SASM
02-26-2009, 03:00 PM
We went to Ottawa last weekend for Winterlude.
We stayed at Residence Inn. I do not know if we'd stay there again as the rooms were INSANELY hot and in MAJOR need of a humidifier (despite turning on the AC and having someone check it out as well), the breakfast was ridiculously crowded, and the parking garage was a NIGHTMARE for a minivan (OMG small!!!). That being said, staff was helpful and the room was big ~ DH and I slept on the pullout sofa to make the bedroom the kids room, giving the kids the two comfy doubles and DD2 slept in a crib. Lots of positives and negatives. We'll see next year. We checked out a room at Fairmount Chateau (AMAZING hotel with SMALL high-ceiling standard rooms) and also one at Novotel (standard was too small and suite wouldn't "work" for us).
Per reccs from Molly and some other wonderful moms here (TY!!) and some suggestions on a foodie forum, we dined at Mamma Grazzi's the 1st night, had brunch at Richtree in Rideau Centre (got lost and had no other choice), Mekong the 2nd night, breakfast at The French Baker, and then a few hours later had brunch at Benny's Bistro, in the back of the bakery. :) Mamma Grazzi's was an amazing meal. They are not handicapped-accessible so we had to wake our almost-asleep 16mo DD to get the stroller down the steps and they wouldn't allow the stroller at the table so she had to sit in a highchair (thankfully they HAD one AND she was cooperating). :) The food was great and, by some miracle, all three of our kids were behaving which made it that much more enjoyable!! YAY!! The server brought the kids complimentary "cappuccinos" (steamed milk with chocolate shavings in an espresso cup) while we had our coffee and dessert. Very nice touch! Richtree was NOT as yummy as Marche and Movenpick used to be...bummer. Benny's Bistro was a wonderful way to end the trip (other than IKEA bistro...HA!)...they were definitely NOT kid-friendly (no highchairs or smaller portions)...but we chanced it. We waited for probably about 40 minutes but the open kitchen was wonderful entertainment for the kids. The small menu made it very easy to determine what he was making so I'd give the kids a blow by blow of everything that was going on and what masterpiece was up next. :) They had a lot of fun...AWESOME!! Again...VERY uncharacteristic of my older two! The food was amazing ~ we had the pumpkin/potato gratin entree, the buckwheat pancake entree, the chedar-stuffed french toast entree, and two servings of the best roasted potatoes with double smoked bacon that we've ever had! Wonderful ILLY coffee, too! It definiltey made up for the scary adventures that we had throughout teh city.
I decided to bring my P&T Sport double for DD2. I haven't used it in about a month or so. DH loaded it in the car and we were off. So...our first night we headed to the ByWard market for dinner and discovered that all THREE tires were FLAT!! OMG!!! The hotel didn't ahve a pump, as it was after 7pm. No help that evening. The next AM we spent at least 4 hours trying to find someplace to pump up the wheels. We checked with our hotel maintenance, tried to find a bike rental place near the Fairmount (by suggestion of our hotel...in the mddle of winter...UM...HA!!!), while asking for directions to the bike place we checked with teh Fairmount and they didn't have anything, we went to a sport store in teh mall...nothing, and finally Sears. It was 1.30pm by the time we found the pump and decided on Richtree (DH & I hadn't eaten breakfast yet)...after finding it in the Mall (that was somehow an adventure in itself).
We were planning on going back to the hotel and just do the pool and scratch the Winterlude for our one full day, but DS really wanted to go when he saw all of the excitement on the canal as we passed over the bridge. :) We ventured down, DD1 woke up, and DS, DD1, and DH skated away. It was awesome! We were, of course, at the hub of all of the action, so it was PACKED, but that was okay. DD even ventured skating solo for a little while...YAY!! If we try going next year, we will definitely look into going to Dow's lake separately...as well as several other evets in the area...we missed a lot. I didn't realize that the main ice sculptures were over there. We hung out and looked at the amateur ones, I guess, at Congressional park (?) in front of Lord Elgin. It was DDs 4th birthday and someone sang her a birthday song in their native language (bummed that I didn't get it on video!!). We had a couple Beavertails (I've never had fried dough that thin so that was yummy) and the frozen maple syrup candy on a stick...YUM!
We topped off the trip with a visit to the smallest IKEA that I've ever seen! That being said, it was IKEA so I was a HAPPY mama with HAPPY kids (gotta love Smaland!)!! :) Also, gotta love that a lot of the prices were the same as in US stores...whoo hoo!
