Trippin’ Around North America

Museum Day in Ottawa

September 23

Fellette was in heaven, eight solid hours in two museums. Fellette always enjoys museums more than I do. She reads every little piece of writing they have, and tries every little interactive button or handle there is.

I must confess that the two we went to, The Canadian War Museum, and The Canadian Museum of Civilisation were excellent.

First, the Canadian War Museum. A very very impressive building from an architectural point of view. Very spacious and every exhibit is to the highest standard you could imagine. Somehow you get used to the French/English verbiage and languages very quickly. It starts with the very earliest conflict between New France, [Canada] and the American, [British] Colonies in the South. It walks you through every conflict from there up to modern day. We have had a somewhat bloody involvement in wars but we do not seem to think of ourselves that way. School kids in Ottawa obviously get a better grasp of Canadian History as a result of being able to go to this museum. It was certainly better than any classes I ever had.

Photos show Fellette with Hitler's Staff Car and a tank her size!


Next The Canadian Museum of Civilisation. It really should be called The Museum of Canadian Civilisation, starting with the Vikings in North America and ending with a mock up of the Vancouver Airport waiting room in 1960. There is a very large portion devoted to the Indian role in our history, in particular the West Coast Tribes.


They have made the roof a pale blue canopy 30 or 40 feet up, so you appear to be outside. The mock ups of an early Canadian village, buildings, stores, a railway station, a print shop, an actual whole Ukrainian Church, an oil well, a sawmill, down to a music store in Winnipeg let you actually walk through the years to modern day. You really need more than a day to see it all. It may sound boring, but I guarantee you it is not. The only negative is that it has this government bureaucratic feel to it, it is hard to describe but somewhat frustrating in spite of a most courteous staff.

posted by Doug and Fellette @ 4:10 PM