September 15, 2009

Day 46

Today I ventured out on my own. Kevin and I had planned to go visit the Laurier (Lori-eh in French) House over the weekend but bummed it with football on Sunday instead. She I put on my coat and scarf and headed east. It was cold today - 57 degrees. It was cloudy and brisk. The pictures below are from the web; I forgot to take some. I found the home really interesting, but I doubt Kevin would have.

This is Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He lived in the home from 1897 to 1919. He was the Prime Minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. From what I can remember, he continued to serve in the House of Commons after his time as Prime Minister. While Prime Minister, he established the Royal Canadian Navy which helped establish Canada as a world power. The RCN would of course be under the British Navy in times of crisis.

According to the tour guide, the Lauries entertained in their 3 story home quite frequently. Zoe Laurier was apparently quite the card shark. She had a poker table and a player piano in the drawing room. They had no children. When she died, Zoe Laurier willed the home to William Lyon Mackenzie King.

This is Mackenzie King. He was Canada's longest serving Prime Minister with 6 separate terms, not consecutively between 1921-1948. Very educated with five different degrees, he received some of his education at Harvard, where he first met F.D. Roosevelt. In fact the elevator he had installed in his home was only ever used by FDR and the king and queen. In fact, he had the whole house renovated after the Lauriers left him the house. It needed plumbing to replace the out house in the basement and to install heating. The renovations were quite costly but the funds were raised for the renovations by the Liberal party. He had the house paneled in Canadian white oak, which was sent to Scotland to be carved and stained before installed.

King never married and was very devoted to his mother. He was engaged once, but when Mummy said she didn't like her, he dumped her the next day. He had pictures of his mother throughout his home including his little shrine in his library where the lamp light was left on 24 hours a day. But King was a great Prime Minister during a world crisis. When King died, he left his home and all of the priceless artifacts in his home to Canada. A year after his death, the home was opened to the public as a museum.

After I left the Laurier House I wandered around the city a little. Below is Parliament from a little ways down the canal.

I also found the University of Ottawa.

The school first opened in 1848 and moved to its current location in 1856. It's the largest bilingual university in North America.