Ottawa
Part 2
My day started around 8:00 AM. I got up, showered, shaved, got dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. That’s the thing about when you stay in a hotel that’s higher-tier than the “express” style hotels that I typically like to stay in: breakfast is not typically included as part of the room rate in these higher-tier properties. I had breakfast by myself, because Elyse wanted to go out and ride the bus. Getting down there, I was seated in a small table by the window, and my options were the buffet for $28, or something off of the menu. I went with the menu, because with my tiny stomach nowadays, I wouldn’t get my money’s worth out of the buffet. I ended up picking the “All-Canadian Breakfast” for $21, which consisted of a serving of eggs prepared however you wanted, a choice of sausage or bacon, hashbrowns, a fruit cup, and your choice of toast. I got it with scrambled eggs, sausage, and multigrain toast. It was a good, solid meal, though the fruit salad was largely cantaloupe and honeydew melon. I don’t like melon, so I ate around that, enjoying the strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple bits that were also in there. It was a good value for the money, and also $7 cheaper than the buffet.
Once I finished with breakfast, I got my stuff together, and headed out. This was my first time driving in Ottawa traffic, so I was getting the feel for things. Turns out that Ottawa drivers aren’t too bad, and I navigated their roads and dealt with the drivers there just fine. I’ve had far worse in Philadelphia and New York. I met up with Elyse at Hobby House, which is a little hobby shop on Montreal Road that primarily sells models. I’m not big into building models, but Elyse enjoyed it. The people there were really nice, too.
Hobby House.
We then headed up the street a little bit to a Pizza Pizza restaurant that I had spotted earlier at the intersection of Rideau and Nelson Streets. I had already eaten, but Elyse still needed to, so we stopped in. While she ate, I photographed around the area a little bit.
Elyse got two slices of pizza: one with chicken, onions, and barbecue sauce, and another with pineapple and back bacon.
A can of Coca-Cola with Canadian packaging, complete with a gold-colored top.
Signage on a nearby Loblaws store.
Marker graffiti on the wall of Loblaws. Your guess is as good as mine as to what this means.
Graffiti on the sidewalk in front of Loblaws. Again, I would love to know what it means, but I have no clue.
An OC Transpo New Flyer D60LFR services the bus stop at Rideau and Nelson Streets while running the 14 route to Tunney’s Pasture before continuing on.
The Pizza Pizza restaurant where Elyse was eating.
I then repositioned the car from Pizza Pizza to the Loblaws, and we checked them out. Gotta see what kinds of interesting brands that we can see that we don’t have where we are, plus see the bilingual packaging on the brands that we were familiar with.
Bottles of soda at Loblaws. Note the French wording on the 7-Up and Diet Pepsi bottles in addition to English.
“No Name” is the store brand at Loblaws, and typically uses black and yellow packaging, with labeling in English and French.
A jar of President’s Choice bread and butter pickles. President’s Choice is another Loblaws brand.
Canadian packaging for Green Giant, which becomes Géant Vert in French. Also note that the label indicates that the products are grown and packaged in Canada.
I saw this, and couldn’t help but think that this is the most Canadian thing ever that an American cereal manufacturer could make: Timbits cereal.
Canadian packaging for Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Elyse holds up a package of bagged milk. This package contains two two-liter bags of 1% milk.
Elyse and our cart ride the escalator back down to the parking garage. Unlike a lot of escalators in grocery stores that I’m familiar with, this one is designed so that you and your cart can both ride on the escalator together, rather than having a separate escalator just for carts.
I spotted this sticker on the door as we were leaving. I was quite pleased to find out that the Loblaws workforce is unionized.
When we finished up at Loblaws, we got in the car and headed over the bridge to Gatineau.
On the way to Gatineau, we spotted this on the back of an OC Transpo bus. “New Fryer” instead of the correct “New Flyer” amused both of us thoroughly.
Once we went over the bridge from Ontario to Quebec, it felt like we had entered a foreign country – more so than actually crossing the international border between the US and Canada. In this instance, it was all within Canada, and we were just going into another province (i.e. just like going to another state), but the difference was like night and day. Once you enter Quebec, everything is in French, with very little English to be found. Compare to Ontario, where the predominant language is English, and a lot of signage is in both English and French, or uses pictograms. Fortunately, considering that much of modern English is derived from French, I could get along well enough with the French signage, but I absolutely couldn’t hold a conversation in French. I’ve made the joke with the French teacher at my old high school that the final exam for French IV should be to drop the whole class off in the middle of downtown Montreal and then have them find their way home without the use of a smartphone. I would probably fail that test.
