Three Summers ago

We have now been living in Ottawa for 3 years, we lived here off and on since 1976, but with my postings there were long periods when I was away from the City.

Our return after many years abroad was not easy on many levels. Strange to say but there was culture shock when we returned and also a long period of adaptation. It is difficult to explain to anyone who has not lived abroad, physically out of Canada. Re-entering Canadian life can be very difficult, you forget so many things about life here, the attitudes, culture and the tempo of life in general. We had to re-learn a lot of things, life in Canadian Society has its peculiarities.

Going from a small office where you have real responsibilities to a giant one at HQ where you have no responsibilities and dozens of managers who are more of less incompetent is an adjustment. The first year back at HQ was difficult, nothing made sense and it felt like working with a bunch of chickens running around whose head had been cut off. More uncertainty, more lies and more hypocrisy about where we were going as a Government. Our Minister Jason Kenny could not bring himself to saying Good Morning to people, it was beyond his capacity, this is how much he loathe his own employees. Senior Management were shitting their pants so afraid they were for their jobs and all hoping they could retire before things got too ugly or out of hand. I certainly did not recognize HQ after a 7 year absence, too much had changed for the worst unfortunately. To many 20 something running around pretending they knew it all and had seen it all, they had a University diploma don't you know. To many experienced hands retiring or being pushed out because they were over 55. What is the point of staying anywhere if you are no longer wanted. Better to leave and forget the rest, and this is what I did, I can honestly say now that I have no contact with my former employer and frankly I do not miss any part of it.

We were lucky that we found a very nice apartment immediately, with good neighbours and were able to settle well in a pleasant surrounding. We also had our friends in Ottawa, they must have found us a little strange with our comparisons. We had to reason with ourselves and admit that there was no comparisons to be made and just stop looking at things in an odd fashion as if we could wake up from a bad dream. It is at this time that I started to remember old colleagues who had spent 20 or more years living abroad and never returning to Ottawa. When they finally returned near the end of their careers many simply could not live in Ottawa the cultural shock was too great.

Even today many colleagues retire elsewhere in Canada or abroad. We chose to retire to Ottawa for the time being.

I had the good fortune of having the presence of mind to start thinking about two years ago before my retirement of what I wanted to do once retired. I do not think I could have simply stayed at home and do a little reading and walk the dogs. Luckily I fell into a very good opportunity and it has worked out very well for me at the museums.

I also made a trip back to Rome in March of 2012 and this was a very good trip and was enormously helpful in focusing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It has not always been easy to go forward in the last three years but now I feel that we are settling in Ottawa and I have lots of interests in what is going on in the City and in the volunteer activities I am involved with.

Rome and Italy will always be with us and as we discovered anytime we go back and we have returned many times, it is like home. We are building a new life here and a more permanent one.
Renewing our lease for another 2 years also adds permanence and this is helpful to give us a feeling of belonging.

This painting by Giovanni Paolo Pannini of an art dealer's emporium in many ways reminds me of what I am now doing as a docent and how much I enjoy it and all the other activities connected to it.



  

Ottawa's restaurant scene in the Capital

For years Ottawa had very little to offer in terms of good restaurants, with the turn of the millenium everything changed. We now have a serious food scene and here is a compilation of the best in the Capital. Of this list I have been to several of them more than once. I would certainly recommend them and see my list of preferred at the bottom of this post.

Black Cat Bistro
Where: 428 Preston St.
Type of food: Modern French bistro
Words of praise: "The flavours and textures were already expertly layered, without my having to do the work of dabbing and assembling all sorts of dips, foams, and frills." - Ottawa magazine

Navarra by Rene Rodriguez
Where: 93 Murray St.
Type of food: Spanish and Mexican
Words of praise: "[How] could your meal be as good as the extravaganza of dinner at Navarra? Indeed, you could pose the same question to all of Rodriguez’s competition." - Ottawa Citizen
Bonus reason: Rodriguez is competing on season four of Top Chef Canada.

