This quaint capital city reflects both the English speaking majority and the French speaking Québécois minority, divided by the Ottawa River separating the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Punctuated by beautiful parks, stunning architecture, scenic river overlooks, and lively outdoor markets and cafes, Ottawa is relatively small and often overlooked, lying midway between the larger cities of Toronto and Montreal. While winter might be a challenge here, since it’s considered one the coldest capital cities in the world (with an average temperature of 41.9 degrees Fahrenheit), the spring and summer months are fantastic, perhaps made more so by the contrast.
نهر أتاوا صغير نسبيا، ولا يحظى بالكثير من الإهتمام، يقع بين أكبر مدينتين وهما تورنتو، ومونتريال. وعلى الرغم من قسوة فصل الشتاء في العاصمة أتاوا التي تعتبر من أكثر العواصم برودة في العالم، حيث أن معدل درجات الحرارة في فصل الشتاء 41.9 فهرنهايت، إلا أن شهور الربيع والصيف رائعين، وربما هذا التناقض بين الفصول ما يميز العاصمة أتاوا.
The Canadian Tulip Festival began in 1953, several years after Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave Ottawa 100,000 tulip bulbs to show appreciation for the city’s harboring of Holland’s exiled royal family during World War II. The eighteen day extravaganza each May has become the largest Tulip festival in the world, hosting hundreds of thousands of tourists viewing millions of tulips spread throughout the city. Many of the events are free, or can be accessed with an inexpensive pass including transportation between the venues on the “Tulip shuttle”.
