Ottawa is a truly beautiful city of 750,000 with Canada's Parliament and other government buildings. I came to Ottawa in 1972 looking for work and instead found Jo-Anne who was working for the government at the time. Here she is in front of our first apartment house some 37 years later. It still is a 1920s brownstone imposing building and other than a bit more landscaping, not much different than when we had our place here. It is on Elgin Avenue and literally a short walk to the Parliament buildings or the Rideau Canal.

Then, being hungry, we popped over to the By Ward Market area on the northeast side of Ottawa and where the Obamas recently stopped for a bite to eat. There are literally hundreds of eateries and shops in the old city market area. We checked out this one and it seemed pretty good.

Inside, I had a havarti/chicken wrap with mushroom soup and Jo had a ham/brie with salad, which we shared ... and of course a glass of local cabernet ... all for about $32.