these boots are made for walking....

We certainly did a lot of walking today...would have been nice to have a pedometer or something. I guess, in the extreme heat it felt like more walking than it was. We decided to leave our van parked today, and just walk everywhere. We thought that would be easy :)

After breakfast, we started our walking by going to Randy's Mom's home. That was about a 15 - 20 minute walk. Doesn't sound like much for first thing in the morning, does it...well, it was already HOT!! Mom, was dripping like a faucet after that little walk! We spent an hour and a half visiting, and Ran's Mom gave me a big old book (it was BIG!!) to take home for Randy. I was not too excited about that, but really did it for my husband. We trekked back to the hostel so I could drop off the big book. Once there, we were all tuckered out from the heat and had to take an hour to relax.

Out again at 1:00, we had to make a side trip to the ByTown Market so Deon could get another beaver tail! Finally made it to the parliament buildings at 2:30, and booked the 2:50 tour.
It was nice and air conditioned in there, so that already made it worth it. Our tour guide, Marina, was young but full of spunk. She took her job seriously! It was fascinating for us to be able to walk through the parliament buildings, take in the magnificent architecture there, tour the different buildings (house of commons, senate, library, peace tower), and see images of previous prime ministers/members of parliament. Too bad we're not here next week, as things are well under way for the July 1 celebration.

Out into the heat again, we made our back to our hostel. It ended up being more of a journey than we wanted, 'cause we wanted to see the Locks down at the Rideau Canal. We thought that once we walked down all the steps, it would lead us back to the market (so Deon could get another BEAVER TAIL)...no such luck. We walked all the way down, only to realize we had to walk all the way back up again! By this time, Mom & Deon both had blisters on the tops of their feet (probably from the heat).

We all felt a bit of relief when we made it back to the hostel. None of us moved for about an hour...we didn't even want to think about supper. It was after 8:00 pm by the time we finally felt like eating! We all decided we are not going to be walking the streets of Ottawa in this heat today, and instead we will find a beach to relax at.