Byward Market and Parliament Light Show

The Byward Market is one of Canada's oldest and largest public markets. There are many shops, pubs, cafes, boutiques, galleries, and specialty food shops within a four block square area. My husband thought it would be fun to spend a few hours wandering around the Byward Market. We could not have asked for better weather to stroll around downtown Ottawa. It was almost 60 degrees.

Boogs has never experienced a BeaverTail pastry. My husband almost had him convinced it was an actual cooked beaver tail. Boogs was happy it was a delicious pastry treat instead of a tough leathery tail.

 Looks yummy!

 Boogs shared a bit of his BeaverTail with the rest of us.

After strolling around and looking in shops for a while, we took a break at Peter Devine's Irish Pub for a bite to eat and a few drinks.

 Boogs taught Grandmaman how to play the Odd or Even game he plays with his friends at school.

 My husband and his dad looked very relaxed after all that fresh air.

 I love this photo.

 Daddy and Boogs were being extra goofy on the staircase.

 

It was a chilly walk by the Ottawa River.

The Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel is beautiful. We had to take a detour on our walk to Parliament Hill and walk around inside it.

This wooden sculpture made us laugh a little bit. I asked what it was supposed to represent.

Then we read the plaque and it seems that even the artist did not know how to describe it, "wooden, spiral, wind-vane thing". I don't know why we thought that was so funny.

 The sunset was beautiful. We passed the locks on the Rideau Canal.

 There was not any snow, but the Christmas decorations were still pretty.

 We made it over to Parliament Hill about 30 minutes before the light show.

Boogs is too young to remember the last time he visited the Eternal Flame. I think he was 3-years-old.

The light show projected images onto the Parliament buildings just like the light show we saw at Disney a few years ago. There were many woodland creatures, a train, a clock, and lots of snow and trees projected onto the building.

 We enjoyed the show and were glad it was not too cold, right about 39 degrees.

 The giant snowman at the end was my favorite part of the show. He kept growing bigger and bigger.

Boogs caught more of the meaning of the light show story than any of the rest of us. It was neat listening to him explain what he thought it all meant.

We were glad we made the trip downtown and saw the Byward Market and the light show. We stopped on our way home at Harvey's for a late dinner. Harvey's is my husband's favorite place to get a burger. Of course we had to get an order of poutine to share. It is practically a tradition for us to go to Harvey's every time we are in Ottawa.

When we returned to GM and GP's house, Boogs got everything ready for Christmas Eve. He spread exactly the right amount of reindeer food on the front walkway.

Boogs made sure Santa had plenty of oatmeal cookies and a glass of eggnog. He was then ready to go bed so that Christmas morning could arrive faster.

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