Canadian Parliament

For my first full day here in Ottawa, my relative Diana (cousin once removed) suggested heading downtown into the city and visiting the parliament building - something that i thought was a great way to acquaint myself with Canada. The first thing that struck me was how pretty the city was - it definitely feels like a big city (a number of high storey buildings) and there is some interesting architecture about the place. The atmosphere was very relaxed - and the weather made it feel very fresh (there was a nice crispness to the air - that is often lacking in the frequently humid Charleston). Heading towards the parliament building, one of the first things that struck me was how very like the British Houses of Parliament it looked in it's design and architecture (photos to be added soon) - but then, of course, Canada is a constitutional monarchy and still recognises the Queen as a head of state.

The tours of the parliament are split into french-speaking and english-speaking naturally (something that you have to get used to is the bilingual nature of signs and labels everywhere) - but there was only a short wait and off we went. Unfortunately having a tour guide whose voice seemed to get higher in pitch with every sentence (i thought she was going to shatter windows) was something of a pain - but there was much to learn indeed. The parliament itself comes across as a mix between American and English - with there being two houses - a house of commons and a senate - with bills going from one to the other. As with both, one of the houses is purely elected whereas the other seems to be more selected by the prime minister or such (as with Lords). However, in the senate, a major rule is for there to be a good distribution of profession and the people who live in Canada. The tour ended, for me, with a trip up the peace tower (the major clock tower) which afforded some spectacular views of Ottawa - photos will be coming soon. All in all, a fine start to the visit - and a good way of seeing the beauty of the capital.