from spring through fall. In winter, its
groomed ice surface becomes the world's
largest skating rink (www.pc.gc.ca/en/
lhn-nhs/on/rideau).
Ottawa-Gatineau is home to the world's
first interprovincial zip-line, Interzip Rogers.
Visitors fly along a 425-m (1400-ft.) cable
suspended 37 m (120 ft.) above the Ottawa
River, between Ontario and Québec
(www.interzip.ca).
Just a 15-minute drive from Parliament
Hill, you'll find one of the entrances to
Gatineau Park, a 361-sq. km (139 sq. mi.)
enclave of lakes, rocky outcrops, hiking
trails, waterfalls and historic sites (www.ncc-
ccn.gc.ca/places/gatineau-park).
MARVELLOUS MUSEUMS
Ottawa-Gatineau is home to many remark-
able national cultural institutions; the
following are just a few of them.
The Canadian Museum of Nature allows
you to discover a wide range of Canada's
nature, all under one roof (www.nature.ca).
Highlights include national dinosaur and
mineral collections, mammal and bird
galleries, the Water Gallery with its new
Pacific Discovery Tank (filled with sea stars,
spiky urchins and other live creatures), the
Canada Goose Arctic Gallery and the Bugs
Alive exhibition. This year, the museum's
big summer show is Planet Ice: Mysteries of
the Ice Ages.
Visitors to the Canadian Museum of History
can learn about the interaction between
legislation and human rights in this year's
major summer exhibition, Lost Liberties—The
War Measures Act. Don't miss the towering
totem poles in the museum's Grand Hall,
which offers a stunning view of the Ottawa
River and Parliament Hill. Discover the world
through play and family time at the Children's
Museum (www.historymuseum.ca).
At the Canadian War Museum, four
permanent galleries tell the story of conflicts
in Canada from the early days of human
settlement, through the Boer War, two world
wars and the Cold War, to the present day.
Temporary shows this year include Forever
Changed—Stories from the Second World War
and A Community at War—The Military Service
of Black Canadians of the Niagara Region. The
LeBreton Gallery contains the most extensive
collection of military technology in Canada
(www.warmuseum.ca).
Not a museum but definitely a national
institution, the Royal Canadian Mint is also
well worth a tour (www.mint.ca). See the
story at the end of the Ottawa chapter.
BE A SPORT
Are spectator sports your game? You're in
luck in Ottawa. In the west end, you can
catch home games of the National Hockey
League's Ottawa Senators (www.nhl.com/
senators) at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Close to downtown, TD Place (www.td
place.ca)—the arena and stadium complex
at Lansdowne Park—is home to the Canadian
Football League's Ottawa REDBLACKS
(www.ottawaredblacks.com), the Ontario
Hockey League's Ottawa 67's (www.ottawa
67s.com), the Canadian Elite Basketball
League Ottawa BlackJacks (www.theblack
jacks.ca) and Atlético Ottawa, the city's
Canadian Premier League soccer team
(atleticoottawa.canpl.ca).
SHOP, SHOP, SHOP
The 19
th
century streets of the ByWard Market
area, a short walk east of Parliament Hill
(www.byward-market.com/en/home),
are lined with boutiques, farmers' stalls and
restaurants. Nearby, the CF Rideau Centre
is famed for its fashion retailers (www.cf
shops.com/rideau-centre.html).
Beyond the central core, a short cab or
transit ride will bring you to lively shopping
neighborhoods such as Wellington West
(www.wellingtonwest.ca), Westboro
(westborovillage.com) and the Glebe
(www.intheglebe.ca).
GET FESTIVE
For festival lovers, Ottawa delivers all year
round. First comes Winterlude in February
(www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/
campaigns/winterlude.html), followed by
the Canadian Tulip Festival in May (www.tulip
festival.ca), the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival in
June (www.ottawajazzfestival.com), an
enormous rock festival called RBC Bluesfest
in July (www.ottawabluesfest.ca) and the
CityFolk folk music festival in September
(www.cityfolkfestival.com).
For more information, visit www.ottawa
tourism.ca.
13
ECOSYSTEMS, ARCTIC GALLERY, CANADIAN MUSEUM OF NATURE • M. LIPMAN