Town
Where: 296 Elgin St.
Type of food: Modern Italian
Words of praise: "Every so often a restaurant surfaces that, right from the get-go, seems exactly in the swing of its time and place. Such is Town." - Capital Dining

Oz Kafe
Where: 361 Elgin St.
Type of food: Asian shared plates with a twist of Mexican
Words of praise: "But the real magic of Oz is that its tiny closet of a kitchen has the best karma in town." - Ottawa magazine

Fraser Cafe
Where: 7 Springfield Rd.
Type of food: Seasonal and local
Words of praise: "[We] want a restaurant with thoughtful, fresh, delicious food that doesn’t require an enormous splurge. Fraser Café is all that." - Ottawa Magazine

Restaurant 18
Where: 18 York St.
Type of food: 'Cutting edge' French-based cuisine
Words of praise: "When you are rating a restaurant you want to be sure that you do not become too generous in your praise lest no one believes you. But 18 is one of those that requires an alltogether [sic] different scale." - OpenTable

The Whalesbone and The Elmsdale Oyster House & Tavern
Where: 430 Bank St., and 1084 Wellington St. W.
Type of food: Seafood, of course, that is sustainably sourced
Words of praise: "I love a place with a raunchy vibe that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Is The Whalesbone Oyster House menu pricey? Yes it is, but my friends, that’s the price you pay for sustainable seafood, line-caught, farmed in sound conditions and approved by the watchers of the sea at Ocean Wise." - Food Gypsy

Murray Street
Where: 110 Murray St.
Type of food: A carnivore's dream
Words of praise: "They take ordinary things and they do an extraordinary way of preparing them." - Food Network Canada

Sidedoor
Where: 18b York St.
Type of food: Thai-influenced tacos
Words of praise: "Refreshingly unlike anything else in Ottawa, Sidedoor is about small, Mexican and Asian-inspired, produce-driven sharing plates." - Capital Dining.
Bonus reason: He was the second runner-up for Top Chef Canada's season three.

El Camino
Where: 380 Elgin St.
Type of food: "Tacos. Tequila. Raw bar."
Words of praise: "We didn’t recall a place having such high energy on a Wednesday night on Elgin street in quite a while.
There was a good reason. The place was fantastic and didn’t affect our pocket books too much." - Apartment 613

Supply and Demand
Where: 1335 Wellington St. W.
Type of food: Heavy on the seafood, with pasta thrown in
Words of praise: "All in all one of the best meals I've had in Ottawa, even though I'm not much of a shellfish person. My boyfriend and I have already made plans to go back." - Ottawa Foodies

Next
Where: 6400 Hazeldean Rd.
Type of food: Asian-influenced cuisine
Words of praise: "[The] food presented an exceptional balance of textures crisp, crunch, soft and supple, embellishments salty and sweet, rich yet refreshing, often on the same plate." - Ron Eade

Gezellig
Where: 337 Richmond Rd.
Type of food: Global cuisine
Words of praise: "The Lake Erie Pickerel was seasoned to perfection, laid on a bed of salted fingerling potatoes and chard. If you are looking for light but filling, this dish was perfect." - Food Search Ottawa

Allium
Where: 87 Holland Ave.
Type of food: Fresh and local, with a constantly changing menu
Words of praise: "Allium is our favourite spot in Ottawa. Delicious food, complex enough to be special but still accessible." - TripAdvisor

Atelier
Where: 540 Rochester St.
Type of food: (Stunning) molecular gastronomy
Words of praise: "[Chef Marc Lapine] masters the unique modernist techniques and weaves them into the local and seasonally inspired ingredients, while having fun with his menu descriptions." -Vacay.ca

Union 613
Where: 315 Somerset St. W.
Type of food: "The Canadian take on Southern hospitality," so lots of comfort food
Words of praise: "With its communal seating, ear-busting playlist, and late-into-the-night hours, Union is ushering Ottawa into a new dining dimension, already adored by restaurant-industry insiders and those who think everything’s better when smothered in Thousand Island dressing." - Ottawa magazine

Absinthe
Where: 1208 Wellington St. W.
Type of food: Contemporary comfort food (and fondue Mondays!)
Words of praise: "This joint is one of the most reliable in the city, IMO. Relaxed but professional servers, good wine list and good variety of delicious dishes make this a solid stand by." - Ottawa Foodies

