The Getaway

Yesterday, for the first time in 3 years, Karen and I were able to get away. Karen's Mom looked after the children overnight, and we went to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Ottawa. The real draw for us was the revolving restaurant. It takes 2 hours to make a single revolution around downtown Ottawa. We started with a magnificent view of the Ottawa River and the Gatineau Hills. Then we saw the Supreme Court, and were amused to see kids playing soccer on the front lawn at 7:00pm in a Friday. Then we had a great view of Parliament Hill. The rest of the view was just downtown Ottawa, but wasn't so bad. The food and service was great. We started with canapes, then an appetizer of bruchetta (cheese, tomato and mushroom). I had a 20oz Alberta AAA Porterhouse steak and Karen had a Game Hen. For dessert Karen had a maple cream fondue and I had a trio of crème brule. The waiter was really good; polite yet friendly, attentive but not overbearing, and he never once said “no problem” (my pet peeve).

We had a corner room with a balcony and a view of the River and the Supreme Court. Looking straight down we could see the Sparks Street Mall, and it was interesting to see groups of people wandering around the Mall at 9:30 at night. Usually the Ottawa downtown is pretty dead after 5:00pm, but I guess things are changing.

Our package included an excellent breakfast buffet. My only complaint is that when ordering the package, Karen asked for a non-alcoholic “wine” (a bottle being included in the package). They delivered something that wasn't wine but still had the same alcohol content as wine. I phoned the desk, they weren't sure what to do about it, asked what we wanted, I suggested some apple juice, and they delivered lemonade. Well, they tried. But they wouldn't have to have tried (and failed) if they had got it right the first time. Is this such an unusual request? The same thing happened at the Chateau Laurier on our honeymoon!

Anyway, it was a nice rest. I actually slept in until 7:30, and it was nice getting through a meal with nobody begging for food or spilling milk on the table. We could have stayed away a bit longer, but we really wanted to get back to the children. It was a nice getaway, but we do enjoy real life as well!