Our first planned stop in Gatineau was the transit center for STO, so that Elyse could get a transit card for that system. So that’s what we set Google Maps to take us. We gave it the address that the STO website provided, and we were off. On the way there, we marveled over all of the differences between the various things on the road in Quebec that were different than we were used to. Stop signs said “ARRÊT” instead of “STOP”. Traffic lights were black, horizontal, and had double reds. Four-way and three-way stops were marked with pictogram-based signage rather than using words.
Meanwhile, Google led us to the address that we put in, but we soon learned that it wasn’t the transit center. Google had sent us to the Gatineau Sports Centre, which was near the transit center, but all the same, was not the transit center. We didn’t know that yet, though, so we wandered around this decidedly athletic-looking facility searching for the place to buy our transit passes, all while not being able to speak the local language.
French-language exit sign at the Gatineau Sports Centre. From what we could tell, exit signs in Quebec were textual, and used “SORTIE”, which is French for “exit”. Compare to Ontario, which has adopted the green “running man” pictogram for exit signage.
The fire alarm pull stations at the Gatineau Sports Centre were the same as our hotel, i.e. bilingual versions of the two-stage Edwards 270-SPO, but with GE/EST branding.
Eventually, we found our way downstairs, where we found a woman working at a counter. We asked her a question, in English, and after initially responding in French and seeing our confused looks, she then said, “Oh, you don’t speak French,” with no accent. She was quite helpful, directing us to the transit center, which was actually across the street, on the opposite side of the building from where we came in. That explained a lot. With this information, we went out and got our SmarTrips… er, I mean, Multi cards. Recognize that the card may be called Multi, but owing to where I live, I tend to call any transit card a SmarTrip, regardless of where it is.
From here, Elyse and I briefly parted company. She went off to check out a nearby Canadian Tire and Walmart store, while I wandered around photographing the various Quebec-style traffic signs and signals. The idea was that she wanted to do some retail, plus she didn’t want to walk all the way back to the car. With Elyse entertained, it meant that I could take my time and photograph the busway and the nearby road signs and signals like I meant it.
STO buses arriving at the Station de la Cité, i.e. the transit center.
A bus heads east on a dedicated busway for Rapibus service, a bus rapid transit line that runs across parts of Gatineau.
Signage prohibiting turns and entry into the busway, except for authorized vehicles.
Canadian-style railroad crossbuck. Unlike in the States, there are no words on crossbucks in Canada, opting instead for a simple X with a red outline.
Pictogram sign indicating a prohibition on trucks and buses.
French-language stop sign reading “ARRÊT” instead of the usual “STOP”.
Quebec-style signage for a three-way stop, showing stops at all three entries to the intersection.
Green informational sign on Boulevard de la Cité, directing users to various nearby parking facilities.
Quebec-style traffic signal, with horizontal orientation and double reds.
Five-aspect version of the signal, with a single solid red, a solid yellow, a yellow arrow, a green arrow, and a solid green. Functionally, this is similar to the “doghouse” signal that many US states use.
Typical traffic signal setup in Gatineau, at the intersection between Boulevard de la Cité and Boulevard Maloney.
Newer signal with retroreflective material on the backplate.
There were also some vertical signals here and there, but they were less common than the horizontal signals, and typically used in conjunction with the horizontals.
Fire hydrant along Boulevard de la Cité.
Super C, a Quebec-based discount supermarket chain. Unfortunately, due to time considerations, I was not able to check this out beyond just photographing the front of it. Based on the architecture, I initially thought it was a former Kmart (and then possibly Zellers), but upon doing some research, I don’t believe that it ever was.
Graffiti on a traffic signal control box at the intersection of Boulevard de la Cité and Boulevard de la Gappe.
The HR-V, parked on the side of Boulevard de la Gappe.
After photographing everything that I could find, I eventually joined Elyse at the Walmart. This was a pylon-style building, which Walmart tended to build in the nineties, that had been turned into a Supercenter at some point between June 2012 and August 2014 according to Google Street View. Though unlike US Supercenter conversions, this one appeared to have been done entirely within the original structure, and as such, the original facade was retained. Curiously, grocery was in the middle in this store rather than off to one side as it is in most Supercenters.
Pylon-style exterior of the Walmart Supercenter in Gatineau. Note that in Canada, Walmart still uses the “Supercenter” branding on their stores, while that usage has been discontinued in the States for more than a decade. While I was photographing the exterior with my real camera, a couple of employees came up to me, curious about what I was up to. I think that they were surprised when I said that I was an American tourist nerding out to Canadian retail.
