The One Where I Walk On Water

Casual canal stroll.

What's the biggest selling point Ottawa Tourism goes for? That has to be the Rideau Canal. Or, as they call it in bilingual Ottawa: Canal Rideau Canal. (As an aside, here they pronounce bilingual as bi-lin-gyoo-well). If you are an avid reader of this blog or know me in real life, you may recall that on my first proper day in Ottawa, I took a boat ride down the canal and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was so hot that I think my sweat possibly contributed to the rising water level, but let's not spoil the beauty of that summer's day with my gross, jet-lagged self. Today, I walked where once I had boated. Yes, I walked on water. Just call me Jesus!

Because by January/February, Rideau Canal is no longer just Rideau Canal, but the world's largest skateway. People come from miles around to skate on the canal because, let's face it, it's a great big frozen river in one of the most beautiful cities in the world - what is not to love? To put it into perspective, the whole canal is ice. Some of the ice is a bit thicker in places than others, but you can pretty much skate on the whole thing. Plus you can get beaver tails and poutine and maple taffy - it's a Canadian heaven.





I'm not trying to make Jon fall...

Now, I'm quite a clumsy individual, and not massively sturdy on my own two feet when I'm on normal ground, so the prospect of being on skates on a frozen river was somewhat terrifying. Thus, whilst Jon donned his skates and went zooming off,  I went for the tactic of let's just go for a nice walk. One of life's more mind-blowing moments is walking a long, minding you're own business and then realising, I'M WALKING ON WATER! And this kept happening to me. Not that long ago, I had been on a boat to be where I was at that moment, and now I was just stood there. And, I didn't fall over! This is an achievement and a half!



Nose and toes froze.

Of course, it was mortifying when all these tiny Canadian children whizzed past on ice skates like it was different to walking. But hey, with sixteen broken bones to my name in a mere 21 years, I think just standing on ice deserves a medal. It was possible to rent a mini-sleigh which was very tempting, but also a bit cruel on Jon to make him push me and Gabby along. We also got into long conversations with the beaver tails seller and random people who wanted photos taking, all asking if we were from Australia or New Zealand. Yep. Maybe I should just put on an Australian accent and then see where people think I'm from?

So there you have it. I did it! The biggest thing Ottawa is known for is going on the frozen canal and I went! And I survived! And I was corageous! And I was flipping cold!