It’s almost noon on Tuesday October 11th and I’ve arrived, so what can I say ‘bout Ottawa, other than if you remember this is where I slept for a couple of hours on the wired benches…well, it’s the capital of Canada and being from the big city it reminds me of a very relaxed town till I start seeing all of the government building everywhere I go. Also, I’ve never…did you hear me never spent more on transportation anywhere so far, like I have here. I have become a source of income for some and the best ride I had was when I was leaving. I don’t expect anyone to know my name or even tell me their life stories but at least say hi and if your going to be working in there for twelve hours at least create a welcoming scent. Well, I guess their not like some of the Toronto cabs…soon has you come in I talking to the cabbie and he’s got his earpiece on talking to someone on the cell phone. Forget about English, just a scent the makes your stomach wheeze and you have to take delight in breaking up his conversation by asking crazy questions so that he finally gets the hint that theirs a customer in the car. Okay, now you know how I like spending my time with cabbies. I will admit that I didn’t spend much time in Ottawa and I didn’t find it’s not one of the friendliest cities that I’ve been in. I wasn’t looking for a parade but it just seemed like people had to make an effort and you have to be the one to come out of your shell first. Enough of all that, I jumped in a cab to my first meeting and where I’ll be staying for the night, The Cardinal Suites with Emmett Burnett. I was great to be greeted by friendly faces and beautiful smiles, yes I know I said it’s not the friendliest place but I was talking ‘bout people that didn’t expect me. I was given my keys and shown into my room. Oh! I took the elevator up so I must say that this place is already getting credit for being physically challenged friendly. I make my way into the room and I’m just blown away with the care and cleanliness of the room. I don’t. Now please listen all budget accommodation owners…you don’t have to have a place that smells like mildew to represent backpackers, cleanliness and scent is very important. Okay, that’s out of the way and I feel like I’m rambling again, please just bare with me. I unpacked, got settled and went down to meet Emmett. I got introduced to the man of the operations and he asked me if we could meet later. No worries, I’ll just go to my next meeting and then we agreed to get together for 18:00.
I went upstairs and tried to map out my route to my next appointment with Greg from HI – Jail house Hostel and to make a long story short I must have walked for what seemed like an hour after I realized I missed the bus and then checked the time and got a cab. I met Greg in the dining area and proceeded to find out ‘bout the happenings here, but before that we go to the office and pick up some keys. This is where I get the opportunity to meet Robin whom is charge of group bookings among other things and I pull out my camera catch her beautiful smile and she’s excited that Greg and I have taken the time to update the file…so more group bookings please. We proceed with the padlocks to the jail cells, you must know that I’ve never been in one, well only when I was a child…kept on getting these kind of tours as if I’m suppose to be welcomed by the ideal of getting into a cell…nope! Not into confinement, nor being crammed in small places…Now looking from the outside and finally getting in I probably expected to see people in some jail house gear or something, no…not glorifying it, but just giving people more of an experience. Well, I guess you just have to sign up to get a historical tour of the prison and learn more about Canadian history. Jail house hostel has kept the original structure but lucky for you that they combined two cells into one so that you can sleep more comfortably than previous persons that had to stay there. And here when you wake up get ready to put down $4.Cdn for your breakfast unless you just want to grab something from the vending machine or ask them to put a lunch or breakfast bag together if you’re going to out for the day. Back to the cells, my stomach has a way of getting the best of me, now the furniture reminds me of IKEA and the doors are plastered with a boarding to create some privacy, which kind of takes a way from the look, especially because the bars are black and the board is brown. I hope Greg takes my advice and removes them, then replaces it with an alternative that will allow people to see outside from inside, but not allow anyone to see inside from the outside that would be either transparent or even snowed. Down the halls are your shared showers and washrooms for men and women. So some floors are all men and some are all women, then there’s a co-ed floor. Greg continues to give me a tour of the facilities and their looking to provide some out of the box ideas to the group to better support their businesses and for us to continue of support. The Jailhouse is centrally located to so many of the attractions that Ottawa has to offer like skating, biking, hiking, walking and entertainment…local theatre, musicians, movies, shopping and of course up to about 22 pubs within a mile radius. Not a place for scardy cats, so come get a nice nights sleep and if you see a ghost, just ask, what’s up…I paid now scram…lol