Sorry about the novel. Just thought I'd share and thank you for all of your great advice. We are looking forward to making another trip up there for the tulips...so beware...more annoying posts to come! :)
We stayed at Residence Inn. I do not know if we'd stay there again as the rooms were INSANELY hot and in MAJOR need of a humidifier (despite turning on the AC and having someone check it out as well), the breakfast was ridiculously crowded, and the parking garage was a NIGHTMARE for a minivan (OMG small!!!). That being said, staff was helpful and the room was big ~ DH and I slept on the pullout sofa to make the bedroom the kids room, giving the kids the two comfy doubles and DD2 slept in a crib. Lots of positives and negatives. We'll see next year. We checked out a room at Fairmount Chateau (AMAZING hotel with SMALL high-ceiling standard rooms) and also one at Novotel (standard was too small and suite wouldn't "work" for us).
Per reccs from Molly and some other wonderful moms here (TY!!) and some suggestions on a foodie forum, we dined at Mamma Grazzi's the 1st night, had brunch at Richtree in Rideau Centre (got lost and had no other choice), Mekong the 2nd night, breakfast at The French Baker, and then a few hours later had brunch at Benny's Bistro, in the back of the bakery. :) Mamma Grazzi's was an amazing meal. They are not handicapped-accessible so we had to wake our almost-asleep 16mo DD to get the stroller down the steps and they wouldn't allow the stroller at the table so she had to sit in a highchair (thankfully they HAD one AND she was cooperating). :) The food was great and, by some miracle, all three of our kids were behaving which made it that much more enjoyable!! YAY!! The server brought the kids complimentary "cappuccinos" (steamed milk with chocolate shavings in an espresso cup) while we had our coffee and dessert. Very nice touch! Richtree was NOT as yummy as Marche and Movenpick used to be...bummer. Benny's Bistro was a wonderful way to end the trip (other than IKEA bistro...HA!)...they were definitely NOT kid-friendly (no highchairs or smaller portions)...but we chanced it. We waited for probably about 40 minutes but the open kitchen was wonderful entertainment for the kids. The small menu made it very easy to determine what he was making so I'd give the kids a blow by blow of everything that was going on and what masterpiece was up next. :) They had a lot of fun...AWESOME!! Again...VERY uncharacteristic of my older two! The food was amazing ~ we had the pumpkin/potato gratin entree, the buckwheat pancake entree, the chedar-stuffed french toast entree, and two servings of the best roasted potatoes with double smoked bacon that we've ever had! Wonderful ILLY coffee, too! It definiltey made up for the scary adventures that we had throughout teh city.
I decided to bring my P&T Sport double for DD2. I haven't used it in about a month or so. DH loaded it in the car and we were off. So...our first night we headed to the ByWard market for dinner and discovered that all THREE tires were FLAT!! OMG!!! The hotel didn't ahve a pump, as it was after 7pm. No help that evening. The next AM we spent at least 4 hours trying to find someplace to pump up the wheels. We checked with our hotel maintenance, tried to find a bike rental place near the Fairmount (by suggestion of our hotel...in the mddle of winter...UM...HA!!!), while asking for directions to the bike place we checked with teh Fairmount and they didn't have anything, we went to a sport store in teh mall...nothing, and finally Sears. It was 1.30pm by the time we found the pump and decided on Richtree (DH & I hadn't eaten breakfast yet)...after finding it in the Mall (that was somehow an adventure in itself).
We were planning on going back to the hotel and just do the pool and scratch the Winterlude for our one full day, but DS really wanted to go when he saw all of the excitement on the canal as we passed over the bridge. :) We ventured down, DD1 woke up, and DS, DD1, and DH skated away. It was awesome! We were, of course, at the hub of all of the action, so it was PACKED, but that was okay. DD even ventured skating solo for a little while...YAY!! If we try going next year, we will definitely look into going to Dow's lake separately...as well as several other evets in the area...we missed a lot. I didn't realize that the main ice sculptures were over there. We hung out and looked at the amateur ones, I guess, at Congressional park (?) in front of Lord Elgin. It was DDs 4th birthday and someone sang her a birthday song in their native language (bummed that I didn't get it on video!!). We had a couple Beavertails (I've never had fried dough that thin so that was yummy) and the frozen maple syrup candy on a stick...YUM!
We topped off the trip with a visit to the smallest IKEA that I've ever seen! That being said, it was IKEA so I was a HAPPY mama with HAPPY kids (gotta love Smaland!)!! :) Also, gotta love that a lot of the prices were the same as in US stores...whoo hoo!
Sorry about the novel. Just thought I'd share and thank you for all of your great advice. We are looking forward to making another trip up there for the tulips...so beware...more annoying posts to come! :)