Fêtons le Canada! Happy Canada Day!
Today, July 1st, is the 138th anniversary of Canada (Confederation was on July 1st, 1867). So, happy Canada Day!
I started the morning off by going to Parliament Hill, and lining up against the fence, by the red carpet and the Centennial Flame, so I got a front row view of all of the events. At 9 there was a parade along Wellington, just in front of the Parliament buildings. The raising of the flag was at 9:30, at 10:00 the changing of the guard, at 10:35 the RCMP Musical Ride. The musical ride was really cool. It`s amazing the precision the horses and riders maintain. Around 11:10 the Air Force Command Pipes and Drums played along the red carpet, and stopped right in front of me to play for 15 minutes. I love the bagpipes.
The PM and Governor General arrived just after noon, and walked down the carpet in front of me. I tried to take a photo, but there ended up being the head of a security guard in the way. Oh well.
I then went for a chicken burger in Major Hill`s Park, before going back to the Hill to listen to part of the noon day concert. I got to hear Mary Jane Lamond, who`s a really cool Gaelic artist from Cape Breton.
I went for a BBQ with a bunch of the guides in the Sandy Hill area, which was a lot of fun. We all hung out for a couple of hours, before slowly making our way back to the Hill for the evening concert.
The concert was pretty good, but we watched most of it on the big screen TV`s. It was still fun though, with everyone around, and it was a beautiful night. We watched the fireworks from near the locks, before heading for some snacks at a restaurant. There were so many people everywhere. It was a much bigger party than Paris was for Bastille Day (the French national holiday). There were at least several hundred thousand people out on the streets -all of the downtown core was shut down to traffic.
Happy Canada Day! Fêtons le Canada!