Visiting the Walmart in Gatineau was an interesting experience. It was still very much Walmart, but being in French-speaking Canada, it felt different with all of the signage in French. Right offhand, the signage for the restrooms read “Toilettes” rather than “Washrooms” as is used in Ontario, or “Restrooms” as we see in the States. Then while the signage was all standard Walmart style, including the red prices like we saw in Toronto in 2019, all of the words were in French, and only in French.
As far as navigating a French-language Walmart went, we did all right, because, to put it simply, Walmart is Walmart. One thing that surprised me was that Walmart in Canada did not use Walmart Pay, i.e. Walmart’s proprietary mobile pay option through their own app. In Canada, they accepted Google Pay like most other retailers do. I preferred this, because this kept things simple. I wish that Walmart would accept Google Pay in the States, but I don’t see them doing it.
Back action alley.
Clothing department, branded as “George”.
Project Impact-era directional signage. This is the same as in US stores, just in French.
Simplex fire alarm horn and strobes with “FEU” lettering on the strobes. The horn is a 2901-9801, and the strobes are a French-language version of the 4904-9101.
Red and yellow price signage, which is typical for Canadian Walmart stores. Note that the dollar sign appears after the price. This is the normal convention in French-speaking Canada.
Shelf price labels. Note the comma instead of a period as the separator between dollars and cents, as French-speaking Canada follows the European convention, which swaps the functionality of the period and the comma in numbers. The shelf label in the lower image indicates that the item is on sale as a “Rollback”.
Some shelf labels were e-ink rather than regular paper. There was also some inconsistency in how prices were expressed on these (note the dollar sign on the left in the lower image).
The receipt, meanwhile, was your typical Walmart receipt. However, note the sales taxes, with a 5% federal sales tax and a 9.975% provincial sales tax, together adding nearly 15% in tax to my total – ouch!
Leaving Walmart, we headed over to the Canadian Museum of History. It was time to visit Sam and Muffy, after all. We parked in the museum’s underground parking garage, and then went on in. When we went to buy tickets, they thought that Elyse was a child, because despite being 26 years old, she still looks rather young. I did not mind this, and did not go to any effort to correct them, because it was all on them (I played no role in their judging Elyse to be a child), and their error saved me money.
Believe it or not, this happens more often than one might think. I remember when we went to a restaurant for a take-out order near home one time, and Elyse ordered a drink at the bar for while we waited for our order to come up. The person who took the order said, “You know, that contains alcohol,” emphasizing the “alcohol” part because he thought that Elyse was underage. Elyse’s response was something along the lines of, “Yeah, that’s kind of the point.” The guy at the restaurant was somewhat surprised to learn that she was 26, and her ID confirmed it. She got her drink.
Also, I appreciated that the Canadian Museum of History, while physically located in Quebec, was fully bilingual. All of the staff spoke English, and signage was in both languages. It was nice to not have to worry about being the only person who didn’t speak any French for a while. Owing to the museum’s being located in Quebec, the French wording was listed above the English in most cases, unlike in Ontario, where English is typically on top.
In the museum, Elyse wanted to see the children’s area, which contained all sorts of hands-on exhibits, largely about transportation, so we briefly checked that out.
Elyse sits on a cycle rickshaw, also known as a pedicab.
Elyse sits in a small three-wheeled taxicab.
Elyse sits on top of a motorcycle.
A small Canada Post mailbox in the museum’s main lobby. Note the creative way that the designers made it bilingual, with the parts of the word that were the same in large text, and smaller text where the two words differ.
Then it was time to visit the puppet exhibit, which was the whole reason for the trip in the first place.
The Sam and Muffy puppets, on display together at the Canadian Museum of History.
Sam Crenshaw. Based on the yellow color of Sam’s hair, this particular Sam puppet is from the latter half of the series, as Sam’s hair changed from white to yellow beginning with “Changes”.
Sam’s bow tie. Prior to this, I had never realized that Sam’s tie had so much color, being red with pink, yellow, blue, and black polka dots. From watching the show, I knew that it was not solid red, but the colors never really showed up in what we saw on television. Compare this to the image below of Sam in “Buttons“. It’s clear that there is a pattern on the tie, but the colors don’t show up in the video like they do in real life.
The buttons on Sam’s uniform jacket. The left photo is a button on the right chest pocket, while the right photo is a button along the center, just beneath the Sam Browne belt that Sam wears with his uniform. The emblem on the buttons intrigued me a bit, because I had never given much thought to what might be on the buttons, as this was not really visible in the show, except in an illustration during a quiz in “Buttons” (see below).