Zen Kitchen
Where: 634 Somerset St. W.
Type of food: Vegan healthy, whole foods prepared in an environmentally friendly manner
Words of praise: "The food is so satisfying, so balanced, and so incredibly varied -- nothing like the old-fashioned stereotypic if not cafeteria-like vegetarian eateries where you pile greens and sprouts on a tray to weigh at the cash register." - Ron Eade

Domus Cafe
Where: 87 Murray St.
Type of food: Canadian, with a focus on local ingredients
Words of praise: "Domus never fails to satisfy me. We go there at least once a year on special occasions. Last time was my 10 year anniversary." - Ottawa Foodies

Brothers Beer Bistro

Where: 366 Dalhousie St.

Type of food: Made with beer!

Words of praise: "There’s an excellent burger and fries, to be sure, but the menu otherwise travels as far as possible from traditional pub fare. Forget baskets of greasy nachos and wings — Flowers opts to make a delicate tuna crudo and plates it beautifully." - Ottawa magazine

So here is my list based on what I know and have tasted.

I really enjoyed the quality of the food and the service coupled with the imagination the Chef showed in preparing and presenting dishes at the following restaurants,

my list of restaurants in no specific order;  OZ Café, Absinthe, Fraser Café, Allium, El Camino, the Whalesbone, Play Food and Wine on York Street. We will be trying out Union 613 this week, I have been wanting to go there for a long time.

On another good cheerful note, I am happy to report that Yesterday's in Spark Street at O'Connor the last of those dreadful Ottawa Family restaurants has closed and is gone. Thank You GOD. Yesterday's formerly known as Sharry's was one of those restaurant which at one point in the very early 60's could pass for a restaurant, service was surly, food lukewarm and the theme of the restaurant was more important than the cuisine, not to mention the fact that it was for families with lots of screaming kids, stretch pants and well you get the picture. All those restaurants are gone and this was the last one to go. Not a minute too soon, a blight on Sparks street just one block from Parliament.

The Venice Syndrome, sad, sad, sad.

We went to the Bytowne Cinema today on Rideau Street, the last movie house in the centre of Ottawa.

We saw The Venice Syndrome, released in mid-July, it is a 90 minute documentary on Venice. The City is dying and its not the water rising that is killing the city but the 20 million tourists who visit each year. There are only 50,000 inhabitants left in Venice today, it was a City of 200,000 just 12 years ago.

The port of Venice can accommodate cruise ships a 1000 feet long disgorging hundreds of tourists each day more than the Port of New York City. Not to mention the cavalcade of day trippers who come by train or air. The Post Office has closed and the building was sold to Benetton to make a shopping mall. The hospital was moved to the mainland in Mestre. Other services are being shifted to the mainland.

I was aware that the city known as La Serinissima was changing, I noticed how few locals were left and how grocery stores and other shops had vanished. All replaced by cheap restaurants catering to tourists on a budget with their micro-wave food and day old sandwiches and pizzas. On the other hand you also have to wealthy tourists who stay around San Marco in their $500 dollar a day suites and eat burgers at $45 dollars.

The movie shows you the throngs of tourists and interviews several Venetians about their city and the changes, the characters are all old time Venetians whose family have lived for generation in the city.
A Countess, an old gondolier, a real estate agent, a mover, a tourist guide, they all talk about their lives and how the rising cost of renting an apartment is pushing them out. Some own their condo but for those who don't the only solution is to move to the mainland. The blame according to them rest with the City Council who prefers the money of the big corporation to the interests of the Citizens.

Most of the money spent by tourists in Venice on any given day goes to big corporations not City Coffers. The real estate market is on fire despite buildings crumbling due to poor maintenance or shoddy workmanship. Still one square meter sell for 12,000 Euros. so bit by bit every apartment in town or building is being bought out by foreigners who come for a few days a year. It is true that Venice has always been a city of trade and business, this is what made it a powerful city in the days of the Venetian Republic but those days are long gone and now globalization is killing the city. It is estimated that by 2030 no Venetian will be left living in the city. All that remains are hotels, restaurants, bars and sights.

