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comes alive with ice sculpture contests, skating races and concerts. Next on the agenda is the Canadian Tulip Festival in May, which celebrates the hundreds of thousands of Dutch tulips that bloom throughout the city each spring. Jostling for attention in June are the popular TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival at Confederation Park, and the Ottawa Fringe Festival of offbeat theatre, which takes place in multiple venues. The jazz festival overlaps with Canada Day on July 1, when Ottawa marks the nation's birthday with fireworks, concerts, aerobatic shows and other festivities on Parliament Hill that draw boisterous crowds from across Canada. The granddaddy of capital music events is the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest from early to mid-July, which long ago outgrew its blues mandate to bring acts as diverse as Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, The Black Keys, Cake and Erykah Badu to the city. Chamberfest, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival—the world's largest such festival—follows hard on Bluesfest's heels in late July and early August. And it has barely closed up shop before the Ottawa Folk Festival draws crowds to Hog's Back Park in late August and the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon festival rounds out the sum- mer on Labour Day weekend. scenes in tHe 'Hoods Ottawa may be best known for the Parliamentary precinct, but there's much more to it than that. It's a city of diverse neighbourhoods, too. For most visitors, the first stop is the vibrant ByWard Market, with its colourful farmers' stalls, distinctive boutiques and trendy bars. The city also has a small but fascinat- ing Chinatown, and it is hard to miss: a gilded royal arch gateway, built by a Canadian team and a group of artisans from Beijing, marks its eastern entrance. Nearby, food lovers congregate in the cafés of Little Italy, centred on Preston Street. Further west, Wellington Village and Westboro are bustling enclaves of yoga studios, coffee shops and sleek furni- ture stores. Closer to downtown, the Glebe neighbourhood—long home to professors at nearby Carleton University, newspaper columnists, high-ranking pub- lic servants, and other movers and shak- ers—feels like a village within the city. sAVour tHe city The farms surrounding Ottawa produce an astonishing range of foods. Much of this bounty is on display at the city's farm- ers' markets, including the venerable ByWard Market—which dates back to the 19 th century—the Parkdale Market in Wellington Village and the Ottawa Farmers' Market at Lansdowne Park. And within a short country drive, special events like the Perth Lions Garlic Festival (mid- August) and Vankleek Hill Oktoberfest (early October) serve up tasty local fare. The city's restaurant scene has blos- somed over the last decade. For instance, The Wellington Gastropub takes pub cui- sine up multiple notches, with dishes like pork chops with quinoa, minted carrots and mustard peach compote. And Le Cordon Bleu Bistro @ Signatures offers fine French cuisine in the Munross man- sion steps from the Rideau River. As well, several top restaurants have sister bistros where you can sample their chef's style RIDEAU CANAL SKATEWAY • OTTAWA TOURISM 32 2012 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CANADA CANADA'S CAPITAL