The Centennial Flame, Ottawa

Today we moved on from Montebello to Ottawa, but it was only an hour's drive and check-in time at the Ottawa hotel wasn't until 4pm. So we spent the morning walking round the grounds of the hotel there - and included a walk to the little town of Montebello itself which is rather attractive.

Photographing the  log cabin hotel (see Wednesday's blip) from the outside wasn't easy, but the extra gives some idea of it. We discovered today that the building is almost 100 years old: it was built in just 3-4 months in 1930 out of cedar logs.

We're now settled in Ottawa for 3 nights, and had a walk round the parliament buildings as the sun was setting. Some of of the buildings are currently undergoing extensive renovation so it wasn't the most scenic route. However we were intrigued by the Centennial Flame, created in 1967 to celebrate the centenary of the creation of the nation of Canada. Seemingly it was intended to be kept only for a year but is still here! It's rather clever as water streams from the centre and the (gas) flame seems to come from the water. It represents all ten provinces plus three territories making up the federation of Canada, by means of their emblems which surround the fountain. Following controversy about the use of natural gas for the flame, it now uses biogas.