More Adventures in Ottawa

On our third day in the city, we decided to see the Mint, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

We had visited the mint in Winnipeg, where all the circulation coins are made, so we wanted to see Ottawa’s mint, where all the collectors, numismatic, and investment coins are minted, as well as special items like the Olympic medals for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. One very impressive display is of the molds for the Million Dollar Coin, made of gold refined at the mint to "five nines" purity (99.999% pure gold). Five of them have actually been sold to investors (but no one is naming names). The coins are actually worth far more than their face value of $1 million.

Guardian of the Mint

Next we crossed the street to visit Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, the oldest surviving church in Ottawa and a National Historic Site. It is an impressive sight, with gothic arches and stained glass windows.

Twin spires of Notre Dame

Intricately decorated interior

We ate our lunch on the plaza outside the National Gallery, near the sculpture titled Maman (Mother), a huge mother spider installed in 2005 amid controversy over its $3.2 million price tag.

Maman

We spent the next several hours in the gallery, but could have spent at least two days. First we walked through the special exhibit titled From Raphael to Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome. It includes works by Raphael and Michelangelo and of many artists influenced by them during the 16th century. Many of the works on display are drawings and sketches made as models for larger works.

Then we took a tour of the large collection of Canadian art and walked through some of the rest of the permanent collection on our own before noticing that we were almost late for our shuttle. We ran through some of the contemporary art display before dashing back to meet our shuttle for the ride home.

One image I remember is running past Andy Warhol's variations on Chairman Mao and his Brillo Soap Pads on our way out.