Adventures With Dad

Ok, so I’m not THAT bitter.

Anyways, yesterday, we drove to Ottawa.

Cause you know how cool Parliamentary anything is.  That’s TV worth watching, and news worth reading.  Governments are cool, right?

Well, this is, actually.  First of all, the buildings are totally wicked.  They’re these huge old neo-gothic buildings, with copper roofs, and they just look really neat from the outside.

Then you go inside, and they’re just as cool!

BOTH of our kids decided they wanted to be politicians.  (My advice?  Don’t vote for them.  Neither can administrate a clean bedroom, nevermind a country.)  Anyways, The people were awesome, really friendly, and very interested in what they did.  One of the people on our tour was a political journalist from the US.  He was just awestruck with it all.  I guess there just isn’t the same richness and history in the buildings there.  But overall, it was quite impressive.

The buildings are built with Tyndal Limestone from Manitoba, for you trivia Buffs.  The sculptures and stuff are works in progress, something is always changing or being updated.  I think Gina struggled to stay as disinterested as possible, because this is EXACTLY what she’s learning about RIGHT NOW in history.  So as much as she liked it, and though it was cool, she had to fight to hate it because it was also school.   But that fell apart in the library.

The original parliament buildings burned down because they were build of white pine, with a very flammable varnish on it.  So a small fire spread VERY fast, and eventually a few people even died because they couldn’t get out fast enough.  The only thing that remains is the library.  This is a stunningly beautiful room.  A hardwood floor with several intricate designs inlaid, leads to walls of books and resources.  The woodwork in this roon is amazing.  Comparable to the woodwork done by that guy who had build a wooden Ferrari, and other crazy neat stuff like that.  Maybe better.  It’s a shocking room, worth seeing for anyone. If you have the chance, stop in for the tour.  It’s free, and I can honestly say, worth more than it cost. 

After the tour, we drove over into Hull, Quebec, just over the river.  It’s a different world.  There’s just French EVERYWHERE.  So we stopped at the grocery store (I didn’t bother asking directions, CLEARLY, it doesn’t speed anything up anyway) grabed some batteries, and some water.  The darn French have some strange obsession with sugar (which is awesome for Gina), so the store had sponge taffee out.  Nicole grabbed some, and quick, Gina drooling and begging… Gina’s MEAN dad told her that she wasn’t allowed to get it unless she spoke to the store clerk in French, ONLY.  So she did.  Strangely, I think I understood the conversation better than Gina did.  Partly because it’s routing in any language.

“Did you find everything you were looking for”

“How will you be paying for that today”

“Do you have any coupons”

“Do you have a loyalty card”

“Stripe down and facing out”

“Please enter your PIN number”

“Have a nice day”

Lets face it, it’s an autopilot conversation.

I remember a friend being offended when he asked how someone was, and the person didn’t say fine, but rather said awful, and proceeded to tell them about it.  “like I cared…” was the comment, I believe.  But really, it’s true.  We never ask because we care, it’s autopilot.

Anyway, off we went, and out to the truck.  Melanie almost fainted when she saw the taffee, she loves it.  Gina tried it, and didn’t like it at all.  Nicole said she likes it, but doesn’t like when it sticks to your teeth.  I like to think I showed them how to eat it.  You eat it like you drink a sno-cone.  You suck out the flavor (or in this case, let it melt out).  Then when you have a ball of nothing left, you spit it out - before it sticks to your teeth.

Anyways, after that, we went to the Museum of Civilization.  It was just the normal museum.  Nothing spectacular.  I learned something, I can’t remember what.  It wasn’t important, just more trivia.  I was offended that there wasn’t more about Terry Fox, and less about Trudeau.  I don’t care about Trudeau.

Wait, I remember…  I learned about Tommy Douglas, the guy who came up with the idea of Medicare.  He had a leg injury that would have left him without a leg, except for the Dr thought this would be a good subject for his students to see.  So they did the operation for free, and it saved his leg.  He decided from there that medical attention should be free for everyone, and worked hard to get there.  First in Sask, and then the rest of Canada.  Interestingly, it was clearly an uphill battle, which is especially interesting because it happened so recently, 1961 for Canada, and yet people love the idea so much.  Anyway, Keifer Sutherland, the actor, is his grandson.   Not sure why that matters?  Actually, it likely doesn’t.  But The Lost Boys and Flatliners were both good movies, so I thought I’d mention him anyway… 

Wait, is that Darryl reading?  I meant to say Young Guns…  That was the cool movie.  No vampires or Sci Fi here, no-sir-ee!  None of that foolishness when there’s a good ol’ western available… 

I know, he’s also in 24, but I’ve never seen it, so I can’t comment on it.  It sounds like a MacGyver ripoff though.

Speaking of (crazy offtopic rabbit trails?) TV shows, ahem, Stingray was pushed ack, so it STILL isn’t available on a DVD set yet.  So those of you who had planned to get it for me for Christmas last year, you can stop looking now.  It’s supposed to be out now sometime.  But I don’t know exactly when, and I’m too tired/lazy to google when the new release date is…

Anyways, there you go.

I understand French better than Gina, likely because I like to practice “french” with my wife…  Before the kids toss their cookies, I’ll stop there.  Gotta keep this G rated…

Speaking of French…  It’s time for bed.. 

Over and out.