Spent five days visiting Allie and Carmen in Ottawa, where the weather was very hot and humid. Luckily we stayed in an air conditioned suite in a downtown Ottawa hotel, reStays Ottawa.

We ate in restaurants, which felt almost strange after so many months of doing only take out or delivery. Below is Whalesbone Elgin, where Scott got to satisfy his oyster cravings.

We went to Dow’s Lake to rent kayaks or a boat but the rental place closed because they said it was going to rain. So we went to the Umbrella Bar. It did rain but the balcony has a roof.

Sushi for dinner

Our big outing was the Rembrandt exhibition at the National Gallery. The theme was Rembrandt in Amsterdam but also included context for what was happening in North America at the same time and comparing the indigenous and black experience with the Netherlands during the first half of the 17th century.

I only knew of one painting by Rembrandt owned by the National Gallery but this exhibition showed a lot of the prints that the Gallery has but is not usually on display.

The exhibition is heading to Frankfurt in September.

Weather had cooled down enough that we sat outside at Tavern on the Hill for a drink and a view of the Ottawa River and Parliament library.

Dinner at Play, where we went with Allie when she first moved to Ottawa.

We did not do a lot of sightseeing because it was too uncomfortable to be outside, but I took a stroll to buy a book for the flight home and walked past the war memorial.

Our last dinner was at Grey Jay, where they feature local ingredients. The tables are all outside in a covered alleyway. We tried the Chef’s Tasting five course option.

The weather finally cooled down to a reasonable 24 on the day we were leaving. I forgot to take any photos of brunch.