Christmas In The Capital

It went by so quickly... so much snow and ice, so much food and wine (ah, the French...)

I stayed with Olivier for most of December but for christmas-proper, we stayed at his parents' place with Alexandra (his sister - very cool chick) and several family visitors coming and going. It was total immersion for me, and by the end of it I learned tons of new french words and phrases. But when they all started talking at once at the table I couldn't keep track of even one sentence - I must have had a stunned and confused look on my face half the time...

This is Henriette (Olivier's mom) at the table in front of her delicious homemade artichoke soup.


This is my brother Philippe in front of Alexandra's wicked sugared pecan and goat cheese salad (sans pecans - he's allergic).


While the numerous courses, cheese platters, requisite desserts and wine with brunch were familiar, there was one thing I had never even knew existed: sandwich cake.


Layers of chicken salad, ham, egg salad and cheese between bread, encased in cream cheese and garnished with baby pickles and pimento olives.

I tried some. (and that's about all I have to say about that).

Gathered in the living room, opening gifts was a circus of oohs and ahhs, crumpled paper and camera fidgeting...

(L-R) Alexandra, her boyfriend Brian, and George the dad.

Philippe, George and Henriette.

George in his new hat - warm enough for the Russian winter!

George and Henriette opening their stockings.

Alexandra and Brian modeling their assortment of fuzz-tastic comfort (with a borrowed hat).

Step 1: Phil in anticipation.

Step 2: Phil enjoying his new umbrella (p.s. it's only bad luck if you don't ask permission).

Olivier looking all contemplative and charming - what a handsome fella!

...and munching on the yet-unwrapped book I gave him.

...something to wash down those dry, pasty pages.


* * *

The Christmas rush had us driving and walking all over the city looking for gifts and visiting (for me, meeting) lots of his friends. Ottawa is a strange city - the downtown area essentially shuts down after 5 or 6 pm, when all the political people scatter from their offices. Even timmy's is closed. It's weird.

With all that walking, Olivier's ice-pick boots came in handy. They literally transform into ice-super-hero boots and, by gripping his arm, they repeatedly saved me from falling on my ass (I think the record was 12 times during one walk to the Rideau centre).

Here's a picture of him trying to slip on an ice-coated driveway:

He didn't budge. Amazing.

One night we went down to the Parliament, where Olivier used to work as a tour guide (so I got the standard tour, punctuated with tons of secrets the public rarely hears about, including some dirt on Harper...)

Here, he's showing me one of the fossils in the stone walls inside Parliament, with the appropriate tour-guide hand etiquette (no pointing!):


The House of Commons - the green is a throwback to when commons were held on the grass (how does one look dignified and important in a grass-stained smock?).



This is the prime minister's stairway (which leads to his office), where the PM is usually seen answering questions on the news, that is until Harper banished journalists from this area...yeah.


It's a truly beautiful building, arches and pillars, lanterns and christmas lights everywhere...


The Senate (red for ... royalty? regal-ness? no wait that's purple... um... oh just look it up).




The library...gorgeous. It was saved from a fire because the librarian (who had lost three previous collections to fire) insisted on steel doors.
That's a statue of Queen Victoria, carved from one piece of marble.



Is that not the most gorgeous library ever?

* * *

Outside it's even more beautiful, with a montage of changing colors and snowflakes projected onto the stone walls.

The grounds are lit up with lights in the trees and bushes.

And of course the centennial flame, not to be confused with eternal flame, because the centennial flame actually goes out from time to time - it has to be relit with a barbecue lighter, duct taped to a hockey stick (cuz that's how we get shit done in Canada).

The Whisper Wall: On top is a statue of La Fontaine and Baldwin, who were at the forefront of the 'Great Coalition' from 1848 and 1851, which led to responsible government (first implemented in Nova Scotia by the way). On the Baldwin side of the curved structure are symbols of Ontario (crown and sceptre I think) and on the La Fontaine side are symbols of Quebec (fleur-de-lis and sword, I think). If you stand at one end of the wall facing someone else at the other end, you would need to raise your voice in order to be heard, but if you put your ear close to the wall and whisper, you can hear the other person as if they were right beside you. Something about sound waves running along the curve being amplified...very cool.

The library from the outside - Gothic architecture at its Canadian best.

That's Oli way down in the corner there.

And the whole thing in one shot - it's stunning against the black sky.

* * *

This is my favourite picture of us, in front of one of the christmas trees at Parliament:

Isn't he adorable? With his cute glasses and fuzzy chin... yeah I'm a little bit smitten.

Happy New Year!