I am only happy to say that I knew the city and visited when it was still a charming city and not an amusement park. I feel great sadness at what is happening and at the lost of a beautiful and lovely city.

Munich, München,

Did you know that you can surf 4 foot waves in Munich, how can this be, the city is landlocked at the foot of the Alps. Well I discovered today by going to the English gardens in the Park of the Residenz the man made EISBACH stream crosses the park, it is a tributary of the Isar River, underwater boulders have been placed strategically to create big waves which allows for surfing and in other places waterfalls. The Eisbach stream crosses the large English gardens of the Residenz of 1030 acres, one of the largest public park in the world.

The Residenz on Odeon Platz was from 1500 to 1918 the Royal Palace of the Dukes and Kings of Bavaria. The large buildings have an Italian air about them, reminiscent of Florence and the Medici Palace. Along the side of the Palace are French Gardens which have recently been restored to give them back the look of 1776 and then just beyond is the English garden which is larger than Central Park.

The English garden was created in 1789 by a British Officer, Sir Benjamin Thompson Lord Rumford who fought with the Loyalist troops of the British Crown against the American rebels. Thompson is an interesting man, born in Woburn, Massachusetts then a Colony of the UK, he married in Rumford (now Concord) Mass. He was a physicist and inventor. He wrote on thermodynamics and help change thinking in that field, he introduced the cultivation of the potato in Bavaria and created soup kitchens for the poor. As Bavarian Minister of War, he reorganized the Bavarian army, he also did several studies on the force of gunpowder which influenced its use in Europe.

Eisbach stream, English garden, Residenz, Munich

The gardens are open to the public since 1920, its vast green spaces are used for nude sunbathing and water surfing and even farming in some area with flocks of sheep and goats. Strange to think that in the middle of the city such an area would exist. We saw about a dozen surfers in their wet suit ride the waves, the current of the stream is quite strong and is also very shallow in some area.

We also walked along the pedestrian mall in what was many centuries ago the original central area of Munich, with its cathedral (Dom) and Marien Platz where City Hall is located with its clock tower which chimes the hour while life size mechanical figurine dance. We visited St-Michael's church where the Royal Wittelsbach family have their crypt, the famous Louis II of Bavaria is buried there and so is the step-son of Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince Eugene Napoleon Beauharnais who married the daughter of the King of Bavaria and died in 1821 at the age of 40. Their sealed lead coffins are in the basement of the church. Like so many buildings in the centre of the city who were badly damaged during the Second World War, much had to be rebuilt according to records on hand, quite lovely to see.

St-Michael's Church, Munich

It is asparagus season and many stalls sell them, white or green, they look wonderful. Louis XIV is said to have loved asparagus so much that he asked his gardeners at Versailles to grow them all year round. Apparently special trenches were dug in the gardens and filled with horse manure to allow the asparagus to grow even in Winter. The manure came easy since there were about 250 horses in the stables of the Palace. Bavaria also means beer and they have some beautiful beers, dark creamy golden colour with a nice head.

White asparagus 2 kilos (4.4 lbs) for only 4.90 euros a bargain!!!

We did a bit of shopping bought shoes and validated our train tickets for tomorrow. This up-coming weekend is a major holiday in Germany and Austria, Pentecost, so lots of people will be traveling Friday, we will travel Thursday mid-day to avoid the crowds, the DB railway representative told us that the 5:20pm train to Salzburg with connection onward to Budapest was completely full.
The weather is sunny and quite warm around 24C. We hope for good weather for the  rest of our stay.

Ottawa on the Rideau

Well this past week went by quickly and got a lot of stuff accomplished for our return to Ottawa later this summer. The best thing was the find of this beautiful apartment, totally unexpected. After seeing many substandard apartments advertised in what can only be called as misleading statements and photos, I found a great place for us in an area of town known as the Golden Triangle by the Rideau canal. We had a great agent Eric helping us and he did a very good job answering our questions and getting the information I needed.  It pays to visit properties and not go on info solely provided on paper or on the internet.

