Ottawa Canada

A new adventure begins with the start of a new week. This week will actually mark my third week in Canada (not consecutively thank goodness but almost!) After a full day of traveling I arrived in Ottawa at 7:30pm and discovered that my room had a minor plumbing issue which necessitated changing rooms for the night. Nontheless my room is nice--the redesigned Novation Rooms are very spacious, light and airy. Much better than the old product. This location as far as furnishings has North York and Mississauga beat hands down. The bar area where I had a late dinner last night is very bold in design. Great red velvelt seats, slate grey benches and two wall murals of Henri Matisse's work (simply beautiful--I could admire then all night).

The staff here have been really nice thus far. Although we have not yet begun the nitty, gritty work I have high hopes that this audit will progress smoothly. A minor down side is that until my suite (with seperate workroom) is ready I'm actually working out of my room which is a rather odd feeling but as long as I don't have to meet with any of the department heads in my room I'll be fine. I'm not that neat of a housekeeper and I want to fully unpack and spread out.....but DO NOT want anyone seeing all my stuff.

The weather here is chilly but yesterday marked the first day of the Winterlude Festival which is a very big deal around here. As the car took me from the airport to the hotel last night we drove through some beautiful residential neighborhoods. Wonderful red stone homes, excellent designs and of course plenty of fresh white snow. As we drove along, the famous Canal was on my left and there were people all along it skating away. It wasn't as well lit as I had expected but in parts next to park areas and other popular spots there were a considerable number of people out. It looked so peaceful and tranquil. It seemed as though I myself could feel the ice under by blades, the smooth gliding strokes of the skaters and the crispness of the icy winter air rushing into my lungs. It gave the appearance of a perfect place for lovers to be together, for an individual to reflect on how amazing the world really is, or just to embrace a perfectly still winters night and to enjoy the darkness of the sky, the brilliance of the stars and the whiteness of the moon.