So we've returned safe, sound and considerably poorer from Ottawa. We returned after Ottawa kicked us out having sucked us dry of money. I appreciate there are cultural and tourist things to do in Ottawa, and we certainly tried to do some of that. We went to the War Museum on the same day Vimy Ridge ceremonies were happening in France, and that was interesting. We also went to the Museum of Civilization and that was...quite franky a touch disappointing. A lot of the exhibits were closed, in preparation for the busy summer season I guess. But really, there's only so much excitement that can be milked out of the postal exhibit.
Although the First People's exhibit was quite interesting and it was good to see the Inuit well represented. We also got a good laugh out of the price being charged for carvings in the gift shop. Probably about triple what you would pay for here in Iqaluit.
But yeah, we were crass consumerists and hit a lot of stores and bought a lot of stuff. It was funny, I was sitting in the hotel room reading a copy of Mother Jones (not easy to get up here) and there was an article talking about how economic growth wasn't necessarily a good thing for the planet in the long term and how things were changing and that perhaps money was no longer quite able to buy happiness (I'm greatly simplifying here) at the same time I was look at all the loot from that day's shopping expedition.
I admit to feeling a touch of guilt over that. But we so rarely get to go shopping. I'm not sure if a once or twice a year binge is such a bad thing. It just always looks a bit strange when you do about six months of shopping in the space of a few days.
I'll be doing more on our adventures in Ottawa in the coming days. No sense making this one huge post for people to slog through.
So what did we miss while we were away? I didn't have a computer and aside from catching the odd headline in the newspaper and the National a couple of times, I am deprived. Any good news or gossip?
3 comments:
Glad to see you both made it back safe and sound. As for being a little poorer, like a friend of mine always says " You're only going this way once".
I'm curious to hear your opinions on the Jamie Korab firing. And your thoughts on Young Triffie.
I think I already wrote something on the Jamie Korab firing before I left. As for Young Triffie, we never got a chance to see it. We saw three of the four movies we wanted; that was the fourth.
As for the money spent, I'm not seriously worried. It's just a legacy of my father's thrifty ways when it comes to spending lots of money at once.
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