it only being about 7pm their time it's actually 12am for us so all we want to do is order pizza and veg out. Now the nice thing here is that as soon as we walk into our hotel room we discover it's not a room at all but what looks like a nice sized flat (actually i've rented smaller in london for more money! but then it costs about 700 a month there for a rabbit hutch... so not too difficult) Hell I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.. all i will say is that this is their standard room! God knows what the executive ones are like!!!
Thankfully despite the fact it has been raining all the week previously in Ottawa we have nothing but glorious sunshine from day one! I'm cursing the fact that i've bought my big coat with me (although I will soon find myself extremely grateful to have it the minute we touch down in manchester on our return) Our hotel is so well situated we only have to walk across the road to find a great little food centre that caters to the downtown workforce and therefore provides extremely cheap and good food.. so pretty much every breakfast finds us at the World Plaza (earl grey and bagels *heaven*) then only another 5 minutes walk in the other direction is the Rideau Centre which houses about 220 shops or more! Yup sod culture etc give me good shopping any day of the week *lol* Actually we manage to discover 2 other massive malls on the outskirts of ottawa which of course wastes a couple of days quite nicely. although I'm quite sure that my feet would be likely to argue this point if they could. The temptations of all the lovely cheap clothing and electrical equipment etc finds me purchasing several new pairs of jeans (i love canadian sizes, one place I can happily claim to be a size 3!) a few tops, a cute channel style white jacket and a gorgeous new pink mini ipod! Oooh and I got a new tattoo to! Hey it wouldn't be a holiday if I didn't get some ink! And I now have the cutest little cat tattoo on my right foot. Which of course then prompted a search for the perfect pair of sandals to show it off once its completely healed. Photos will follow at a later time.
Ottawa itself is completely lovely. Clean, beautiful and with some of the loveliest architecture I've ever seen. These buildings are infact the parliament buildings and a hotel! Don't they just look like the most gorgeous fairytale castles!
And of course no holiday would be complete without a little bit of posing ;-)
*tiptoe through the tulips*
*working the shades here*
and of course how could i resist....
Also when it comes to places to eat, you seriously cannot fault this city! Every possible imaginable foodstuff can be found here, and the Byward Market area is just fabulous (although the hard rock cafe staff are better at getting you to wear your drink then serve it to you .... and they still expect a tip!!!) My favourite place has to be the little bistro we found called The Vineyard which serves the best food and wine (hell over 300 varieties) and has great jazz musicians there a couple of nights a week. We spent our last night in Ottawa, sipping the loveliest shiraz i've ever tasted and humming along to mack the knife and other finger snapping swinging stuff
Oh and it wasn't ALL shopping and drinking (just the vast majority) we did take in some cool places like the contempory museum of photography, currently showing a Micheal Selznak exhibition, interesting stuff both disturbing at times and beautiful with it. And it was kind of nice to be a part of the VE day celebrations on the sunday, just cool to see those who did fight for us being honoured in such a way.
Was a real shock to come back to rainy chav filled britain i can tell you, with its stinking trains, filthy public loos, and the usual classy assortment of chav thugs. It saddens me to see that there seems to be absolutely no pride in this country at all *sigh* depressing actually. But anyway, the holiday itself was both well needed and enjoyed. Although it's funny that on my holidays i actually find myself going to bed at far earlier times than when i actually have to be up early! Must be all the fresh air and sunshine!
Ok.. so scotland/Drac in a Box shoot entry coming up soon
Where should I start? The beginning seems like as good a place as any I suppose and the most obvious... I've hardly been near a computer in the last few weeks so this really is going to be a journal entry of epic proportions (and by epic i just mean long and dull probably not an amazing spectacle of action and adventure)
Canada
After about 17 hours worth of travelling and surviving the canadian version of the inquisition at passport control (where do they find the people that work at the passport desks? rejects from prisoner cell block r us? or maybe they just suck all the nastiness out of everyone else in canada and stick into the airport staff which would explain why the rest of the people we meet are so nice) we finally made it to our hotel in downtown ottawa. Despite it only being about 7pm their time it's actually 12am for us so all we want to do is order pizza and veg out. Now the nice thing here is that as soon as we walk into our hotel room we discover it's not a room at all but what looks like a nice sized flat (actually i've rented smaller in london for more money! but then it costs about 700 a month there for a rabbit hutch... so not too difficult) Hell I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.. all i will say is that this is their standard room! God knows what the executive ones are like!!!
Thankfully despite the fact it has been raining all the week previously in Ottawa we have nothing but glorious sunshine from day one! I'm cursing the fact that i've bought my big coat with me (although I will soon find myself extremely grateful to have it the minute we touch down in manchester on our return) Our hotel is so well situated we only have to walk across the road to find a great little food centre that caters to the downtown workforce and therefore provides extremely cheap and good food.. so pretty much every breakfast finds us at the World Plaza (earl grey and bagels *heaven*) then only another 5 minutes walk in the other direction is the Rideau Centre which houses about 220 shops or more! Yup sod culture etc give me good shopping any day of the week *lol* Actually we manage to discover 2 other massive malls on the outskirts of ottawa which of course wastes a couple of days quite nicely. although I'm quite sure that my feet would be likely to argue this point if they could. The temptations of all the lovely cheap clothing and electrical equipment etc finds me purchasing several new pairs of jeans (i love canadian sizes, one place I can happily claim to be a size 3!) a few tops, a cute channel style white jacket and a gorgeous new pink mini ipod! Oooh and I got a new tattoo to! Hey it wouldn't be a holiday if I didn't get some ink! And I now have the cutest little cat tattoo on my right foot. Which of course then prompted a search for the perfect pair of sandals to show it off once its completely healed. Photos will follow at a later time.
Ottawa itself is completely lovely. Clean, beautiful and with some of the loveliest architecture I've ever seen. These buildings are infact the parliament buildings and a hotel! Don't they just look like the most gorgeous fairytale castles!
And of course no holiday would be complete without a little bit of posing ;-)
*tiptoe through the tulips*
*working the shades here*
and of course how could i resist....
Also when it comes to places to eat, you seriously cannot fault this city! Every possible imaginable foodstuff can be found here, and the Byward Market area is just fabulous (although the hard rock cafe staff are better at getting you to wear your drink then serve it to you .... and they still expect a tip!!!) My favourite place has to be the little bistro we found called The Vineyard which serves the best food and wine (hell over 300 varieties) and has great jazz musicians there a couple of nights a week. We spent our last night in Ottawa, sipping the loveliest shiraz i've ever tasted and humming along to mack the knife and other finger snapping swinging stuff
Oh and it wasn't ALL shopping and drinking (just the vast majority) we did take in some cool places like the contempory museum of photography, currently showing a Micheal Selznak exhibition, interesting stuff both disturbing at times and beautiful with it. And it was kind of nice to be a part of the VE day celebrations on the sunday, just cool to see those who did fight for us being honoured in such a way.
Was a real shock to come back to rainy chav filled britain i can tell you, with its stinking trains, filthy public loos, and the usual classy assortment of chav thugs. It saddens me to see that there seems to be absolutely no pride in this country at all *sigh* depressing actually. But anyway, the holiday itself was both well needed and enjoyed. Although it's funny that on my holidays i actually find myself going to bed at far earlier times than when i actually have to be up early! Must be all the fresh air and sunshine!
Ok.. so scotland/Drac in a Box shoot entry coming up soon
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
Try renting a large suite some time out here, they're freaking huge, I've been in one that was about 1600 square feet.