Muffy Mouse, wearing her classic feather boa. To my knowledge, the pink dress that Muffy is wearing does not appear in the show. Muffy usually wore the feather boa by itself without any other clothing, and she would not wear it when she was dressed in other outfits, so this combination is unusual in that regard.
Selfie with Sam and Muffy. Note the shirt that I am wearing.
I really appreciated the opportunity to see Sam and Muffy up close. After all, I grew up with these characters, but I had never seen them in this much detail before. I appreciated the opportunity to study Sam and Muffy for as much time as I wanted and appreciate all of the craftsmanship and effort that went into making them, and then making them come to life.
I think that the thing that really got me was the buttons on Sam’s uniform jacket, with that emblem that appeared to be some sort of coat of arms. I wondered if those were off-the-shelf buttons, if they were custom made and had deeper meaning. I talked with my friend Laurie Russell (with whom I’ve collaborated on my Today’s Special website) via text while I was there, and we both were impressed about the detail on the buttons. It was also interesting to compare the sizes of the puppets’ heads. Muffy’s head is roughly the size of a large grapefruit, while Sam’s head is about the size of a honeydew melon. I also really loved seeing all of the detail on Sam’s tie. I never knew how much color was in that tie before.
There was also a section with screens showing videos of people discussing various things related to children’s television, and one of them featured Nerene Virgin, talking about how people of different races and ethnicities were portrayed in the past, and how the way that these people were portrayed had changed over the years. She expressed how much she appreciated playing Jodie from Today’s Special, saying that, “Today’s Special was belonging. We were each different than the other, but in a truly inclusive environment. I saw Jodie as a whole person. She was a dignified, decent, and empathetic young woman. She was a shining example of the best of ourselves for adults and children. And for children of color, she held a very special place.” Well said.
I spent a long time with Sam and Muffy, and it really felt like I was meeting an old friend that I’d known for many years but had never met in person before. As such, it was really hard to leave. But I eventually did, and looked at other parts of the exhibit.
The elephant costume from Sharon, Lois, and Bram’s Elephant Show.
Cornemuse costume.
Mokey from Fraggle Rock. For those not familiar, Fraggle Rock was produced in Canada, and several of the puppeteers on Today’s Special also worked this show, including Bob Stutt, Nikki Tilroe, and Cheryl Wagner.
Gloria Gopher, Jacob the Blue Jay, and Iggy the Iguana from Under the Umbrella Tree.
Molly from The Big Comfy Couch.
When we finished up at the children’s television exhibit, Elyse and I went over to the gift shop. There, we bought the book about the exhibit, which described all of the various items that were on exhibit.
Among other things, the gift shop was selling some of the Today’s Special merchandise that Retrokid had previously released online.
From there, Elyse and I parted company for a little while. She caught another bus to explore around Gatineau some more, while I photographed Parliament Hill from across the Ottawa River.
When I finished, I went back in to retrieve the car, and soon I was off again. This was a bilingual exit sign that I spotted on the way back down to the parking garage at the museum.
I then learned that Elyse had gone back to the area where we were earlier, but a little bit down the street at Les Promenades Gatineau, which is the local shopping mall. Elyse was at one end, while I started at the other end. I parked outside of the Hudson’s Bay store, and went in that way. That was a deliberate move on my part. Obviously, there would be no visit to “The Store” on this trip, so this was as close as I would get to that. This also confirmed my findings from when we visited the Hudson’s Bay location at Pickering Town Centre in 2019, that Hudson’s Bay is the Canadian equivalent of Macy’s. I met up with Elyse down towards the far end of the mall, and she got sushi in the food court before we left.
Exterior of the Hudson’s Bay (La Baie D’Hudson) store in Gatineau.
The Hudson’s Bay store had a Mircom system, which seemed to be less common overall compared to Edwards products.
Mall entrance to Hudson’s Bay.
“Back in 10 minutes, thanks,” sign on the gate of the Ecko Unltd. store.
Two tiny pairs of jeans in the window of Jack & Jones. Considering the sizes, I remarked on Instagram, “I believe that I just found the latest styles from Mr. Mousters. These jeans are tiny!”
Starbucks Coffee, or “Café Starbucks” in French.
Storefront for Tristan, a clothing store largely based in Montreal, with some locations here and there, as well as one location in Ontario. We made note of this store primarily because we have a very good friend named Tristan. Elyse took a selfie with the sign and pointed at it in order to show our friend.
Washington Nationals and Montreal Expos hats at Lids. Considering how long it has been since the Expos left Montreal for Washington, I was wondering if there would still be Expos merchandise for sale. This answered my question, and I suspect that they will never stop selling Expos merchandise in Canada. Though I did remark on Facebook, when the Nationals won the World Series back in 2019, “Well, I’ll be. The Expos finally won a World Series.”
