After one night in luxury (it really felt like it!!!) I had to pack up my things again.
After breakfast and taking the bar over from Josue (ah…only kidding), I took the 11AM bus to Ottawa. Only 2 hours later I arrived at the university of Ottawa – as always – completely unprepared.
I asked for the way to York street (at least I try to remember the street names of my hostels) and arrived there only 20 minutes later (so my guess).
I checked in and went off to explore the city. Thanks to my new map and my excellent sense of orientation I made it to the Lower Town (the place for all pubs and restaurants) in no time. I passed through and went up the Major’s Hill to have my little lunch of nuts, an apple and a banana (finally, I’m trying to save some money 😉 ).
That’s where I met Serge, a 51-year-old French guy from Montreal (at least that’s what I understood) who is living in Ottawa now for 12 years or so, who was sitting on the bench next to me.
He told me that he spent 20 years in prison, did sell drugs for a months to earn some fast money (until he noticed that everybody deceived him) but was generally a nice guy: He took care of his father until he died and took also care of his mother when she fell and hurt her hip. Serge told me also a lot of stories about his half-sister Marie-Katreen who’s supposed to be a hotshot private investigator.
According to Serge, her life will be subject of a documentary, because she caught some serial killer from Toronto, some Brad…. who had killed his wife (and apparently others).
He kept talking for an hour or so and didn’t make the impression to be a dangerous guy, more the lost and haunted one. He kept on saying something about a big mistake (probably the drug-selling) and going into hide.
I don’t have clue if or how much of the things he told me were actually true but no matter what: he’s a born story teller.
And no worries, Mum: it was in the middle of the day, there were people walking past the whole time and I didn’t promise him money, food or anything else 😉
After saying our Goodbyes I walked over to the Houses of Parliament and took some pictures, then I went down to the river bank and went back again.
My impression of Ottawa so far is somehow mixed: there is the vivid quarter of bars, souvenir shops and restaurant. There are the impressive buildings of the houses of parliament, there is the river bank but it all doesn’t seem to be connected; probably because of the steep cliff which separates the city from the river.
So it’s not simply pretty as Montreal but the atmosphere is still interesting.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow…
In the meantime there was also the first argument in a hostel room I witnessed: one lady wanted to go asleep at around 7PM because she didn’t sleep so much the night before.
And the two young girls kept watching their series on the laptop although they were told politely to turn it off or go downstairs. Never had such a thing until now because everybody tries to considerate of each other’s needs but apparently there are ignorant people everywhere….
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