Day 33, Ottawa to Kingston

Day 33, was a farewell to Ottawa, but not before a couple more Canada Day pics. After the weather changed for the better, a few of the relay team took a cab downtown to be part of the nation's biggest Canada day celebration. The crowds were huge, thousands for sure.

The Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel.

A sea of red and white.

The east block building on parliament hill.

getting closer to parliament hill

Parliament hill. There was tons of entertainment all day and night, what a party!

It was a well behaved party, though

The bar and restaurant district, Byward Market, one block away from the hill.

It was getting close to fireworks time, Byward Market was looking like a ghost town.

everyone congregated around the hill waiting for the 10 p.m. fireworks show.

The National War Memorial

That tower on the East Block keeps staring at me.

It was worth the wait, the fireworks display was fantastic.

Day 33, back to work. Good-bye to Ottawa, and good morning to our first torchbearer meeting point of the day in Carleton Place, Ontario.(population around 10,000) . We met at the local arena, a place I distinctly remember from the 25th anniversary Rick Hansen relay.

The attire is a little different on this relay. It was winter when we came through on the Rick Hansen relay, and jackets and pants were part of the uniform.

Downtown Carleton Place, love the small towns!

So much more history in the downtowns of Ontario than in B.C.

Another town I remember from relays past, Smiths Falls. Hard to tell, but this is one of the locks on the Rideau Canal. I was at a stoplight, and only had a quick chance for this pic, had to keep moving to our next meeting spot.

I am going to miss the secondary highways that we have been travelling on. This was cruising down highway 15 and 32 to our next meeting spot.

Cruising into our second torchbearer meeting of the day in gorgeous Gananoque. (population around 5,200)

I could spend some time here, very chill.

The town hall, built in 1831 and originally a family residence

Haven't missed a group picture

Omg!, we found an 2010 Olympic Torch Relay torchbearer sticker on a pole, it seems like an eternity ago that we travelled through this town on the way to Vancouver.

The end of day 33 was Kingston, Ontario (population around 125,000). Sometimes there is no room to park at our hotel for the larger vehicles. So we were actually luck enough to park about ten minutes away at Fort Henry..

The vantage points

This fort was built during the war of 1812

and the view of downtown Kingston.

Lots of entertainment at the End of Day celebration at Fort Henry, including a traditional First Nations drum circle

now silent

across the canal. Time to get ready for day 34