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The next day was Sunday and our next-to-last of the trip. I feel sure we were beginning to know the inevitable letdown that precedes the immediate end of such a good experience as we'd had. The party was about over. But it was a clear, warm day and that helped to keep up our spirits to some extent. In fact, we'd had remarkably good luck on our weather clean through the trip. We slept late that morning in Ottawa and breakfasted at the Alexandra, a name I've always liked but it took more than a likable name to convert it into a thoroughly satisfactory hotel. The place to have stayed was the Chateau Laurier but we skipped that either because it was full or we didn't fancy paying the top rate for just a place to sleep. I remember distinctly visiting the Chateau Laurier and of being much impressed with it--and this was natural because it was the top hotel in the capital of Canada.

Before hopping off in the Plymouth for Toronto, we did a bit of sightseeing, particularly the Parliament buildings. Charlie preserved this in some pictures which are included. We were impressed by the "Senate chamber" according to the diary--I really didn't know they used that term in Parliament but it wouldn't be the House of Lords in Canada so I guess it must be correct. We were taken also with the Memorial Chapel to the war dead, I assume, and the beautiful walls of fossilized limestone--also distinguished portraits of the King and Queen, at that time, George V and Mary. However, compared to Quebec City, Ottawa was neither inspiring nor overly interesting to me. In my mind, at least, it wasn't a place where a lot of interesting things had happened during the development of Canada and I wasn't too disturbed to leave--only I'd have preferred to be heading back to Quebec instead of Toronto.

The diary says "shot through to Prescott for dinner," quite a lengthy entry but not wholly accurate. In the first place, it was mid-day and I think we probably had lunch instead of dinner. In the second place, it is only about 55 miles from Ottawa and we didn't have to "shoot" very fast to get there--in fact, the Plymouth was scarcely able to shoot through to anything. "Drifted through" would have been more accurate probably. As a matter of fact, the Plymouth was equipped with an innovation that year known as "free wheeling" wherein you could conveniently set it up so whenever you let up on the accelerator, the car coasted. It wasn't the safest feature ever conceived and it didn't last long. I guess I'll have to revise my conception of the meal at Prescott because the diary also says it involved "tough roast beef" which doesn't sound exactly like a light lunch. It also says "non-conformist" which I would assume refers to Charlie who has long been one to order dishes which the rest of us are seldom attracted to such as sweetbreads, liverwurst, tripe, raw fish, eels, etc. Presumably he indulged in something unusual on this occasion and thus missed the tough roast beef. After dinner, we departed Prescott, which is across the St. Lawrence from Ogdensburg, and shot for Toronto.