Jun 3 - 6 - Our Nation's Capital - Ottawa, ON
Day 1 - Friday
This morning we headed down the Gatineau River, over the bridge, and into downtown Ottawa. We drove past these rapids.
Construction on the main arterial route in Gatineau (I knew it as Hull many decades ago) meant we drove across what was originally I think the old railroad bridge directly into downtown and downtown traffic. With an overheight van, we went looking for place to park - wasn't that fun?!
Must have been close to an hour later, we ventured east into the Byward Market area and woah, found a parking spot on the street! Two hour parking - that's good! $0.25 for 5 minutes, okay that's expensive (I didn't even bother to do the math!). A couple of cars ahead was an open lot so I went to speak to the attendant. Sure there is space and if not just leave your keys. Okay, back to the van, pull into the lot. He says he doesn't do LARGE vans. He gives us directions to another lot (a church lot). Finally, we arrive at the lot and find the only handicapped spot (there were others available).
This is nice because it is just a short stroll to the US Embassy on Sussex Drive!
We get Jen's chair out of the van and set off for the Embassy - our appointment is this Wednesday and I wanted to know where we have to go rather than fart around on Wednesday. While discussing the signage on the Embassy doors, a security guard appeared. Yes this is where we have to be next Wednesday. Okay, that's sorted, let's go look around.
It seems we are just over a year early!
There is a lot of construction and many buildings are under wraps. Why? Well next year is Canada's 150th birthday, so Ottawa is getting ready to celebrate. Needless to say I didn't see much point in taking pictures of "famous" buildings that look like the leaky condo crisis in Vancouver a few years ago. But I did manage a few, so here ya go.
Off the bridge approaching the National Gallery
Locks on the Rideau Canal
The Parliament building
Part of Byward Market
More to come, stay tuned.
Day 2 - Saturday
Brunch today is at Don Cherry's Sports Grill in Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa. We are meeting long-time friend and working buddy, John (SDL - 1970) and his wife Anne. After brunch we spent the afternoon at their place reminiscing about "good old days".
SYSTEMS DIMENSIONS LIMITED (SDL) (http://www.gfierheller.ca/systems-dimensions-limited-sdl/)
The concept was simple. Its execution was not. By the late 1960’s, the need for computing power was growing at an unbelievable rate, driven by the increasing complexity and variety of applications. Many organizations needed to access a high capacity computer but could not afford to install these very expensive systems costing millions of dollars in many cases. Remember this was long before the era of mini computers to say nothing of PC’s.
The answer was shared computing power provided by a major service bureau remotely accessed. The correct name for this process is Remote Batch Processing.
In March 1968, two senior Systems Engineers and I had left IBM in Ottawa to create a small computer consulting firm called Systems Dimensions Limited. Shortly thereafter, we started what was to become Canada’s largest computer services organization. We designed and built a special purpose building in Ottawa and installed an IBM System/360 Model 85. This was the largest commercial computer that IBM made at the time.
Day 3 - Sunday
Day 4 - Monday
After yesterday's deluge today was sunny and warm. We decided to check out a couple of campgrounds on the Ottawa side of the river - a bit closer to the city.
Our satnav guided us along Hwy 50 to Masson-Angers where there is a ferry across the Ottawa River to
Cumberland, ON. However, I should correct my last statement - there are actually 3 ferries on this very short (~600m) route. Yes, you read that right - 3 ferries! I've never, ever seen 3 ferries on such a short run. Good on 'em!
Unfortunately we were not impressed with either campground so we returned to Cantley and booked in for a second week. We'll head to Smiths Falls on next Thursday, June 16.
