Today started with brekky at a place strongly recommended to us by our guide on the hop on hope off bus yesterday – Zak’s Diner. It was close by so only a few minutes later there we were. As its nam implies, it’s a diner so service is perfunctory but still friendly. I like how they just get to the point, you order, you eat, you go. A cup of coffee appeared less than 30 seconds after I asked for one, which is always a welcome thing first thing in the morning, even if it is drip coffee.

The breakfast itself was amazing – I had eggs Benedict and Perry ordered the meat lovers breakfast. It was … a lot!

Our plan today was to wander up the road a little to city hall, to visit the Poutine Festival that is on this weekend. But with such a substantial breakfast and an oncoming food coma, there was just no point going our to look at at poutine we had no chance of being able to eat.

So, plans changed a bit. The massive Rideau Centre mall was nearby so we wandered around there finding shops, not at all disconcerting to find a few shops with security guards wearing bulletproof or stab-proof vests though… but the centre itself was fine, not at all feral. We also found these shops which were just too amusing:

And of course the Apple Store:

we took a bit of a stroll around town, to the end of the Rideau canal where a series of locks help get you down to the Ottawa River, or up to the Rideau Canal, depending on which way you’re going. Looks like that’d be a bit annoying having to navigate so many in a row to get up (or down) to the right level.

We also passed by the East, Centre, and West parliament buildings (again), which are still pretty, so yep, even more photos of them (again)

So with our plans kinda in disarray we thought we’d try the “Lady Dive!” 😂. Don’t worry, it’s just the name of the aqua-bus that does a road-and-water tour of Ottawa.

After a while we found ourselves back on dry land – it was time to get ready for (wait for it…) a show!

The venue was at least half an hour’s walk away, but as luck would have it there was a bus, and as even more luck would have it, thanks to some major changes to Ottawa’s bus routes recently, they made all public transport free this weekend – bonus! So we hopped on the bus (Number 6, to Greensboro) and here’s a random bus thing – it was a bendy bus, and there actually seats right in the middle of the accordion bit. So now you know!

Anyway – this is where we were heading:

It’s a musical. It’s a threat restaurant. It’s all about Canada. And every time they say “eh!” You have to say “eh!”. Now on the face of it, this sounds 100% cringe and cheesy – and I was 100% here for it. But, it ends up I was 100% wrong. It was basically a Canadian cultural explosion of friendliness. Beautiful Canadian food, a small troupe of Canadian singers singing all Canadian songs, highlighting everything that’s good about, you guessed it, Canada! We also got to share our table with two lovely Canadians who live hours north of Montreal – very nice to meet you Douglas and Deborah (and Happy Birthday Deborah!)

They ran through heaps of songs, and it was great to see they even took the time to do the Canadian equivalent of acknowledging Country, very nice to know they’re also on a path to reconciliation.

The staff work so hard – when they’re not singing, they’re serving, and when they’re not serving, they’re singing. They don’t get a break the whole way. Well except then they dragged someone up on stage to assist with one of the big dance numbers… we’ve kept his identity secret but you miiiight just be able to figure it out.

Among all this going on we also received a big platter of food to share. Fish, chicken, meat pie, veges, gravy … yum!

So in summary yes it was great – a fantastic advertisement for Canada, and what better way to bring people together than through food and music? Beautiful, and tariff-free 😀

All that was left to do was hop back on the (still free) bus and get back to the hotel. Top night out!