Canadian War Museum

So, the computer is finally hooked up, and internet is running. It's the update of the century. This is mostly for my sake, but read if you want. Maybe get a snack first though. And use the bathroom.

Our first (and only) full day in Ottawa was definitely FULL! We hit the Canadian War Museum in the morning and loved it! Seriously. It was beautifully set up, and captivating for my little kids AND Tyler and I. It was exciting and humbling at the same time. Definitely something my dad should see some day...he would love it. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and rushed. I would recommend my dad taking all day. It was amazing, because it showed war throughout time. It start with 'the early days' and talked about the First Nations and the type of wars they would have had, and moved through history to present day. Ine act section you visited, they had a backtrack playing with sound effects. After a while you really got to understand what it would have been like to live in a time of war. It was deafening sometimes.

They also had really cool props everywhere that you could touch and try on. It was really interactive, and the kids enjoyed that.



This lady was giving a demonstration about medicine in WW1. She talked about a tourniquet, and what to do with a head wound. It was completely fascinating but the kids were a bit nervous.


There were signs and demonstrations everywhere with quizzes. One of them asked if you would qualify to be a soldier in WW1. You had to be a certain height, and they'd measure your feat to make sure you weren't flat-footed or didn't have too high of an arch because there was lots of marching. There was also a vision test. It was neat to see what qualified you.





There were also bunkers and trenches set up that you could go through as well.
One of my favourite parts was seeing Hitler's car. His actual car. The glass was broken from bullet shots and everything. Really neat.





They also had these arctic gloves for war in the Northern Territories. I laughed because my dad has these exact same gloves.
A launched tank...pretty cool.
In the basement of the museum was a giant garage full of tanks and army vehicles. More than you can imagine. (Well, I don't know how much you can imagine...but imagine a lot.)
This guy was doing a demonstration on war food. We got to try 'hard tack' which was awful. It was like sucking on a tasteless rock, hoping your saliva would soften it enough so you could chew it. That's old school. They also had this lime juice that every soldier would get a shot of a day for calcium. Apparently they figured out how to can lime juice and it was cheaper than lemons or oranges. Funny thing is, my mom has this in her pantry all the time because she likes to add a shot of lime to her water. Apparently the Canadian Military has the reputation as being the BEST fed military in the world. They had some good eats. Not compared to every day...but I like that we keep our soldiers well fed.
It was really cool to drive past parliament over and over. The kids said, 'But the government isn't ACTUALLY real!' Uh...yeah. It is.
They also had these bikes locked up that you could rent all over. Seriously, Ottawa is a cool city.