That was the worst night sleep so far, the snoring last night was something else. The guy that was snoring had his blanket over his face when I woke up. Comic books all over his stuff. I made sure I made loads of noise while i was packing as me and Chris were leaving Montreal today. (Payback!). After the beans on toast we had cooked for breakfast we got all our stuff together and returned to the Montreal greyhound terminal via the Metro. We have been really lucky with the weather so far, and today was another sunny one!
Our journey was only 2 and a half hours to Ottawa the Capital of Canada. Caught up on sleep that we missed last night. It was a nice short bus journey so in no time we had arrived into Ottawa. Jumping on the bus to downtown we got a little lost trying to find the hostel. But managed to find it after we asked a nice lady and she pointed us in the right direction.
One thing I hate about the States and Canada is there grid like street lay out. Our directions were from the bus stop find Nicolas Street and then turn south for two blocks - I pissing don't know where south is - I don't carry a compass around with me. Rant over.
We still had most of the afternoon, and took a walk down to the river, it was still nice just got a little windy. At the top of this view point we spotted a strange beaver animal eating the grass, not 100% sure what it was. It didn't seem to mind people standing and watching him. We walked around for a few hours and then went to the Metro. It's a supermarket! It wasn't far but with loads of road works going on we had to walk the long way! Once we got back to the hostel we had time to cook it before the crime and punishment tour that was taking place at 19:00. It was really nice, and there was loads!!
It was now time for our tour, there was only 6 of us on the tour plus the guide. I think the others were from Australia and Germany. Our guide was call Jim and he would be walking us around the scary jail for an hour telling us about the history. I was really looking forward to it, I don't really believe in ghosts etc and I like bit of history. We started the tour on he ground floor, which was also the Chappell. (Me and Chris had just eaten out dinner in here!). Jim started by talking to us about the building and when it was built, I want to say it was 1867, don't quote me on that as I am sure that is wrong. He showed us where there is a tunnel linking he court house to the jail. Also on the ground level was consolatory confinement. Prisoners would be looked up in here naked for 23 hours 45 minutes. They would then be offered a small meal and then the door would be closed again. He told us that mean people were forgotten about and then were left and died in these rooms! Great. Then asked us all to get inside. The metal loops still attached to the floor where they wold have been tied up. From here we went to the main stair case. They have anti suicide bars stopping people jumping from he 9th floor - ending their sentence early. They were also called anti murder bars. Meaning people couldn't be pushed! Walking up the stairs we came to the landing in between floors 8 and 9. The 9th floor started out as the hospital wing - however due to a large number of deaths the hospital was closed down and it was converted into the women's and children's jail.
Everyone was then guided to the 8th floor, turning left there was a long corridor with jail cells on the left hand side. They looked very much like what we were due to be sleeping in, but a lot smaller. 1 meter x 3 meters in size. I don't even think you would get a single bed in them. We were allowed to have pictures from inside they cell, these haven't changed since the jail was closed in 1972. Walking back around to the right side the cells were bigger. These were built for 3 people per cells. These still had the original steal doors on the cells; that locked. Of course we went in them closing the doors behind us! Jim would of course open them after. This is where the building gets a little more creepy, the next 4 cells were death row. Jim told us about people that were sentenced the death penalty. You would first be put in cell one, and move up to cell 4. When it was your time you would be collected by a couple of guards and walked past the other convicts facing the same fate. Taken thought the door way given a chance to say your final words then the gallows would open and game over. We walked the same route as these men. The gallows were just on the other side of a door way where we were standing. Still working and the only working gallows in Canada. Waiting on the stairs Jim gave us more information, this set of stairs had no anti suicide/murder bars instead there was a wooden beam in the centre of the stair well - this wooden beam had no structural importance. If you looked to the centre of the beam, there were rope marks that had left imprints in the wood. The staff say it was due to heavy furniture that was lifted up to higher floors. Others say they carried out illegal hangings. This is when it started to freak me out a little bit. Our last part of the tour was outside. The yard! They had some building work that took place to build a bridge on the other side of the walled yard, and loads of remains were found - known to be people thy died in the Carlton County Jail. When outside the building Chris was taking a few picture and without joking, I did look like some of them have a strange siloet. A guy that was also on the tour called dean took a picture from the same place and he had light coming through the window... Strange.!
After the tour we were both a little freaked out, and decided we would go out and have a couple of beers. Of course our main subject of conversation was the scary place we were about to spend the night! Dean also turned up at the same pub.. Lucky for us we were only on the 6th floor... But Dean was sleeping on floor 9, the old Hospital...! (Unlucky!). We were their for a good few hours and 4 beers later we headed back to the hostel. I think the beer will help us both sleep! We are going to sound like a pair of girls but we did go brush out teeth at the same time, as the light have a habit of turning off on their own!
Fingers crossed I will be continuing with my blog tomorrow, that's if the scary ghosts and spirits don't get me while I am asleep!