Ottawa Locks and Montebello

Being on a boat in downtown Ottawa wasn't really working for us, so we departed today and moved down the Ottawa River to Montebello.  Departing Ottawa was pretty cool because you descend the 8 lock Ottawa Stair Step.  It's a flight of 8 locks that run right down through the middle of the city between the Fairmont Chateau and the Canadian Parliament Building.  Here are a couple of pictures of the waterfront above the locks where we were tied up last night, yet another time-lapse of the descent, then a couple of pictures looking back where we came.

 

Waterfront Above Locks

Parliament Building and "Tunnel" to first Lock

View Down The Stair Steps Towards Ottawa Bay

Time-lapse Video of Stair Step Decent

Looking Up Stair Steps Towards Chateau

Parliament Building

It took about 1-1/2 hrs to go through the locks so we didn't really get going until 2:00.  Montebello is about 40 miles away, so we took advantage of the significantly more open water of the Ottawa River to make time like we haven't in a couple of weeks.  Around 4:30 we pulled up to Montebello which is a log Chateau.  It's apparently the largest log structure in the world.  Somebody didn't get to play with their Lincoln Logs as much as they wanted when they were a kid, I suspect.  There's a nice marina that's part of the property and the boat house is made from - you guessed it - logs.  We plan to stay here for two nights to get caught up on laundry and other chores, and of course to tour the log chateau.