A Few Hours at the Museum

The thing with summer is, it’s so short, and so busy, one doesn’t blog as often as during the long, bleak winter. So here is a brief update:

Iain and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on June 3, and to mark the occasion we spent a day in Ottawa with friends, touring the Royal Canadian Mint and the War Museum, dining out, and just enjoying the day and evening. It was a lot of fun! I have a few pictures from the War Museum to share (no photos allowed at the Mint, so I left my camera in the car).

The museum covers the history of war involving Canada from before the country’s beginnings, including first nations artifacts. I don’t know if these items are preserved originals or reproductions.


Good grief, hockey players wear more armour than this!

Like most Canadians, I find the War of 1812 very interesting, but I didn’t get a picture of Sir Isaac Brock’s uniform (if you haven’t seen it, check it out here ). Brock represents for me the quintessential Canadian hero: one who dies and achieves greatest recognition after death. That bullet hole has always haunted me.

This WW1 gas mask creeped me out a bit.

Rather reminds me of a Far Side cartoon: "Oooooooo".

A very blurry pic of Iain in the trenches. I used the “museum” setting on the camera, so this low-light shot, and many others, were somewhat out of focus.

Not often you see someone happy to be in the trenches.

A little boy’s letter to his dad at war, and the memento his father carried. Any Downton Abbey fans out there may be reminded of Mary’s gift to Matthew.



No trip to the museum would be complete without Hitler’s Car. I was reprimanded by a guard for touching said car, years ago at the old museum. The sign clearly stated “PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE EXHIBIT” but I was strangely compelled to do it anyway: I had to connect with that old evil, it seemed.

The new museum has put the car safely out of reach - I don't think Shaquille O'Neil could touch it.

There is way too much to see at the museum in a few hours. I could easily spend a full day there.

The mannequin in the display seems to be checking out my picture-taking.