Chris and Paula’s World

On Tuesday we headed to Montreal by train after leaving the Syrian Embassy. Our hotel for the night was quite fancy — XIXe Siecle, an old boutique hotel in old Montreal. Still freezing but happy, we set out to find dinner. After doing some laundry in the sink (we had been in a hotel for four nights prior to leaving Vancouver), we headed to bed. We spent Wednesday walking around the city — the temperature was -20ish, so we are heroes.

Wednesday was our first night in the Ottawa Jail hostel. The hostel used to be a fully functioning jail from 1867 to 1972 when it was closed due to inhumane conditions. Our room for the next two nights would be a jail cell with a bunk bed– actually three cells with the walls knocked out between them. Th original cells were 3.5′ X 6.5 ‘… Not very big! A very interesting place that I’ll describe in more detail in a moment.

On Thursday we visited the Tanzanian Embassy (without much hope that they would be able to do a visa for us as our travel date is pretty far out and visas last only 3 months). Happily they were able to accommodate us and post date the visa, making this one less official document we’ll have to worry about once we are out of Canada. After the Embassy, we visited the Canadian War Museum and the Museum of Civilization. At the the War Museum, there was an incredible exhibit about Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan. Really amazing to see, and I think difficult for anyone to leave with dry eyes.

On Thursday evening we took a tour of the Jail that we were staying at. EEK! The prison is apparently haunted by the ghost of one poor guy, James Patrick Whelan, accused of murdering a Father of Confederation. On the eight floor of the prison (a floor unused by the Hostel) we saw the cells (including death row) where these people were kept. After one too many stories (among them, stories of hostellers visited by Whelan’s ghost), and a visit to the gallows (the only operational gallows in Canada apparently), the tour ended. I don’t do so well with ghost stories and made Chris sleep in the bottom bunk with me - me and Chris on a single bunk. My mind racing with visions of ghosts and criminal goblins as well as the very real fear that our bed would come crashing down, I don’t think I slept for more than an hour.

From Ottawa we made our way to St. John to visit with Chris’ family, arriving Friday evening. So far we have done some visiting, but we will write more about that later… This entry is getting way too long!