Last weekend was the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, which was also a long weekend for Victoria Day. So Eric and I went up for the weekend to check it out and some other sights around the nation’s capital.
The origins of the Tulip Festival began in 1945, when Ottawa was presented with a gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs from Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. The gift was in appreciation of Canada’s involvement in the liberation of the Netherlands and for offering sanctuary to members of the Dutch Royal family. The Netherlands continue to give the gift every year and Ottawa has held the festival around the city ever since the first festival in 1953. There were so many beautiful tulips, not just the standard red and yellow ones – but you can see them all in my pics!
At Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa they had an International Tent, with different countries promoting their food, culture and tourism. Disappointed that there was no Aussie booth, but there was an Indonesian tent – so I plucked up the courage to have a conversation with one of the Indonesian guys (in Indonesian of course!). It was great! I was a bit rusty and I haven’t spoken Indonesian for about two years, but he was nice enough to say that I was doing fine!
The weather has definitely improved which has been great! We’ve just had a beautiful weekend here and been walking through High Park and along the lake front. And I bought a bike helmet today (I’m borrowing Eric’s sisters bike) – the first time I had one since I was about 10! So we’re all set to get some biking done this summer.
Eric and I bought a Nintendo Wii today so were just about to set that up and play some bowling! Strike!
