We were more than a little surprised to discover, by the time we arrived downtown that there was nowhere to park close to Byward Market. Traffic was dense and slow-moving. We just managed to coup a parking space that someone in an SUV had just vacated. Some jerks in a vehicle that had been behind us weren't thrilled we had taken the only available parking spot, young thugs who shouted something nasty at us as my husband manoeuvred into the spot.

There was a considerable distance to be walked left to us, and yesterday wasn't like today with mild temperatures and a wide open blue sky. So cold you needed winter clothing, exacerbated immeasurably by a stiff wind bellowing down downtown corridors. We were headed to our favourite Market shops, a magazine shop and a cheese shop. Street traffic was dense, people having to turn sideways to make room for others walking in the opposite direction.

Likely some of those we passed were from out-of-town, tourists are always in evidence irrespective of the time of year, and others may have arrived for the weekend early on Friday to be spectators and participants-in-mourning-memory for Remembrance Day. After picking up the art magazines my husband is devoted to, we went around to the cheese shop we most frequently favour. Few street vendors had opened their stalls on this miserable weather day. But there was a scattering; vendors selling maple syrup, fruits and vegetables and in a nod to the upcoming season, holiday wreaths for Christmas decoration.

The drive from our home is always pleasant, along the eastern Parkway, with views of the Ottawa River, Quebec across the river, the Governor General's residence, 24 Sussex Drive, a number of government offshoots like the brutalist-architectured Foreign Affairs and the traditional architecture of the National Research Council, in contrast to the eastern-flavoured Islamic-inspired architecture of Middle East state embassies.

NRC

Foreign Affairs

Embassy of Saudi Arabia

Entrance to Governor General's estate