Homecoming Part II

Our first day back in the motherland didn't end when we got off the plane. Au contraire. After disembarking and picking up our luggage and making it through customs which was surprisingly easy, we picked up our rental car and headed for Ottawa. It wasn't that long of a drive, but we were on a time crunch and had no clue where we were going. T N T were having a rehearsal dinner that evening and so speed was of the essence.

Although speed was of the essence, once again I found myself the slowest one on the road. What the...? But I was traveling 5 km/hr above the speed limit. I thought Canucks were law-abiding. Well, apparently not as rigidly law-abiding as I had previoiusly thought. And once we got to downtown Ottawa traffic was horrendous. I guess traffic is always horrendous around rush hour in any downtown, though.

I did my best to obey the traffic laws, which are actually slightly different than they are in the States believe it or not. And I always had in the back of my mind that if I did get pulled over, I would claim ignorance because I was an ignorant American (ew, perish the thought!). Luckily, we didn't and made it to the hotel unscathed.

When we arrived at the Quality Hotel, our adventure didn't end there. Richel and I had to quickly unpack some nice dress clothes and start changing so that we could get to the restaurant. As as always, Murphy and his blasted law had to rear its ugly head. I ironed my clothes and put everything on to discover that my new pants were too short. I had brought floods. But no need to worry, because I could wear my suit pants...which didn't match my socks. Ugh. Then while Richel was getting ready she spilled some lotion on her dress, which ruined it for the evening. And while finishing up, her perfume bottle dropped, hit the tiled bathroom floor and shattered. So much for smelling nice. And to top it all off we wre running late. It's a good thing we were going to an Asian event, as everyone was on Asian time which was our saving grace for being late.



At the reception, I saw my good buddies TNT, Stan, Brian, Ben, Brian, and Gil. These were the same guys I hung out with in high school about 15 years ago! It was great seeing them, again and great catching up with everyone.



After the dinner, Richel and I decided that despite the disgusting humidity, our fatigue from travel and the late hour, we would take a walk through downtown Ottawa. I really wanted to see Parliament. Apparently, on the face of one of the buidlings, they have a light show on certain days, and this day was one of them. So off we went.


Another surprising thing was the number of people walking around downtown at night. For Ottawa's size, I expected the place to be dead after 7-8pm, but it wasn't. It was 10-11pm and the streets were still teaming with people.

After watching the light show Richel and I retired to our hotel. For the next day would be a busy day.