10' Tulip Festival at Dows Lake (May 1st)

The annual tulip festival brings hundreds of thousands of tulips to Dows Lake and several other areas for viewing by tourists and makes the city come live again. This year we went visit those adorable tulips again and felt the intense spring atmosphere out there.

You will find a big "dog show" at Dows Lake. Dog lovers and owners are more than welcome to join this party.

These tiny yellow wild flowers grow widely over the city, and are in blossom everywhere in this season. They are pretty beautiful, aren't they?

Mackenzie King's Estate (May 29th)

We went to Gatineau Park last Friday. It was a drizzling day. Air was so fresh in the forest, I can't help inhale a mouthful of cool air which greatly refreshed me.This time we mainly spent our time on visiting Mackenzie King's estate - the previous Canadian Prime Minister's cottages.

Mackenzie King fell in love with the wild landscape the moment when he first visited to the Gatineau Hills as a young civil servant. In 1903, he bought land near Kinsmere lake and built himself a modest cottage. After becoming PM, he moved to a larger residence near Moorside, where he laid out ornamental English gardens and ruins. He also created a good number of the trails on his estate. When Mackenzie King died in 1950, he bequeathed his property at Kingsmere to the people of Canada. Thanks him for his generous gift to offspring.

inside the cottage

ornamental English Garden and the ruins behind

09' Tulip Festival at Dows Lake 3 (May 9th)

Although I have been in Ottawa for almost 2 years, it is my first time to take O-Train, the only light rail in this capital city. I found that the inside of O-Train is quite capacious and cozy. Nice to have a ride experience for me that day. BTW, really miss Vancouver's Sky Train, the fast and convenient transportation facility that I used to take...

09' Tulip Festival at Dows Lake 2 (May 9th)