Canada Day 2012 - on our Capital Hill

July 1st we hung out with our Prime Minister, Steven Harper - well, we and 300,000 other people celebrating with us. We found Canada Day in Ottawa to be a most amazing sensory overload, beyond even Vegas and Disneyworld. There was so much going on in so many parks at the same time it felt like we could have been in one of the old pinball machines. However, we saw amazing performances including the Fire Weavers, Gumboot Dancers, Musicians, 1812 Pipes and Drums, Burundi Drummers, Snowbirds, Sky Hawks, Carillon Concert, Changing of the Guard, and SQUID.

The weather was hot and the crowds were large, but none of us got lost. (I did go to the Lost Children's Tent to check for unclaimed kids but unfortunately there were none left over!) It is really hard to tell who is who when the entire city is a sea of red and white. As in Kindergarten, we held hands and stuck together. I must say, we saw some very creative "outfits" ranging from simply the red bra, the Stanfield's one piece long underwear (complete with escape hatch), to the red kilts and the red white sari, which is what Canada is all about.

For Tim, an American turned Canadian, the day was extra special meeting fellow Canadians, from places as far away as England and Dubai, who now call Canada home. This is what he said;

"In a land where patriotic displays are few and far between, July 1st in Ottawa was a pleasure to take part in, managing not to be overstated, as can easily happen. 2012 is the 145th Anniversary of the creation of our country and the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812 (referred to by some as the War of American Aggression, and argued by others to be the true birth of our country). It was also a joint celebration of the Queen's 60th year as our monarch and official Head of State. As my father-in-law suggested, Ottawa is truly 'a proper city befitting the capital of a great nation!'"