The HR-V in the parking lot at Les Promenades Gatineau. I made sure to get some French-language signage in there as proof that it had actually been to Quebec.
Leaving the mall, we went to a nearby Toys “R” Us. That was fun, because we hadn’t been to a Toys “R” Us in a number of years, as the Toys “R” Us brand largely went away in the States in 2018. In addition, Toys “R” Us in Canada is exactly as you remembered it when it was still around in the States, just with French signage (because Quebec).
Toys “R” Us store, across the street from Les Promenades Gatineau. This was certainly a blast from the past for both Elyse and me. This was not a half-baked revival attempt of the brand name. This was the real thing.
The Toys “R” Us was also the only place where we found a French-only pull station. This Edwards 270-SPO was in the store’s front vestibule. The directions beneath the pull station, however, were bilingual.
We then went out in search for food for me, because I had not eaten in quite some time. We spotted a Harvey’s, a Canadian fast food restaurant that serves burgers and fries and the like, on Boulevard Gréber, and while I wanted to stop, Elyse didn’t want to, wanting to find something else along the same strip. We didn’t find anything, and so I turned around and we went to Harvey’s. This would be the big challenge of getting around Quebec: ordering food. The menu was all in French, and the lady at the counter spoke no English. I tried to ask a question in English, and her response was, “Français?” I couldn’t help but think, oh, I’m in trouble now. I ended up using Google Translate on the menu, plus they found an employee who spoke English. I got a small burger and some poutine.
My poutine from Harvey’s. Considering that Harvey’s is a Canadian chain, I suspect that this poutine is more authentically Canadian than what Elyse and I had in 2019 at the McDonald’s in Walmart.
Vintage dual-action Mirtone (i.e. Mircom) pull station at the Harvey’s in Gatineau. This pull station, with stray paint strokes on it, indicated to me that, despite the modern updates to the interior, this was actually a fairly old building.
Urinal flushometer in the men’s room at the Harvey’s. I’ve never seen a top like that before.
Leaving Harvey’s, we headed back to Ottawa, and back into an English-speaking province. I admit: it was a very exciting adventure to visit Quebec and how it’s very much a French-speaking area, but I was also quite happy to be back in an area where English was the default language.
Elyse, meanwhile, wanted to go to another Walmart. I was less than excited about such a stop (I had intended for Gatineau to be the only Walmart visit on the trip), but, you know, we had time, so why not.
But first, a train. Before we went into Walmart, we stopped for some quick photos of a Via Rail (i.e. the Canadian equivalent of Amtrak) train at the train station, which was across the street from the Walmart.
Walmart Supercentre on Terminal Avenue in Ottawa. This store was converted to a Supercenter some time between 2009 and 2012 according to Google Street View.
Quebec Maple-flavored Coke.
Great Value soda at Walmart. I was surprised that they used the “Great Value” brand here, vs. the Sam’s Choice label that Walmart uses on these products in the States.
Barq’s “Cherry Bite” soda. I’ve never seen Barq’s go outside of the usual root beer-style sodas. “Spicy cherry” is usually the term used to describe Dr Pepper and Mr. Pibb sodas, so I imagine that this flavor was along those lines (we didn’t buy any).
Main aisles at the Walmart on Terminal Avenue. This was a typical Project Impact-era Walmart store, except that it had tan walls.
Fire alarm notification appliances at Walmart, consisting of Mircom horns and LED strobes.
That is, um, quite a brand name right there. I guess if nothing else, it describes what the product is for.
Oh Henry! candy bars. I’ve only ever seen this brand in Canada, though its origins are American.
At Walmart, Elyse got a package of bagged milk, as well as a container to put it in. We checked with an employee on whether the container would work for bagged milk, and they confirmed that it did. Good deal. We also got a small recycling bin for the house, as well as a plush True North Bear, which is a Canadian-exclusive Care Bear.
Stop sign as we were exiting the Walmart parking lot. I got the sense that the shopping center owners acquired a stop sign intended for use in Quebec, and then hastily modified it to carry the English wording as well.
We then headed back to our hotel. I had to take care of a scheduling matter related to work (we were picking schedules for the summer, and my pick date occurred during this trip, but I could do this online), so that would be my late night, as I had to choose a work schedule for the next six months.
Elyse holds up a bag of milk for the camera before putting it in the refrigerator.
After I had submitted my schedule choices, it was off to bed. We had another big day ahead of us, and I would need to be well-rested for it.