Ottawa has changed a lot, the city has matured in the last 7 years and it is much different than when I left.
It is still a very clean city, lots of beautiful parks, very green and quiet. Met with old friends, went out to dinner.  Looked for and compared prices on food etc... this gives me a better idea of what it will be like on our return in 8 weeks.  Dining out in Ottawa is still expensive, more so may I had than in Rome or Vienna, if you look at the 13% tax and then the obligatory 15% service charge added to the final bill, not to mention the price of wines and liquor in restaurants which can easily be 500% of the retail cost at the liquor store. So we will not be doing much dining out. I also found that a lot of foods served in restaurants does not appeal to me. Too many flavors, every chef wants to be trendy, any given menu item has a long description of what the dish is about, to the point of incomprehension. It seems that food has to be trendy, as if that would equate with good taste or savoir-faire in the kitchen in the hope of attracting the monied crowd.  At the moment you have a lot of cranberry sauce with balsamic vinegar and chipotle onions.  Last night per example I had duck breast for dinner it came with what was described as duck confit, it was not, wrapped in rice paper to make it look Vietnamese with wild rice and vegetables and again this sweet and sour combination sauce, this was not an Asian restaurant but a trendy neigborhood one. Not very pleasing at all. The only fish on most restaurant menus is salmon steak, do we not have other fish to serve, it appears not.  The desserts also tend to be very heavy, Ottawa is still stuck in the Cheese cake era and in hot weather a total turn off. So we will eat at home probably replicating what we had in Rome. A good friend of mine described Canadians as people with damaged palates with over stimulated taste buds.

Groceries stores are interesting, you have the superstores and then the local specialty ones, some offer all natural, organic, biological, fair trade, grown in the shade (whatever that means), gluten free, free of dairy products, no eggs, peanut free, products. The variety is impressive, expensive and sometimes a tad funny, you wonder if we need all these choices, but it seems to reflect a certain affluent hypocondriac mentality preoccupied with lifestyle and correctness.

Ottawa also has horrendous rush hour traffic problems now as people try to leave the city centre by the main roads out towards the suburbs, it starts around 3pm until 7pm and on some streets like Bronson it is an all day and late into the night traffic jam.  The Queensway, the only major east west highway in Ottawa is a parking lot in both directions at rush hour. This is why I can happily say that I can actually walk to work in 20 minutes and do not need a car from our new home, I am very happy about that. The walk will also be very pleasant mostly through beautiful park land smack in the city centre. This is one of the very nice features of Ottawa.

Today its back to Rome for the pack up in 16 days the countdown is on. We have movers but we will need to make decisions on what we will take with us and what will be sent with the sea shipment.

Today’s tourism

Tourism has always been about seeing things you heard about or wanting something exotic as a break from everyday routine. There was a time only the privilege and wealthy could travel, modern tourism apparently appeared around 1850 when Britain had firmly established its garrisons abroad allowing people to travel to far away lands and be assured that military protection or Law and Order was at hand from the restless native. I think of places like Egypt and the Holy Land or India or even further away like the Far East. Such trips required months of free time to travel, money and hiring local staff and bringing your own personal attendants just to handle all your luggage and what not. This was not necessarily the best form of tourism since it often conveyed the worst racist attitudes towards people living in those far away countries.

In the 1960’s traveling was still an adventure, today with mass tourism and ease of travel, you can go almost anywhere and meet crowds of people brought there by charter airlines. The magic of certain far off destination is pretty much gone, all the same food, same shops, same souvenirs, same hotel chains and same music playing in restaurants, shopping malls or hotel lobbies. There is not much danger that you will be challenged in what you know or expect at most you will be amused at worst bored and wonder why it can’t be just like it is back home. I was recently reading the book of Durrell on the Greek Islands when he first visited in the 1930's and compared it to what I saw last October, things have changed and not for the better.

One of my pet peeves has to do with the lack of respect people have in general when visiting a different country.

