Skating on no ice

How could we do this? you may well ask.. Answer .. We didn't. No snow = no ice - for us - so we did the next best thing and watched the professionals at play. More on that later. We started off the day by reminiscing prisoner horror stories of poor sleep: interrupted by noisy inmates, lights on all night, guards strolling the corridors and torturous machines humming their repetitive cycles. The amount of effort they have gone to recreate the original purpose of this place is extraordinary. Note to self...next time read the fine print before forking out the hard earned. After breaking fast on the mandatory gruel we banded together, overcame the guards at reception and burst out onto the street revelling in our freedom... only to go straight back in and put some thermals on because its starting to get really cold.

Off to Parliament to do a tour of the houses. This was well worth the money (ie free) and the effort. Exeptional security measures (due to last years incident), grandios architecture and enthralling dialog. Plus a bonus trip to the top of the tower for the best views in town.

We then wandered down and had subtle poke around the inside of the Notre' Dame and tried to sneak into the national gallery for free (well you can in our home town...). Retail therapy for some and then hopping on the bus we headed of to a local ice hockey game. Ottawa vs. Petersburg. We sided with the locals and we won (5/4) yeah..alright!. We also won the inevitable biffos.

Enlightened to local culture (and the sport) we bussed it back to town amid snow flurries. The forecast is for cold but no snow, so whilst we will lament about spending thousands to have a white Christmas...and failing, folks at home struggle under a 42 degree heat wave. Seems like it warming up everywhere.