Exploring the Hill

It’s amazing what a difference a few months make.  Five months ago it was hot and sunny, and I had no problem finding time to relax every single day after work and on weekends, but as soon the mercury started to drop my reading and blogging time seemed to fly out the window.  First, we decided to redecorate my youngest son’s bedroom and one thing led to another, and then before we knew it Christmas was nipping at our heels.  I have managed to keep up with the mystery photo every Friday, but my photography posts have been few and far between.

Now that I’m pretty much ready for Christmas, I’m hoping to get back to my blogging on a more regular basis.  Hoping!  Back in November, I posted some photos of the Library of Parliament inside the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, but I really need to back up and start from the beginning, showing you Parliament Hill from the outside because these buildings are stunning feats of architecture.  Here’s a little background from Wikipedia:

“Parliament Hill, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada.  The parliament buildings are three edifices arranged around three sides of Parliament Hill’s central lawn, the use and administration of the spaces within each building being overseen by the speakers of each chamber of the legislature. The Centre Block contains the Senate and Commons chambers, and is fronted by the Peace Tower on the south facade, with the Library of Parliament at the building’s rear. The East and West Blocks each contain ministers’ and senators’ offices, as well as meeting rooms and other administrative spaces.

Originally the site of a military base in the 18th and early 19th centuries, development of the area into a governmental precinct began in 1859, after Queen Victoria chose Bytown as the capital of the Province of Canada. Following a number of extensions to the parliament and departmental buildings and a fire in 1916 that destroyed the Centre Block, Parliament Hill took on its present form with the completion of the Peace Tower in 1927.”  The Peace Tower, which you will see in many of the photos below, was built after WWI as a monument to the men and women who died serving their country.  The Peace Tower stands 302.5 feet tall, and the view from the top is spectacular!  Sorry for the repetition in these photos, but I just couldn’t narrow down my choices any more :).

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