I always wonder why the natural reserve or barrier you would feel at home to behaving outlandishly is suddenly gone. Is it because you think that I will never be back so it does not matter what I do or say or is it a sense of entitlement because this vacation is costing a lot, so they owe me for the money I am spending in their country.

In Catania I witnessed some truly awful behaviour, it seems to occur either in Museums or in Churches, groups come in with a guide and proceed to march around as if they own the place, shoving aside other people not in their group or blocking areas completely or speaking loudly about this and that or simply run around to take pictures of anything that attract their fancy or of themselves, using flash when told not too. In Syracuse we visited one church with a famous painting by Caravaggio, it clearly says NO photography, luckily in this case the guards pounce on anyone who tries to take a picture. One lady of a certain age who should have known better nonetheless pleaded like a 5 year old with the guard who politely but firmly told her NO. In Catania in the Cathedral a group of school kids around 14-15 years of age where visiting with their teachers, the group was about 25 strong. They ran around the church playing tag, spoke loudly, this was an outing for them. Even in the chapel where the sacrament is exposed and reserved for prayers, there they were pushing and showing each other to the dismay of people trying to pray. I realize that visiting old churches nowadays is no different than going to the mall or an amusement park. But is it so difficult to be respectful of others? In another church a Dutch tourist walks in and does not take his hat off as is customary in any Christian church, his wife came in with her dog on a leash. The excuse we are Protestants this is a Roman Catholic Church we don’t believe in this stuff. It is not a matter of what you believe but a matter of respect. I witnessed the same thing in Cairo and in Istanbul in the great mosques when non-Muslims wish to visit, women and men appear to fail to understand that modest dress is required, meaning no shorts and no sleeveless T-shirts or blouse. In Rome the Vatican enforces a dress code, no one objects but elsewhere it seems that lack of sensitivity and lack of respect is the rule.

Unfortunately when you have mass tourism and a general lack of awareness this appears bound to happen.

The worst offenders are not children but mature adults, the older it seems the ruder. I have seen some truly foul mouth rude people in there 70’s and 80’s; you wonder how can this be. Is this an effect of popular culture today or is it that people are fed up with the change they see around them and this is a form of protest. All this to say that the veneer of civilized behaviour is pretty thin.

Traveling in the archipelago, the Cyclades Islands

Monday 11 October, Canadian Thanksgiving, in Thira (pronounce Fira) on Santorini Island, named after Saint Irene ( Holy Peace in Greek).  We had breakfast and went to Thira which is about 3 minutes by car from our hotel.

Thira seen from a cliff

Most old towns in Greece on Islands now visited by tourists and cruise ships have been transformed from once upon a time real villages into giant shopping malls.

No one actually lives in Thira anymore, it’s all shops selling, T-shirts, cheap souvenirs, clothing all of it made in China, even when it looks like it might have been made in Greece, there are also lots of expensive Lalique, Baccarat and Choppard stores selling gold jewellery and expensive watches, would you believe in the $6000 dollar range. Mini markets 7 eleven style and of course discos, bars, and restaurants, all promising wild adventures in sensual pleasures, what is wild are the prices, $16. dllrs for a mix drink, $ 9 dllrs for a beer, the best one was a restaurant where the chicken consommé was $13 dllrs, must have been a special chicken.

 Dominican nun Roman Catholic convent in Thira

The change on Santorini came about after a devastating earthquake in 1956 when the island which was then a small fishing community was almost deserted by its inhabitants so extensive was the damage and no State help was available just 6 years after the end of the Second World War, Greece was still an unstable country.  Land was cheap and developers saw an opportunity to buy and develop the island into a tourist resort, changing forever the look and flavour. But have no fear, you can visit a traditional village today on Santorini where happy peasants delight the visiting hordes of tourists with their simple ways.

Dad looking at the architecture

I was in Santorini 10 years ago and it was still quiet and pleasant, there were shops but all in all it was still a quiet civilized place, since then it has boomed and now it is hardly recognizable. My recommendation is to go to quieter islands in the archipelago of the Cyclades islands.

There are quite a few still ignored by the cruise ships and mass tourism, where you can have a quiet holiday and enjoy the beauty of the place.