So I have an embarassing story to share…. Since January I had planned to attend the annual Tulips Festival in Ottawa, ON for the first time. For those of you who are not familiar with the Tulip Festival, it is a tradition that stems from the 1940s when the Dutch royal family came to Canada to escape the Nazis invasion of the Netherlands. After spending over five years in Canada during which one of the Princess gave birth to a little girl, the Dutch government sent 100,000 bulbs as a thank you. Since that time the Queen continued to send bulbs annually and eventually the Festival was born in 1953. I had seen some pictures online and I was in such awe over the amount of tulip bulbs that are planted each year. With so much anticipation, you would imagine I would have been a little more focused and diligent in planning my day trip, yet I was not! For some reason I kept thinking that the festival was taking place on the Parliament grounds…. WRONG! I got there and I was walking around wondering why there was so little tulips and where was the live performances that were listed on the festival website. As it turns out, the festival actually takes place at the Commissioners Park, just outside the downtown area. Sadly, I only realized this when it was too late to head over. All was not lost, as I still got to see some tulips and walk around the beautiful town of Ottawa. There may also have been a stop at Red Lobster… which always helps. In any case here are some pictures I captured of sights around the parliament and the Byward Market. Unfortunately, I really can’t provide a review of the festival, but it will definitely be on my ‘to do’ list for next year.
