Mug / City of the Day - Ottawa, Ontario

Today’s Mug / City of the Day is Ottawa, Ontario. I have been to Ottawa so many times that I have lost count. At one point, I had a Canadian work visa since I was working there so much. When I worked for Accenture, I was part of the Help Desk Services organization. One of our Help Desk locations was Dallas, where I was located. We also had Help Desks in Ottawa, Ontario; Dublin, Ireland; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Bangalore, India. When I first started traveling to Ottawa, all of our Help Desks were decentralized. We were going through a big push to centralize all of the Help Desks and bring them into the same organization. Part of my role was to ensure that we were all following the same processes basically.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada and the Canadian Parliament is located there. There are a lot of travelers in the city of Ottawa since it's the capital. There is definitely a huge international flavor there with a lot of diversity.

From wikipedia:

"Ottawa is the capital of Canada and the country's fourth largest municipality. With a metropolitan population estimated at 1,190,982. Ottawa is also the second largest city in the province of Ontario. It is located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa lies on the banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway that forms the boundary between Ontario and Quebec.

Foreign born residents in Ottawa made up 22.28 percent of the population in which many come from China, Lebanon, northeast Africa, Iran, and The Balkans. Members of visible minority groups (non-white/European) constituted 20.2 percent, while those of Aboriginal origin numbered 1.5 percent of the total population."

The Westin

I primarily stayed at the Westin in Ottawa. I think I may have actually stayed in the room in this picture. It was when I stayed over the weekend so it was great to have an extra nice room for a longer stay. The Westin was a good location because it was attached to the Ottawa Rideau Centre, which is a mall in downtown Ottawa. That makes me sound like a big shopper, which isn't necessarily true. It's just that Ottawa can get pretty chilly in the winter time and the mall provided something to do that was inside and didn't require me getting out in the cold. I could walk around and window shop and not just sit and stare at the four walls of a hotel room.

Byward Market

The Westin was just a couple of blocks from the Byward Market which has lots of neat little shops and restaurants.

From the Byward Market website:

Established by Lt-Col. John By in 1826, the ByWard Market is one of Canada's
oldest and largest public markets. The legendary builder of the Rideau Canal,
Colonel By himself laid out the street plan of the Market, designating George
Street and York Street to be extra wide to accommodate the creation of a public
market and gathering place.

I used to love to go to the Lush store in the Market. I would pick out some neat body or bath products to use while I was there in the hotel and smell all the different products.

Poutine

My absolutely favorite food in Ottawa is Poutine. I still crave it. It is horrible for you. Just horrible. And it is like drinking a bottle of WD-40. Do not ever under any circumstances eat Poutine on the day that you have to fly back home. Just not a good idea. Poutine a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy. This is not a joke - I one time sat in the Market on a curb waiting for a "chip wagon" to open so that I could get Poutine. I just couldn't wait to get my fix. It is best if you let it sit for a few minutes so that the cheese gets all melty. So good!!!