Ottawa - the Capital

Ottawa - the capital and fourth largest city in Canada; located in the eastern part of the province of Ontario, on the south bank of the Ottawa River. Here lives here around a million people.

Why Ottawa is the capital of the country?

On December 31, 1857, Queen Victoria chose this city for the new capital of Canada. For being located relatively far from large industrial cities of the US, for being the only one among the candidate cities (the others were: Kingston, Montreal, Quebec and Toronto), Ottawa was not dominated by the English or French culture. Furthermore, it represented a compromise between the two largest cities in Canada, Montreal and Toronto.

The city is officially bilingual: English is the mother tongue for 62.6%; French for 14.9% of the population.

We are visiting the city on a day when celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain are being held here. The most important part of them is taking place in front of the impressive complex of buildings of the Canadian Parliament. (Canada still remains a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II as head of state and maintains a parliamentary democracy.)

 Next, in the beautiful weather, we are strolling down the city centre and the Byward Market, which is one of the oldest and largest public markets in Canada. Designed and founded by by Lt.-Col. John By in 1826. He is a legendary builder of the Rideau Canal, with a length of over 200 km, which connects Ottawa with Kingston and in the nineteenth century was a military protection against possible attacks from the US.

Ottawa does not give any impression of a metropolis... So, there still are capitals of  big countries that do not overwhelm with their enormity and grandeur and do not try to impress at all costs ...